A MILITARY HISTORY AND ATLAS OF THE NAPOLEONIC WARS
By Brigadier General Vincent J. Esposito and Colonel John R. Elting

14x10.5 inches (landscape), 400 pages, 169 color maps.

This is a reprint of one of the most important works of Napoleonic literature this century.  Originally compiled by BG Esposito and COL Elting for the Department of Military Art and Engineering, The United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, and pbulished by Frederick A. Praeger, New York, in 1964, this is perhaps the best all-around Napoleonic volume for the beginning and avid Napoleonist alike. There are 169 pages of text on the 14x10.5 inch pages; each is accompanied by a map on the facing page. The book is divided into campaigns.  The text takes you through each campaign, from beginning to end, in a clear, concise and precise narrative style. The maps progress from strategic views at the beginning of the campaigns to very detailed tactical views when battle is joined. Every map is exceptionally detailed, with the detail increasing as the scale of the map decreases. Not only are rivers, lakes, cities and villages depicted, but there are contour lines and other map-makers devices to assist you to see the real lay of the land. The nature of the maps, which, by the way, also depict unit movements in great and precise detail, are such that you will find nowhere else. These in themselves make this book an invaluable to anyone's Napoleonic library.

The publisher of Greenhill Books states:

This superb historical atlas is a seminal work on the Napoleonic Wars and provides a comprehensive overview of the battles and campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte between 1796 and 1815.  With 169 maps charting the course of twelve crucial campaigns and detailing the key phases of such major battles as Marengo, Austerlitz and Borodino, this valuable atlas illustrates the breadth of Napoleon's concept of war, his grasp of strategy and his complete mastery of battlefield tactics.

The large, colour maps allow the reader to follow the course of any campaign and highlight the importance of terrain, time and distance.  They are complemented by a full narrative history which describes the dramatic military events of the period and their impact on warfare and military thinking.  Each successive campaign move is detailed, the strengths of each side analysed and their errors and failings are also fully examined.

The atlas spans the career of Napoleon and covers each campaign where Napoleon was in command:

        Napoleon's Italian campaigns 1796-1797
        The Egyptian campaign
        Marengo
        Austerlitz
        Jena
        Friedland
        The invasion of Spain
        The Danube campaign of 1809
        The invasion of Russia
        The 1813 campaign
        The defence of France
        The Hundred Days
 
An additional Appendix gives biographical details of leading military and political personalities, and a critical Recommended Reading List assesses hundreds of works on this formative period.

A MILITARY HISTORY AND ATLAS OF THE NAPOLEONIC WARS is often referred to by the authors' names, as 'Esposito and Elting'.  Vincent J. Esposito was a respected military historian and was Professor and Head of the Department of Military Art and Engineering at West Point from 1956 to 1963.  Colonel John R. Elting is the foremost expert on Napoleon's Grande Armee;  his books include the acclaimed SWORDS AROUND A THRONE and the two-volume NAPOLEONIC UNIFORMS.

First published in 1964, this large format, landscape, 266 x 333mm sized volume is reproduced in facsimile from the original, but revised for the Greenhill edition with a new Preface, biographies of the authors, some corrections to the original text, and a completely revised and updated Recommended Reading List.

Greenhill Books  ISBN 1-85367-346-3

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