[Red_Army]

I'm closing into the last 1/4th of Andrew Roberts' biography of Napoleon, which has only further piqued my interest for the period of which I was previously fairly ignorant. I'm interested in a Wellington biography as well as pointers towards other great biographies of important figures of the period.

While I know biographies are not the most comprehensive way to study an era, they are the easiest, so I'll stick with them at least until I decide another course. I'm also interested in a Bismarck and a Garibaldi biography, so I'll take recommendations that way also.

[Decky]

It is the only Bismark biography I have read so not like I can compare it with anything else but I enjoyed it, Germany unification is an interesting part of history.

[MB.]

Bismarck by Emil Ludwig




Wellington as Military Commander by Michael Glover



Wellington: the years of the sword by Elizabeth Longford

[Red_Army]

Thanks guys!

[Boggart]

General Napier did a 6 volume tome about the Peninsular War which is supposed to be very good. I have his "English Battles and Sieges in the Peninsula" which I have yet to read and which is a somewhat more concise version of his 6 volumes!!

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=7JE ... &q&f=false

Not sure if this is the full version or not: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qMb ... er&f=false

[MB.]

Andrew Roberts' biography of Napoleon,

What did you learn about Napoleon Bonaparte's battle command in Italy? Also, what did the book have to say about Napoleon's role as a statesman?

[Red_Army]

It went over his early command in Italy - how his generals initially didn't appreciate being commanded by a young upstart, but came to respect his strategic knowledge. It didn't go as much into battlefield tactics as I would have liked, but it did go into detail about Napoleon as a statesmen. How he was intimately involved in nearly every aspect of governing - his thirst for knowledge and humbleness in the face of subjects he was ignorant of. Roberts is definitely a Napoleon fan, but he did criticize his hubris and his opinions about women fairly heavily.

[MB.]

For someone maybe looking for a more specialized history of Napoleon as military commander, I recommend Theodore Dodges 4 volume Napoleon: The Art Of War.



Red Army, I'm wondering, based on your review of Roberts, if you can comment more on his interpretation of Napoleon as a modernist. For example, you mentioned Napoleon and Roberts critique of Bonaparte and women, etc.

I'm very interested, in particular, in Napoleon's use of journals and history, which I think stakes him out as a modernist, in addition to the obvious French Revolutionary aspects. Anyway, if you could elaborate on Napoleon the modern man I'd appreciate it.

[Red_Army]

I think being a modernist is the biggest part of Roberts' positive estimation of Napoleon. He mentions the faults that all his critics bring up, but focuses on the lasting changes he made to French civil society. There's a lot in there about Napoleon's bottomless thirst for knowledge about anything and everything (science, literature, art, etc). He rarely slept, wrote letters constantly, and listened in on lectures and meetings, etc. There was a lot of stuff about this in the book that I don't remember too many details, but I hope this helps.

[ThirdTerm]

Salisbury: Victorian Titan (Phoenix Press) Andrew Roberts (Author)

Unfortunately, this book is no longer available but I was very impressed by it when I read "Salisbury: Victorian Titan" around a decade ago, when I was studying in Britain. The book was too heavy to bring home and I had to dump it at Heathrow, which I still regret.

[Potemkin]

Second-hand copies are available on eBay for under $10, ThirdTerm. Just sayin'.

[MB.]

Salisbury strikes me as one of the obsolete men. The new men, labour, mechanized, scientific, democratic- nationalistic- were quick to dismantle Salisbury's legacy. After Disreali, Salisbury was a mere reactionary until Balfour. Or so I feel. It might be interesrsting to see what the communists have to say here