The Campaigns of Napoleon

1302 Pages·1973·12.73 MB·English

by  David G. Chandler

THE

CAMPAIGNS

OF

NAPOLEON

DAVID G. CHANDLER

VOLUME I

SCRIBNER

SCRIBNER
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New York, NY 10020
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Copyright © 1966 by David G. Chandler Copyright © 1966 by Simon &
Schuster All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in
part in any form.

Maps and diagrams drawn by Shelia Waters from sketches prepared by the
author.

Designed by Abe Lerner.

SCRIBNER and design are trademarks of Macmillan Library Reference USA, Inc.
under license by Simon & Schuster, the publisher of this work.

Manufactured in the United States of America 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication-Data Chandler, David G

The campaigns of Napolean by David G. Chandler. xliii, 1172 p. illus., facsims.,
maps, (part col.), ports. 24 cm. Bibliography: p. 1143-1147

1. Napoléon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821. 2. Europe—History—1789-
1815. 3. France—History, Military—1789-1815. I. Title.

DC151.C48 940.270924 66-12970

ISBN: 0-02-523660-1 MARC

ISBN: 978-0-0252-3660-8

eISBN: 978-1-4391-3103-9

This book is respectfully dedicated to the memory of HUBERT WYLIE (1894-
1965)

Assistant Master, Marl borough College, 1927-1959

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T

HE AUTHOR wishes to thank the following publishing houses for permission to quote
passages from their books:

Cassell and Co., Ltd., London, for extracts from the Memoirs of
Caulaincourt; The Clarendon Press, Oxford, for extracts from The French
Army before Napoleon and The Rise of General Bonaparte, both by
Spencer Wilkinson, and from The Armies of the First French Republic (5
vols.) by Colonel R. W. Phipps;

William Morrow and Co., Inc., New York, for extracts from With Napoleon
in Russia, the American edition of Caulaincourt’s memoirs; Routledge and
Kegan Paul, Ltd., London, for extracts from the works of A. Becke, An
Introduction to the History of Tactics and Napoleon and Waterloo.

Acknowledgment is also due to the following museums and libraries for
permission to reproduce illustrations and maps:

La Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; the Trustees, the British Museum,
London; Musée de l’Armée, Paris; the National Maritime Museum,
Greenwich; Museu Militar, Lisbon; Museo del Prado, Madrid; the National
Portrait Gallery, London; the Library, the Royal Military Academy,
Sandhurst; Les Musées de la Ville de Strasbourg; Musée de Versailles; the
Victoria and Albert Museum, London;

and the following companies for photographic and other assistance:

J. R. Freeman and Co., London; Marshalls, Ltd., Camberley; R. Viollet,
Documentation Générale Photographique, Paris.

Contents

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

EXPLANATORY KEY TO MAPS

LIST OF MAPS

PREFACE

AUTHOR’S NOTE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

PART ONE. APPRENTICESHIP TO ARMS Napoleon’s military education
and formative experiences prior to 1796

INTRODUCTION: FIRST EMERGENCE

1. PREPARATION

2. TOULON

3. BRIGADIER GENERAL OF ARTILLERY

4. THE “SWORD” OF PAUL BARRAS

PART TWO. IN SEARCH OF A REPUTATION The Campaign in North

Italy, April 1796 to April 1797

5. COMMANDER IN CHIEF

6. THE DEFEAT OF PIEDMONT

7. THE BRIDGE OF LODI

8. THE ACHIEVEMENT IN PERIL—MANTUA

9. CALDIERO AND ARCOLA

10. RIVOLI

11. ADVANCE TO LEOBEN

12. THE MEASURE OF SUCCESS

PART THREE. NAPOLEON’S ART OF WAR A study of Napoleon’s
philosophy of war, an analysis of his strategic and battle methods—and the
sources of his ideas

INTRODUCTION: THE MASTER’S WORDS

13. DOCTRINAL INHERITANCE

14. THE INGREDIENTS OF NAPOLEONIC WAR

15. STRATEGIC CONCEPTS

16. GRAND TACTICS ON THE BATTLEFIELD

17. THE EMBRYONIC SYSTEM: CASTIGLIONE

PART FOUR. ORIENTAL INTERLUDE: THE SIX ACRES OF LAND The
Campaign in Egypt and Syria, May 19, 1798 to October 9, 1799

INTRODUCTION: THE SANDS OF MARABOUT

18. ORIENTAL OPPORTUNITIES

19. MEDITERRANEAN CHASE

20. THE PYRAMIDS LOOK DOWN

21. EXPEDITION TO SYRIA

22. THE BALANCE SHEET OF FAILURE

PART FIVE. TOWARD THE SUMMIT: THE CONSPIRATOR AND
PEACEMAKER The coup d’état of Brumaire and the Italian Campaign of
1800

23. THE RIPENED FRUIT

24. FIRST CONSUL

25. PLANS OF CAMPAIGN

26. THE PASSAGE OF THE ALPS

27. MARENGO

28. PEACE RESTORED

PART SIX. THE WORKS OF PEACE AND THE ROAD TO WAR
Napoleon’s reconstruction of France and the renewed struggle with England to
the formation of the Third Coalition. The creation of La Grande Armée

29. RULER AND LAWGIVER

30. THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE

31. PROSPECTS OF WIDER WAR

32. LA GRANDE ARMÉE

33. IMPERIAL HEADQUARTERS

PART SEVEN. FROM THE RHINE TO THE DANUBE Napoleon’s
destruction of the Third Coalition

INTRODUCTION: THE EVE OF AUSTERLITZ

34. PLANS AND PREPARATIONS

35. STRATEGIC TRIUMPH—ULM

36. THE WARRIORS OF HOLY RUSSIA

37. THE BATTLE OF THE THREE EMPERORS—AUSTERLITZ

38. THE INGREDIENTS OF SUCCESS

PART EIGHT. ROSSBACH AVENGED The Campaign of 1806 against
Prussia

39. HOHENZOLLERN HYPOCRITE

40. PLANS FOR WAR

41. “LE BATAILLON CARRÉ”

42. JENA—AUERSTADT

43. THE TRIUMPH ANALYZED

PART NINE. WINTER WAR Napoleon’s Campaigns in East Prussia and
Poland, October 1806 to February 1807

44. THE ADVANCE TO WARSAW

45. MEN AND MATERIEL

46. THE MANEUVER ON THE NAREW

47. INTERLUDE IN WARSAW

48. THE TRAP THAT FAILED—IONKOVO

49. THE BATTLE OF EYLAU

50. CONCLUSIONS: THE FIRST CHECK

VOLUME II
PART TEN. SPRING RECOVERY The renewed Campaign against Russia,
culminating in the Battle of Friedland and the Treaty of Tilsit

51. RECONSTRUCTION

52. THE BATTLE OF HEILSBERG

53. THE BATTLE OF FRIEDLAND

54. THE MEETING OF THE EMPERORS

PART ELEVEN. PENINSULAR INTRIGUES The Campaigns in Portugal
and Spain, 1807-1809

55. THE ROAD TO LISBON

56. AN ENGINEERED CRISIS