- Hardcover: 672 pages
- Publisher: Allen Lane; First Edition edition (1 Oct 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0713996374
- ISBN-13: 978-0713996371
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.2 x 4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 297,119 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Russia Against Napoleon: The Battle for Europe, 1807 to 1814
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £7.15
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Russia Against Napoleon: The Battle for Europe, 1807 to 1814 for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £7.15, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Winner of the Wolfson History Prize 2009 and shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize (various )
A compulsive read. This master storyteller and scholar has written an instant classic that is awesome, remarkable and exuberant. (Simon Sebag Montefiore The Scotsman )
(He creates) an historic canvas that is both overwhelming and meticulous ... he inevitably touches the nerve points of modern power politics. (The Economist )
An essential reference ... the Princess would have approved. (The Spectator )
(An) erudite, monumental piece of historial research ... it's a great tale with a clear argument, baked by an impressive array of sources and detail. (Charles Clover Financial Times )
A superbly crafted book (Alexander M. Martin TLS )
Lieven tells it with all the verve of the enthusiast and the erudition of the fine scholar he is ... The result is a balanced, informed and entirely convincing explanation of how Russia was able to defeat the Napoleonic empire. It is also a perfect marriage of scholarship and engaging narrative that fills a yawning gap in the historiography of the period, while entertaining the reader (Adam Zamoyski, Standpoint )
A lucid and detailed account (Geoffrey Hosking London Review of Books )
A compulsive read. This master storyteller and scholar has written an instant classic that is awesome, remarkable and exuberant. (Simon Sebag Montefiore The Scotsman )
(He creates) an historic canvas that is both overwhelming and meticulous ... he inevitably touches the nerve points of modern power politics. (The Economist )
An essential reference ... the Princess would have approved. (The Spectator )
(An) erudite, monumental piece of historial research ... it's a great tale with a clear argument, baked by an impressive array of sources and detail. (Charles Clover Financial Times )
A superbly crafted book (Alexander M. Martin TLS )
Lieven tells it with all the verve of the enthusiast and the erudition of the fine scholar he is ... The result is a balanced, informed and entirely convincing explanation of how Russia was able to defeat the Napoleonic empire. It is also a perfect marriage of scholarship and engaging narrative that fills a yawning gap in the historiography of the period, while entertaining the reader (Adam Zamoyski, Standpoint )
A lucid and detailed account (Geoffrey Hosking London Review of Books )
Product Description
This book tells the story of one of the most astonishing dramas in Europe's history. In the summer of 1812 after years of uneasy peace, Napoleon, the master of almost the whole continent, marched into Russia with the largest army ever assembled, confident that he would sweep everything before him. Less than two years later the Russian army was itself marching into Paris and Napoleon's empire lay in ruins.
Using an array of new, rare and surprising sources, Dominic Lieven writes with great panache and insight to describe from the Russians' viewpoint how they went from retreat, defeat and the burning of Moscow to becoming the new liberators of Europe. He conveys the savagery and valour of the fighting (including such huge set-pieces as the Battle of Leipzig), the often tense diplomacy that held together the Allied coalition against Napoleon and the astonishing feats of supply which allowed the Russian army to cut its way across Europe.The consequences of these events could not have been more important: after a whole generation of fighting, Europe (except for the brief coda of Waterloo) was at peace and France's global pretensions at an end. But the great winners, Britain and Russia, now presented new nightmares for the rest of the world.
Much more than just battlefield history, Russia Against Napoleon is also the story of how Russia's home front was mobilised against Napoleon and how much the Russian people suffered in pursuit of victory. It is too the story of one of the most successful espionage operations in history. Ultimately this book shows, memorably and brilliantly, Russia embarking on its strange, central role in Europe's existence, as both threat and protector - a role that continues, in all its complexity, into our own lifetimes.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Lieven's stated objective is to demolish the myth so common in Western Europe and North America, and also, surprisingly, in Russia that it was mainly the harsh weather that destroyed Napoleon's Grand Armee in Russia, and not so much the Russians themselves. He studies new and yet untapped sources and walks the battlefields to tell a story of human courage and sacrifice, of diplomacy and espionage, of pride and passion, of victory and defeat. He tells it from the point of view of the Russians to show how their ability to manage logistics, recruit and train the best cavalry of the time, and mobilize the home front turned them from potential victims of Napoleon's hunger for conquest into Europe's liberators.
Russia Against Napoleon is a history book that reads like a novel. This is Dominic Lieven at his very best. His text is rich and insightful, incredibly well researched, colourful, intellectually provocative, and at times humorous. I have just finished reading it and I see myself going back to it over and over again. It is a feast of the mind.
Russia Against Napoleon is a history book that reads like a novel. This is Dominic Lieven at his very best. His text is rich and insightful, incredibly well researched, colourful, intellectually provocative, and at times humorous. I have just finished reading it and I see myself going back to it over and over again. It is a feast of the mind.
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is a masterpiece, a work of genius. It is noteworthy that the author Dominic Lieven seems to have found a large number of his ancestors named Lieven in his story. He writes with both astonishing passion and erudition. He obviously has a great passion and love for his subject and a novelists skill at telling it. At some points the detail is almost overwhelming but not quite. It is always an enjoyable read, with characters very fully drawn. At the same time the historical detail regarding ALL the facets of Russia's war against Napoleon are very fully described.
So, a word of warning; it is by no means a light read. It may be advisable to get a general overview of Napoleons campaign in Russia, and the subsequent Liberation of Europe, before diving into this book.
