Help for Research

by **ShakoAhoy** » Sat Sep 18, 2010 6:10 am

I am rather interested in I learning more about the Napoleonic Wars. Can anyone suggest a suitable book covering the period. Srry if this has already been asked

by **Greystreak** » Sat Sep 18, 2010 6:14 am

David G. Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon, New York: MacMillan, 1966. Still the most comprehensive single-volume treatment in English. Look for it in your local library.

by **david1234** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 11:09 am

Try Osprey books if you want to learn about a particular aspect of the period. Waterstones does a fair range of books if your local library doesn't.

by **sarge** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 1:22 pm

I have read quite a few books on the Napoleonic wars but one of the best reads is "The Battle" by alessandro Barbero. This is specifically about the battle of Waterloo and really is a fantastic book that really depicts the battle in gritty realistic terms. The book is extremely well written and gives a real sense of what it would have been like to fight in that period. lots of contemporary accounts and anecdotes and very well written. The writer is Italian so there is not the national bias that you get in some accounts. Highly recommended if you have any interest in the period at all !!

by **Samuel Eden** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 3:26 pm

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy is wonderful if you have time.So is Who Won Waterloo by Barry Von Danzig.For the period at large there is a wonderful book called The Struggle for Power in Europe (can't remember the author) which goes into a lot of detail about the economic and social effects of the wars.These are all pretty heavy reading but definitely worthwhile.Clausewitz, On War is another wonderful book, although it is not historical it does put you in the mindset of the times around and after the Napoleonic wars. It is open source material on the net too.Hope that helps.

by **Parus Ater** » Tue Sep 21, 2010 1:02 pm

To be exceptionally low brow and open to ridicule I'm going to say I learned a lot from the factual parts of the Sharpe Companion and the much later Sharpe Companion Vol. 1. A lot is good first hand accounts of life as an actual combatant in the British army at the time which you don't really get in most books.

by **BigMike** » Wed Sep 22, 2010 3:41 am

From the British side i'd read Mark Urban: Rifles and Richard Holmes: Redcoat. Both are very good scholarly but accessible works about the british army written mostly from contemporary sources and letters. Both authors have done a great job to weave together a story sometimes fixing on the experience of one man or regiment but then relating it to the experience of the armies as a whole. I'm not sure what i'd recommend as an 'overview book' but both of these are excellent 'bottom up' books! Not sure about other armies though!Hope that helps!

by **david1234** » Wed Sep 22, 2010 5:44 am

Some of Simon Scarrow's books cover the Napoleonic wars the prospectives of Napoleon and Wellington. Obviously it's historical fiction, but it's still pretty good as a way of getting into the period.

by **Cubster** » Wed Sep 22, 2010 5:48 am

This badger's a decent starting place. Accessible, cheap and will give you a grounding of the Peninsular War.http://www.amazon.co.uk/Penins.....pd_sim_b_4

by **Cfury** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 1:03 pm

I'm just reading the aforementioned Redcoat by Richard Holmes and very much enjoying it. He makes a point about not being obsessive over period detail and is more interested in the soldiers themselves, which I think is good. I always try to get to know a bit about the men inside the uniform to get a real feeling for a period.