Customer Reviews

Austerlitz: Napoleon and the Eagles of Europe

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Castle's Austerlitz is a short, well written primer on the 1805 campaign
apparently (they share the same trademark) replacing Duffy's 1977 account.
I too read it in addition to Goetz's marvelous analysis of the battle and
while they compliment each other, they are incomparable. But for those who
prefer a quick survey full of character and characterization, Castle will be the
ticket. I particularly enjoyed the explanation of the legendary and personality
driven capture of the Tabor bridge. It finally made sense. The alleged escapades
of Schulmeister - which if true didn't affect the military realities of the situation,
Langeron's acidic evaluations of fellow generals, or braggart Thiebault's self-serving
memoirs add more color, along with some doubts. The brevity and style also affect the
some of the battle accounts. At Schoengrabern, "twice the Russians were surrounded but
fought their way out with the bayonet" is the kind of heroic description that raises
eyebrows among the cognoscenti. And some of the traditional interpretation of Allied
ineptitude go unchallenged. For example, Weyrother's complicated approach march, which
in fact served its purpose. The clear account battle of Austerlitz itself, occupies
four chapters, which helps provide the reader with a firm grasp of the structure of
the battle, and the author's correspondence with Goetz ensures it is on firm factual ground.
Unfortunately the 3 battle maps, while well chosen, are too few and vague
to adequately support the text, and a step back from the 6 in Duffy.
This is true in other chapters. The issue of Ansbach neutrality would be better understood
if it appeared on a map, and the battle of Duernstein is pretty incomprehensible without one.
This is a common problem for works of the genre, but in the CAD era I have to downrate it.