August 2023
The Napoleon Series continues to attract original and interesting contributions from historians studying all aspects of the period, and this month we have a varied and very well-researched selection of articles.
Peter Cross has submitted an interesting article on French Army Uniforms of the Hundred Days Campaign of 1815, examining what the Ligne and Légère regiments were supposed to be wearing and what they actual wore during Napoleon’s final campaign. This article introduces an exciting major project by Scott Bowden and Peter Cross on Napoleon, The Hundred Days Epoch: The Emperor and his 1815 Armies, in five volumes, to be published in late 2024 and the first half of 2025.
Dave Honour has written a very good piece about the Battle of Blaauwberg 1806, subtitled South Africa enters the Napoleonic Wars, about the British attack on the Cape in 1806. This is the story of the battle, with details of the Dutch forces defending the Cape, plus the archaeological work that has been undertaken on the site.
Adam Walczak has submitted the first of a series of studies of the Army of the Kingdon of Naples 1806-1815 examining the history of the 1st Neapolitan Infantry Regiment.
Book reviews:
Berezina 1812: Napoleon’s Hollow Victory (Osprey Publishing)
To Conquer and to Keep, Suchet and the War for Eastern Spain 1809-14. Volume II 1811-1814 (Helion)
The Changing Face of Old Regime Warfare: Essays in Honour of Christopher Duffy (Helion)
July 2023
Napoleon: Trailer First Thoughts
Owen Davis has provided his thoughts on the trailer being shown for the forthcoming Napoleon movie starring Joaquin Phoenix. While the trailer is causing some controversy amongst Napoleonic aficionados throughout the world, any movie about the period will stimulate an interest in all things Napoleonic. Already there is an increase in traffic to the Napoleon Series looking for information about scenes included in this epic.
June 2023
Review of To Conquer and to Keep: Suchet and the War for Eastern Spain 1809-14 Volume 1 1809-1811
Review of The Battle for the Cape 1778 to 1806
Although this book is was limited to 80 copies, if there is enough interest in the title it will be reprinted.
Peter Phillips continues his translation of A Century of The Russian Ministry of War 1802-1902 General Staff Historical Department with an article covering The Reign of Emperor Alexander I 1801-1805 A-Century-of-the-Russian-Ministry-of-War-Reforms-1800-05-Part-11-12
‘Explanations’ by the Military Commission; Calculations by the Military Commission on troop numbers; tables of establishments of troops in Russian Army (useful data here).
Further instalments (another five) from Greg Gorsuch of Histoire de la Campagne de Russie by Émile Marco de Saint-Hilaire. These new instalments cover:
Military correspondence of the Cabinet of the Emperor, Bulletins of the Grande Armée; Napoleon’s stay at Vitebsk.
Secondary operations of the Army Corps of the Prince of Schwarzenberg, and Marshals Oudinot and MacDonald, 17 July to 12 August 1812.
Secondary military operations of the Army Corps of Marshals Davout, Oudinot, MacDonald and the Prince of Schwarzenberg.
The Emperor Alexander at Moscow; Appendix to the Fourth Part; Bulletins of the Grande Armée, Proclamations of the Emperor of Russia.
Napoleon at Smolensk; March on Moscow; The Great Battle; from 13 August to 14 September 1812.
These instalments include some nice images of Polish and Portuguese troops.
April 2023
Further instalments (another four) from Greg Gorsuch of Histoire de la Campagne de Russie by Émile Marco de Saint-Hilaire. These new instalments cover the Crossing of the Niemen; The Following Military Operations and New Provisions of the Emperor Alexander; Napoleon at Vilna; End of Napoleon’s Stay in Vilna.
Peter Phillips continues his translation of A Century of The Russian Ministry of War 1802-1902 General Staff Historical Department with an article covering The Reign of Emperor Alexander I 1801-1805 ‘Reasoning’ and ‘Scenarios’ by the engineers and Quartermaster General Sukhtelen and an evaluation of ‘Scenarios’
Review of The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars: Strategies for a World War
Review of The Men of Wellington’s Light Division
February 2023
The Waterloo Association has two means of publication of historic articles. The Waterloo Journal will publish material up to 5,000 words in length, and anything larger than this is directed to The Napoleon Series. This means that this website is an extension of our Journal and contains not only a vast amount of useful data for historians but has that ‘magazine feel’ with interesting stand- alone articles. David Howell has produced such an article entitled The British Conquest of Ceylon and the Massacre at Kandy 1803. This is a fascinating read and tells the story of a little-known aspect of the period.
