Best single volume history of Napoleonic Wars?

by mitch2234

I've read Napoleon's Wars by Charles Esdaile, but I wondered if there was a "best" single volume intro to this time period (along the lines of MacPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom)...

zamieo

"The Campaigns of Napoleon" by David Chandler covers all of Napoleon's campaigns. It more or less ignores campaigns that he wasn't a part of (very few pages are dedicated to the Peninsular War and non-European campaigns) and only briefly informs the reader about the political situation. It's about 1200 pages long but it's an amazing read if one wants to explore Napoleon's military genius.

raspberry_pie

Have you checked the book list?

Also, I would also like to bring Harvey's The War of Wars: The Great European Conflict 1793 - 1815 to your attention, which I thought was a really fun read. It also takes a quick look at Nelson, Pitt the Younger, Wellington and just the British in general, if that's maybe something you're interested in.

Hope this helps!

Samuel_I

I always recommend The First Total War by David A. Bell and The Wars Against Napoleon by Franceshi and Weider.

The First Total War gives an excellent overview of the conflict making the argument that the Wars of the Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars constituted the first total war int he modern sense of the term. It's not the most comprehensive history, but it is rather persuasive and frames the conflict in an extremely interesting light.

I always recommend The Wars Against Napoleon because it takes an unapologetic pro-Napoleon stance. This is something of a shock to many US/Canadian readers as we traditionally get the UK narrative of Napoleon drilled into us. While I disagree with a good number of the conclusions, the book is most definitely worth a read just for the sake of a perspective that is somewhat foreign to many North American readers. It's an excellent book to practice historical criticism and skepticism.

Manfromporlock

If you're looking for a good intro to the time period, rather than specifically to the maneuvers and battles, I recommend Will and Ariel Durant's The Age of Napoleon. More about society, politics, and culture than battles per se, but it's an almost breathless read.

00BeardedTerror

I enjoyed "The End of the Old Order: Napoleon and Europe 1801-1805" By Fredrick W. Kagan. It goes over how the politics of the time were shaped by previous wars, alliances, and grudges. http://www.amazon.com/The-End-Old-Order-1801-1805/dp/0306815451