Napoleon's Wars

An International History, 1803-1815

By: Charles Esdaile

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

No military figure in history has been quite as polarizing as Napoleon Bonaparte. Was he a monster, driven by an endless, ruinous quest for military glory? Or a social and political visionary brought down by petty, reactionary kings of Europe?

In the most definitive account to date, respected historian Charles Esdaile argues that the chief motivating factor for Napoleon was his insatiable desire for fame. More than a myth-busting portrait of Napoleon, however, this volume offers a panoramic view of the armed conflicts that spread so quickly out of revolutionary France to countries as remote as Sweden and Egypt. Napoleon's Wars seeks to answer the question, What was it that made the countries of Europe fight one another for so long and with such devastating results? Esdaile portrays the European battles as the consequence of rulers who were willing to take the immense risks of either fighting or supporting Napoleon---risks that resulted in the extinction of entire countries. This is history writing equal to its subject---grand and ambitious.

©2007 Charles Esdaile (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Deft, authoritative, often strikingly counter-intuitive, this is the definitive word on the subject." ( Telegraph (London))

A thorough read, even for the casual history lover

This text shines a light on Napoleon, exposing the man, the myth, and the legend. Though it can be very dense in places, the work is approachable to readers who lie outside the professions of history and expertly communicates the great endeavors that were the Napoleonic Wars. Simon Prebble's delivery was, as always, stellar in all regards.

A very fast moving narrative of the Wars of Napoleon

Thoroughly enjoyed the pace and depth of the narrative. For someone well-acquainted with but lacking depth in the series (procession?) of conflicts of the period, this provided a balanced overview of the strategic situation, the aims of each protagonist, some possible alternatives that were open through diplomacy, and the typical resort to military campaign from Napoleon.
The narrative is at the campaign level. Students of particular battles might find this wanting. Well-read, engaging, provocative.

Understanding the age and grasping the facts

This well-narrated and well-written book is giving me the background I need to teach a history-and-literature series on the aftermath of the American Revolution in Europe. The narrative has helped me begin to understand the confusing complexities of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. Prior to this book, we read aloud and studied Unlikely Allies, The Great Upheaval, and of course Tale of Two Cities. In conjunction with it we are studying The War for All the Oceans (by Adkins) and Tolstoy's War and Peace (the latter using Audible's audiobook also). In addition, the Sharpe series by Cornwell is providing some additional relaxed level historical fiction as we read through those in order. Esdaile's narration is a pleasure to listen to. (I have a hard copy of the book but am a bit too busy now to sit down with it much, so the audio keeps me going; I drop in post-it notes at the parts I want to relate to my high schooler.) (By the way, I'm a veteran home school mother and a retired physician. All my children have loved history taught using this approach.)

Fantastic Book on the Napoleonic Wars

If you study any of the subjects of this period, then this book you must listen to. It is well researched, fair in my opinion and fantastic on clear points of view. Worth ever cent to listen to this book and don't be scared by the length, it will fly by come to think of it I will listen to it again. This is my favourite book thus far, well non-fiction book on the subject of Napoleon. The next is Tim Clayton's 'Waterloo', which I believe you can get on Audible as well. Well worth the listen to both of these.

Only slightly marred by poor audio editing

As someone who previously knew next to nothing about Napoleon's wars, this was a wonderful first book on the subject. As other reviewers have noted, having a decent grasp of the geography of Europe - particularly Europe of the late 18th century - is helpful. If you have a general idea of what the map looked like prior to the first world war, you shouldn't have any trouble keeping up.

The reading is pretty solid. Some questionable pronunciations of foreign words should not be much of a knock on the reader in a book with such a variety of foreign place names. My main problem is the slightly distracting cuts between different takes. Often there will be a brief pause in the audio midsentence which is picked up with a clearly different recording, which usually very quickly cuts back after a few words. It's not awful, but if amateur podcasters can do better in their basement for free, I don't know why I should receive worse quality from a paid product.