Further instalments (another three) from Greg Gorsuch of Histoire de la Campagne de Russie by Émile Marco de Saint-Hilaire. These new instalments cover the first Russian Armies that opposed the Grande Armée; the final diplomatic overtures; Napoleon at Vilna, the Confederation of Poland and a description of the initial theatre of campaign. Part 32 includes a very nice image of Italian troops.
Peter Phillips continues his translation of A Century of The Russian Ministry of War 1802-1902 General Staff Historical Department with an article covering
The Reign of Emperor Alexander I 1801-1805 On the Submission of the Military Commission’s Notes and Conclusions on the new establishments, under The Reign of Emperor Alexander I Petrovich: Reform during the period 1801-1805.
January 2023
Further instalments (another two) from Greg Gorsuch of Histoire de la Campagne de Russie by Émile Marco de Saint-Hilaire. These new instalments cover the Grand Park of the artillery and the engineers; troops in fortified towns; the Army Corps of Reserve; the numerical force of the different Corps from which the Grand Army was formed. This series of translations provides a very comprehensive source of information on the 1812 Campaign in Russia.
To complement Gregs work, Peter Phillips continues his translation of A Century of The Russian Ministry of War 1802-1902 General Staff Historical Department with an article covering
The Reign of Emperor Alexander I 1801-1805 Establishments for infantry and cavalry, under The Reign of Emperor Alexander I Petrovich: Reform during the period 1801-1805.
Review of Fighting Terror After Napoleon: How Europe Became Secure after 1815
Review of The Army of the Kingdom of Italy 1805-1814: Uniforms, Organisation, Campaigns
Highlights for 2022
An interesting article entitled Napoleon’s Shadow: The Impact of his Martial Philosophy by Michael Stroud.
A Walcheren Journal by Paul Thompson
The John Rylands Library at the University of Manchester houses the correspondence and papers of Sir James Leith. Included in the Rylands archive is a brief journal titled Dates of the Operations of the British Army in the Island of Walcheren. This document records operations of the British army over two weeks in the summer of 1809, during the invasion of Holland that later came to be known as the Walcheren Expedition. This article comprises a transcription of the journal and commentary upon it.
Napoleonic Scholarship: The Journal of the International Napoleonic Society
The INS has very kindly allowed us to publish its Journal on the website. Issues 6 to 10 are now available to view, with the earlier Journals to be included in the near future. This has immediately placed onto the site over 80 articles covering a vast range of topics, written by leading historians worldwide.
Subjects covered include the 1799 Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, the Convention of Cintra, the Grand Duchy of Berg, the Dutch at Quatre Bras, and military espionage to name just a few of the very interesting and well-researched papers included in the Journal. Contributors include well-known historians such as David Markham, Terry Crowdy, Alasdair White, Peter Hicks and John Gill.
This is a valuable addition to the Napoleon Series, and so whatever your interests in the period, take a look at these Journals. You will find much of interest.
Peter Phillips has submitted the first of what will be a series of translations of Russian documents relating to the Russian Army of the Napoleonic Wars:
A Century of The Russian Ministry of War 1802-1902 General Staff Historical Department: The Reign of Emperor Paul I Petrovich 1796 – 1801
To accompany this review, Moisés Gaudêncio has written an interesting paper entitled Were the Portuguese Caçadores Armed with Baker Rifles?
Review of Vilnius 1812: Ghosts of Napoleon’s Grande Armée through their Artifacts
Review of Marching, Fighting and Dying: Experiences of Soldiers in the Peninsular War
A Traitorous Correspondence: General Edouard Simon and the Conspirators of Odiham
The story of prisoners of war, espionage, and conspiracies in the Parole Depots of Hampshire by Paul Chamberlain
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