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REPUBLIQUE
GRAND-TACTICAL NAPOLEONIC WARFARE IN
MINIATURE
Napoleonic Reading & References
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- The Background of Napoleonic Warfare: The Theory of Military Tactics in Eighteeth-Century France
- By Robert S. Quimby - If you really want to understand the development of formations and maneuver doctrine in the Napoleonic Wars, you should read this book cover-to-cover - twice. The reading can be a bit thick in places, and once you are satisfied that the author has adequately explained away Mesnil-Durand you can move on to the following chapter. Overall it is the single most important must read book for the period wargamer who wants to understand more than just the hearsay that is so often repeated by lesser sources.
- Campaigns of Napoleon
- By David Chandler - A classic outline of Napoleon's military career that is still valid today.
- Napoleon: A Life
- By Andrew Roberts - Before we move on to more specifically military oriented titles, in case you are wondering what the best single biography of Napoleon Bonaparte is, it's this one. Well written, an easy read despite its enormous size and exhaustively researched; the author visited most major period battlefields as well as more civilian related locals such as Corsica and St. Helena.
- 1805: Austerlitz
- By Robert Goetz - An outstanding hour-by-hour account of one of the crucial and surprising battles of the era. Draws on sources from all combatants and helps to more clearly outline the tempo and overall reality of a Napolenic battle in far better detail than many previous titles.
- Salamanca 1812
- By Rory Muir - Another of the excellent newer titles that draws on accounts of both sides. Top notch research includes ample eyewitness account segments without relying on them too much (which has been done elsewhere in ways that achieves little more than a collection of other people's work). Excellent, even-handed analysis and commentary.
- Wellington's Rifles
- By Mark Urban - This relatively new title is probably the first to cover the Peninular and Belgian campaigns of the 95th Rifles with a balanced perspective. A long needed title.
- Empires, Eagles & Lions
- By Jean Lochet (managing editor) - If you can find any of volumes 1 through 118 of these long out-of-print booklets, they are worth their weight in gold (try eBay, the original publisher was RAFM). These books formed the genesis of modern Napoleonic studies in many ways, as the various authors who regularly donated articles helped to cut through the previous hundred years of simplistic beliefs which had hung on period studies like an albatross (some 1950s and 1960s titles that helped spur EE&L research excepted).
- Tactics of the Russian Army in the Napoleonic Wars (Vol 1 & 2)
- By Alexander and Turii Zhmodikov - An outstanding set of reference volumes that reveals a great deal about period warfare in addition to the specifics of Russian Army tactical and grand-tactical operations. Don't forget to dredge through the bibliography.
- Crisis in the Snows: Russia Confronts Napoleon : the Eylau Campaign 1806-1807
- By James Arnold and Ralph Reinertsen - One of those books that is filled with "Oh, so that's what happened!" moments. If you want to really know what horrid condition the French and Russian armies were in that day, read this book. If you want to understand way more of what happened to Augereau's corps and how far it penetrated into Russian lines in its big attack, read this book. It clarifies numerous errors of omission that exist in countless other Napoelonic general histories.
- Imperial Bayonets
- By George Nafziger - Much of this book was already presented in various snippets through Empires, Eagles & Lions submissions, but there is a great deal of connecting material that helps to put his extremely thorough statistical analysis of period warfare onto a new level well worth having.
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