The War of Wars: The Epic Struggle Between Britain and France: 1789-1815 | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert Harvey
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 370196
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 832
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5 x 2.2
ISBN: 078672028X
Dewey Decimal Number: 944
EAN: 9780786720286
ASIN: 078672028X
Publication Date: November 22, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20081202223058T
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
At the turn of the 18th century the greatest nations in Europe offered history two distinct ideals that would shape the new century: England was a democratic, constitutional monarchy; while France had suffered the cataclysm of Revolution that ripped the absolute king from the throne and replaced him with the mob. Out of this maelstrom emerged a military leader, Napoleon Bonaparte, commander of the revolutionary army, who would conquer Italy and Egypt before returning to Paris to proclaim himself emperor. As Napoleon gained power in France, the world stood on the brink of total war. By 1805 the general was making plans to cross the channel and invade England. The subsequent drama reaches from the frozen plains surrounding Moscow to the Caribbean waters, from the debating chamber of the Parliament to the muddy fields of Waterloo. The Great French Wars (1793–1815) can truly be called the first global war; it was also the first conflict driven by industrial might. As Napoleon's revolutionary guard ravaged Europe, men like the Duke of Wellington, Horatio Nelson, as well as their allies, Duke Charles of Hapsburg and Gebhard von Blucher stopped his complete domination of the continent.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 MIssing 35 pages August 28, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Well written such as it is but the publisher left out pages 675-709 from my copy. Spoiled my whole attitude about the product since I didn't notice the deficiency until 9 months after purchase and I had reached the pages close to the gap. Thanks a lot! What a waste!
THis is not history, this is propaganda. August 15, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
In my opinion this author, Robert Harvey, is no historian.
He is simply a propagandist.
Robert Harvey commits the cardinal sin of history writing - he has an utter lack of objectiveity, and obviously came to his subject with all his notions and opinions firmly in place.
0 stars.
ps.
Napoleonic Wars is an interesting subject and there are plenty of excellent authors; Chandler, Elting, Rothenberg, Lachoque, Zamojski, Britten-Austin, Mark Adkin, Hofschroer and more.
A good work, but not without its flaws July 8, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I had been looking for a book like this for a long time, in which I could get a full account of the Napoleonic Wars in one volume. While my overall impressions of the book are positive, I did take issue with a few things. First, while I didn't mind that Harvey used many first-person accounts, I felt that many were too long (sometimes a whole page). In my mind, this took away from the flow of the book. Also, while I did like the extensive information on the naval campaigns, I felt that Harvey did this at the expense of other important events. For example, I felt that he could have gone into more detail about the atrocities of the Peninsular campaign, or the immense suffering felt by both sides during the invasion of Russia. To be sure, Harvey does touch on these things, but not as much as he could have. In addition, Harvey seems to give too much credit to the British for winning the war. Although they played a tremendous role in defeating Napoleon, none of it would have been possible without the enormous contributions and sacrifices of Austria, Russia and Prussia, all of whom suffered much worse than England ever did. In effect, they suffered so that England didn't have to, just as the Soviet Union absorbed the main brunt of the German effort in World War Two so that the Western allies didn't have to.
One thing I did like about this book was the depiction of Napoleon as the tyrant he was. I noticed at least one reviewer who said that Harvey focused too much on Napoleon's bad traits, but it needs to be emphasized. Napoleon was an excellent military strategist who also happened to be extremely ruthless and indifferent to the suffering he caused both to the people of Europe and to his own troops. Being half-French myself, it always pained me to see how Napoleon is still revered in France. I hope this book will show the man for what he truly was.
Overall, then, an excellent resource for those looking for a one-volume account of the Napoleonic Wars, though it has its flaws. Still, I would recommend it.
Average November 8, 2007
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
First of all, the edition I bought was missing about 20 pages. But the missing pages were pretty early on, so I kept the book. Also, there were a couple of missed grammatical errors. Seems like the book was rushed out.
I found the book interesting, but different from other books on Napoleon. This book is much more anti-Napoleon than the other 2-3 books I've read. Now, I don't know enough to make a judgment, but the author seems to definitely have a pro-British bias here.
The best part of the book was the description of the battles at sea. Nelson and Cochrane literally come to life, and the author devoted more time to the war at sea than other authors, and it made for interesting reading.
The parts on Wellington's campaign in Spain were written extremely well. The Russian campaign, I think there were not enough pages devoted to this all-important campaign
The book definitely needed more maps, but since I had the Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars at hand, this did not bother me so much. But one cannot follow the military action with the maps provided in the book alone.
Weighing the pluses and minuses, and my limited knowledge on the subject, I gave it three stars. If you get the book at a decent price, it's worth reading (but make sure there are no pages missing!)
Sloppy British Propaganda November 2, 2007
8 out of 15 found this review helpful
Poorly researched drivel, which is just the re-warmed old story of how the British, all by themselves, brought down Napoleon, ignoring of course, the Prussians, Austrians, Russians, Spanish guerillas, etc., etc. When the author talks about how Napoleon commissioned Baron Haussmann to re-build Paris, you know it's time to toss this book on the trash heap. (For those of you with limited historical knowledge, it was under Napoleon III that Haussmann rebuilt the ville lumiere) His chapter on Waterloo, where Wellington condescendingly thanks Marshal Blucher for joining him in the battle, when of course it was the British and only the British, with NO help from anyone, who won the battle, is absolutely nauseating. Save your money on this one.
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