It is such a joy to read the full account of the Russian struggle in the Napoleonic wars. It is about time they were given fuller credit for their part in his downfall. Very much as the Soviet Union, for all its faults, should be given the credit that it is due for its sacrifice in bearing the brunt of the war against Hitler.
Having said all this there is one glaring fault that really lets the book down - hence 4 stars, not 5. The author goes into immense detail with his descriptions of the battles - he could probably have written a book for each one. But, and it is a huge but, he does not provide the kind of maps that would help the reader to follow the battles. By chpt 12 this ommission actuallybecomes quite burdensome. He could easily have made this work into 2 vols., and have included far more maps on the pages opposite the descrptions; nice shiny colour maps would have been perfect. Or perhaps even a companion volume to this work, just with maps, large overview maps, smaller, more localised detailed maps. His level of detail really does demand this. There are a few black and white maps at the front of the book, sort of tucked away, but they are not really sufficiently accessible or detailed or particularly well organised.One does not want to have to go back and forth from description to map every few words. It may be that the publisher wanted to save on maps to make the book less expensive... Big mistake in my view.
The other major omission is the lack of a general overview of each chapter before he begins the detailed description. An overview would help to focus the readers mind beforte the detail assaults them. Sometimes the detail though interesting does feel like an assault; each chapter would stand at least two readings.
These criticisms aside, it is a truly monumental work. Its about time the West brought Russia in from the cold, if only to get to know it better...
So, a word of warning; it is by no means a light read. It may be advisable to get a general overview of Napoleons campaign in Russia, and the subsequent Liberation of Europe, before diving into this book.
It is such a joy to read the full account of the Russian struggle in the Napoleonic wars. It is about time they were given fuller credit for their part in his downfall. Very much as the Soviet Union, for all its faults, should be given the credit that it is due for its sacrifice in bearing the brunt of the war against Hitler.
Having said all this there is one glaring fault that really lets the book down - hence 4 stars, not 5. The author goes into immense detail with his descriptions of the battles - he could probably have written a book for each one. But, and it is a huge but, he does not provide the kind of maps that would help the reader to follow the battles. By chpt 12 this ommission actuallybecomes quite burdensome. He could easily have made this work into 2 vols., and have included far more maps on the pages opposite the descrptions; nice shiny colour maps would have been perfect. Or perhaps even a companion volume to this work, just with maps, large overview maps, smaller, more localised detailed maps. His level of detail really does demand this. There are a few black and white maps at the front of the book, sort of tucked away, but they are not really sufficiently accessible or detailed or particularly well organised.One does not want to have to go back and forth from description to map every few words. It may be that the publisher wanted to save on maps to make the book less expensive... Big mistake in my view.
The other major omission is the lack of a general overview of each chapter before he begins the detailed description. An overview would help to focus the readers mind beforte the detail assaults them. Sometimes the detail though interesting does feel like an assault; each chapter would stand at least two readings.
These criticisms aside, it is a truly monumental work. Its about time the West brought Russia in from the cold, if only to get to know it better...
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is fantastic.
It has more useful information than any book I have read on the Napoleonic period since Chandler (and I was a tenager then,so I knew nothing).
It is, in short, essential for anyone with any interest in the later part of the Napoleonic period.
It is so good I bothered to make an Amazon review for it - and I never bother with Amazon reviews.
Buy it.
It has more useful information than any book I have read on the Napoleonic period since Chandler (and I was a tenager then,so I knew nothing).
It is, in short, essential for anyone with any interest in the later part of the Napoleonic period.
It is so good I bothered to make an Amazon review for it - and I never bother with Amazon reviews.
Buy it.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Amazing coverage of russia role in the war
the book is all about Russia's involvement in the wars with Napoleon from the treaty of Tilsit in 1807 to Napoleons first abdication in 1814 and so takes a fully russian... Read more
Published 4 months ago by john
Excellent Book About the Russian Experience of Fighting Napoleon
This is a very interesting and informative book concentrating on the Russian viewpoint of the latter parts of Napoleonic Wars. Read more
Published 10 months ago by JWH
How to run a 19th century war - and win
Early in this book, Dominic Lieven remarks that war is generally the best source of heroic nationalist myths. No doubt we can all think of a few that prove his point. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Lost John
Russia against Napoleon
This is an excellant book well worth five stars; having previously red Adam Zamoyski's equally good book "1812 Napoleon's fatal march on Moscow" Dominic Lieven's new takes the... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Cameron Aitken
Groundbreaking
Using much new source material, the author provides a fascinating insight into the Russia of the Napoleonic period. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Gastronaut
excellent, totally new viewpoint on the whole subject
i bought this in the states as plane reading, and absolutely loved it. Being a fan of Napoleonic War history ive read this subject several times before but always from the French... Read more
Published 19 months ago by M. Notman
A biased book
Besides the excellent writing style and the full comprehension of the overall issue I think that the author is slightly biased because he describes the Russians and their Emperor... Read more
Published 20 months ago by dim
Pleased after false start!
The first book was recd. very promptly, but I found that a large section of the pages was out of sequence. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Mr. E. H. Tooley
Alexander the Great?
This is a first-rate popular history--one which covers the all-but-ignored history of the battles that led to Napoleon's first abdication in 1814. Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2010 by T. Burkard
New Tsar
Very readable account of how Tsar Alexander planned to, and then did, defeat Napoleon. Puts the Tsar in, for me, a whole new light, as it does Napoleon.
Published on 6 Dec 2009 by C. Heneghan
Listmania!
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
