Aspern & Wagram 1809: Mighty Clash Of Empires (Campaign) [Paperback]

Ian Castle (Author)

Book Description

Series: Campaign | Publication Date: May 26, 1994

Osprey's study of the Battles of Aspern and Wagram of the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815). The 1809 campaign on the Danube was to break the spell of Napoleon's invincibility. Indeed Wagram – the largest battle in history at the time – was Napoleon's revenge for his first personal defeat on the battlefield – at Aspern – Essling. In gaining this revenge the French commander was not wholly successful. Although the French won the battle as the Austrians eventually quit the field, the victory was an extremely hollow one. Both these epic battles are expertly described by Ian Castle, chronicling the many changes of fortune as each side captured, lost, then recaptured key positions.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Highly visual guides to history's greatest conflicts, detailing the command strategies, tactics, and experiences of the opposing forces throughout each campaign, and concluding with a guide to the battlefields today.

About the Author

Ian Castle is a founder member of the Napoleonic Association, and is still very involved in their activities both in Britain and mainland Europe. Ian began writing over ten years ago and besides having numerous articles published in military magazines and journals, he has written or co-written eight books, four of which for the Osprey Campaign series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (May 26, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1855323664
• ISBN-13: 978-1855323667
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 0.3 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,159,463 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well-written Battle Narrative!, May 2, 2001

By 

SCOTT A. MACPHEE (Coeur d'Alene, ID United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Aspern & Wagram 1809: Mighty Clash Of Empires (Campaign) (Paperback)

I'll admit it -- I'm a Napoleonic novice. I've been drawn to the period by the epic scope of the wars, the brilliance of the generalship, and all the pretty uniforms.

Most of the works I've read on the period (and they're not many) have been extremely dry. The Osprey Campaign series tends to lose sight of the forest for the trees; there's lots of detail about where the voltiguer company of the 1er ligne spent the time between 1307 and 1418, but not much sense of the ebb and flow of battle.

Not so with this book. The detail is still there, but the reader comes away with a true appreciation of the fortunes of both armies in the 1809 campaign.

The orders of battle will prove very useful for wargamers, as they provide the strengths of the various units.

The only real drawback to this work is the lack of personalities. We get some small glance inside the mind of Charles, but Napoleon and the lesser generals are never fleshed out. I'd have liked some commentary on their various views of the fighting.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Armies on the Danube 1809, July 7, 2008

By 

Roger Kennedy (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Aspern & Wagram 1809: Mighty Clash Of Empires (Campaign) (Paperback)

This is one of the better Ospery titles. In less than 100 pages it manages to provide an overview of the 1809 campaign as well as some detail of the actual fighting at two of its most important battles. The maps and illustrations are first-rate. Having just visited both battlefields in question near Vienna I wish in retrospect that I had brought this book along. It would have been a handy field referecne guide.

The 1809 campaign was Napolean's last great victory. It marked the beginning of the decline of the Empereur's army, while showing that the quality of its leadership was still inspired. Caught off guard by the initial Austrain declaration of war, Archduke Charles misses an early opportunity to defeat the French forces in Bavaria in detail and allows the French emperuer to reogranize and quickly counter-attack. The Austrians are thrown down the Danube after several hard fought battles which sees them chastend, but not destroyed. Ultizing a corps structure for the first time, the Austrains are clumsy, but more resiliant than in the past.

At Aspern-Essling Napolean expereinces the nearest thing to a defeat in his entire career so far. Archduke Charles and the Austrain army must be given credit where credit is due, despite the fact that they allowed the French to escape from a near impossible situation. Napolean's decision to recklessly cross the Danube with inadquate forces in order to press for a quick victory nearly backfired completely. The Ospery title provides nice details on the horrific fighting that took place in both villages over the course of the two days of fighting. Not much of the origianl villages remain today, except for the church and cemetary in Aspern, and the famous granery in Essling. The epic wounded Lion monument in Aspern gives testimony to the heavy cost of this battle to both sides. We get nice descriptions of the death of marshall Lannes on the second of the battle, and how the French Guard was nearly pummeled into oblivion by the massed Austrian batteries.

A good carry over leading up to the events of wagram a few weeks shows the extent of French preparations. For his second crossing Napolean was not going to take any chances. Wagram also gets nice coverage, and much of the extent of the actual battle remains for the visitor today. The positions of the various villages, Anderklaa, Kagran, Leopoldau and Deautsch-Wagram are still pretty much where they were in 1809. Their actual size has not chnanged all that much, and most have simple monuments for the epic clash of arms which occured there. At Wagram Napolean achieved a hard-fought victory. For its size the battle was the largest to date, almost 300,000 combatants. Larger battles a few years later would soon take away this distinction, but Wagram provides an early example of the kind of large sized battlefield thatwas to become commonplace. The victory was significant, but not overwhelming. The Austrains still managed to withdrawal in good order. Even the Emporeur thought their performance was improved, remarking to one wag who thought they were second rate: "obviously you were not at Wagram." Signifiant praise from Napoelan.

This Ospery title puts it all together nicely, and is a fine companion work for either the wargamer of battlefield tourist. Recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fairly good succinct introduction to the topic, August 4, 2009

By 

Yoda (Hadera, Israel) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aspern & Wagram 1809: Mighty Clash Of Empires (Campaign) (Paperback)

This book serves as a very good introduction to its topic for anyone having only an hour and half or so to dedicate to the subject. It starts out by providing the geopolitical context and motivation of the powers involved. It then provides an overview of the armies involved and the highest level commanders as well as the lower ranks. It is weak, however, in covering the middle ranking officers (i.e., quality, morale, etc.). Also, weapons are weakly covered. The book is also weak when it comes to providing color plates of officers and infantry of the powers invovled (unlike most Osprey books on the Napoleonic Wars). Hence for figurine and model builders not of much value.

The book then goes on to provide a narrative as to how the battle transpired, why it transpired in that manner and what the consequences were. The major weakness here is that the author does not even mention that one of the reasons (if not the most important) why Napoleon could not win a decisive victory was that the size of the forces involved prevented him from excercising personal command (this was the largest battle in history up to that time - some 300,000 men were involved). Napoleon's inability (or lack of desire to pre-delegate) was what really prevented him from achieving the decisive victory he so badly had needed.