Napoleon's Italian Campaigns: 1805-1815

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars raged in Italy for 23 years. In that time, no fewer than eight campaigns involving hundreds of thousands of troops were mounted in the Italian peninsula, as France and Austria struggled over this secondary, but still vitally important theatre of war. As Frederick Schneid demonstrates in this work, control of Italy was rightly seen by Napoleon as an important means of applying strategic pressure on the Austrians, while simultaneously providing security for France's vulnerable southern flank. This work places the Italian campaigns into their proper historical perspective. Beginning with a geo-strategic overview of the Italian peninsula and its place in French and Austrian calculations, Schneid moves on to a careful consideration of the major campaigns that began in 1805, 1809 and 1813. These include studies of the battles of Caldiero, Wagram and Mincio.

Reviews

.,."people interested in the minutiae of Napoleonic warfare will find it appealing, and it does serve to fill a significant gap in our knowledge of Napoleonic warfare...the Italian wars were much more than footnotes in the story of Napoleon's defeat."-The Journal of Military History
...people interested in the minutiae of Napoleonic warfare will find it appealing, and it does serve to fill a significant gap in our knowledge of Napoleonic warfare...the Italian wars were much more than footnotes in the story of Napoleon's defeat.-The Journal of Military History
As a detailed study of a specific theater in Napoleon's dominance of Western Europe, Schenid's book is both excellent and long overdue.-Army History
In contrast to most treatments of Napoleon's career, which rarely deal with events in which he himself was not personally in command, Napoleon's Italian Campaigns deals with military events in a theater that, after 1801, saw no operations by the "Corsican Ogre." The author thus literally "rescues" from virtual oblivion the long neglected events in Italy, where several major campaigns occurred. Prof. Schneid treats the 1805, 1809, and 1813-1814 campaigns against Austria, and the conquest of Naples, 1805-1806, and the subsequent guerrilla war that left that kingdom unsettled throughout the period, as well as Murat's quixotic bid for domination of the Peninsula in 1815. Beyond question the most complete one volume treatment of the Napoleonic era in Italy.-NYMAS Newsletter
Schneid offers an analytical account of the Napoleonic Wars in Italy, emphasizing not only the armies, generals, strategies, tactics, and battles in this theater of war but also the motivations and rationales of the respective participants. His aim is to offer a clearer picture of the Austrians, Neopolitans, and British generals and their armies, particularly how they conducted their campaigns against the Franco-Italian forces of imperial France. A lengthy appendix lists the orders of battle and presents line-drawn battlefield maps.-Reference & Research Book News
..."people interested in the minutiae of Napoleonic warfare will find it appealing, and it does serve to fill a significant gap in our knowledge of Napoleonic warfare...the Italian wars were much more than footnotes in the story of Napoleon's defeat."-The Journal of Military History
"As a detailed study of a specific theater in Napoleon's dominance of Western Europe, Schenid's book is both excellent and long overdue."-Army History
"Schneid offers an analytical account of the Napoleonic Wars in Italy, emphasizing not only the armies, generals, strategies, tactics, and battles in this theater of war but also the motivations and rationales of the respective participants. His aim is to offer a clearer picture of the Austrians, Neopolitans, and British generals and their armies, particularly how they conducted their campaigns against the Franco-Italian forces of imperial France. A lengthy appendix lists the orders of battle and presents line-drawn battlefield maps."-Reference & Research Book News
"In contrast to most treatments of Napoleon's career, which rarely deal with events in which he himself was not personally in command, Napoleon's Italian Campaigns deals with military events in a theater that, after 1801, saw no operations by the "Corsican Ogre." The author thus literally "rescues" from virtual oblivion the long neglected events in Italy, where several major campaigns occurred. Prof. Schneid treats the 1805, 1809, and 1813-1814 campaigns against Austria, and the conquest of Naples, 1805-1806, and the subsequent guerrilla war that left that kingdom unsettled throughout the period, as well as Murat's quixotic bid for domination of the Peninsula in 1815. Beyond question the most complete one volume treatment of the Napoleonic era in Italy."-NYMAS Newsletter

Author Bio

FREDERICK C. SCHNEID is a professor of history at High Point University and author of Soldiers of Napoleon's Kingdom of Italy.