Customer Reviews

Napoleon's marshals

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Most of the time when you find something this interesting covering an historical period, it turns out to be 'faction' a la Michener. The fun part about Delderfield is that this is *true*.

The foot soldiers and horsemen of Napoleonic France were good, to be sure, but it was their leadership that shaped their character. Delderfield gives a fair account of them all, in their finest hours and weakest moments, and enables the reader to consider what it might have been like to follow such men to war.

None are overglorified and none are overmaligned. Ney is present with skill, naivete and honour. Massena's piercing eyes coolly look over advancing grenadiers and heaps of plunder. Augereau begins as a lion and ends as a mouse. Lannes fears nothing and no one. The Emperor is irascible but has that special touch that drew men to his side and held them. To be French and to read this book would surely evoke national and cultural pride, and it would be small-minded indeed to quarrel that a descendant of France's arch-enemies of the period wrote it. He did them fine justice.

If, to you, war is Napoleon, then you simply must dig up a copy, even if you must charge into grapeshot to get it.

I flew through this book. The narrative style of writing lent itself to a quick and enjoyable read. I came away with a better overall picture of those who were surrounding Napoleon.

Although the subject is broad in the sense that the author tackles so many people. He none-the-less does an excelent job of rounding out a solid picture of Naploeon's marshals, their personalites, their ambitons...flaws and credits.

There are several marshals that I would like to read more about based on the information gleaned from within these pages. Understandably the author could not devote as much time as he may have liked to each and every member of this group. He did, however achieve the goal of introducing us to all of them and more than just a basic glossing over.

What I liked most is that the author took the events and let time itself introduce and develop the marshals rather than simply lining each one up and giving the reader an encyclopedia type synopsis of each individual. This really brought each marshal into better focus in terms of what was going on at the time and why they entered the picture whent hey did, as well as what they were doing prior to entering into the service of the Empire.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Napoleon and also intersted in getting a better feel for those around him and what drove them to thier positions.

Buy and read this book.

You will give Delderfield credit for his vision, his ambition and his broad coverage to the Age of Napoleon. This book is a synthesis of the age, and a complement to all your other Napoleonic reading. It is an enjoyable book which weaves back and forth and round and round, as the author tells about the personalities of, and interrelationships among, the 26 men who became Marshals of France.

There are many reasons I like Delderfield himself. The leading reason is that he values selflessness, effort, merit and ability. Though British, he could have hardly been more American in that respect. He was not the often-encountered British snob who promotes the view that Napoleon was an ogre.

I share Delderfield's view, unabashedly, because I am a Son of the American Revolution, and I hope also a true Patriot. While we owe our cultural heritage to the English in very large measure, I believe we owe our freedoms mostly to the French.

Delderfield is critical about the 26 men and their Emperor when needed, but he understands the great achievements of the time. He appreciates the blows that the French made and took in the name of liberty and progress.

I thought I was buying a book of biographical portraits like Aubrey's Brief Lives, Seutonius' Twelve Caesars or Plutach's Lives. What I got instead was the whole story of the Age of Napoleon retold in a dramatic serial fashion (it would be a great HBO story), and in the action story form of Delderfield's own fiction, Seven Men of Gascony.

The book is organized according the normal conventions around the coalitions and campaigns. The story line begins at the end of the Age of Frederick the Great in order to bring the early lives of the oldest Marshals, such as Augereau, into focus. The story finally ends about 70 years later with the Funeral of Napoleon led by Marshal Soult to the tomb in the Invalides.

The story revolves around the twelve or so basic campaigns and the role of the respective Marshals. The book is fresh and it does not repeat known erroneous myths or trite cliches.

From this book, we get insights into the interacting character of the 27 men, (Napoleon included and chief among them). Very few of the faults of the Marshals are left unexposed by the end of the story. Those who achieve the highest place in Delderfield's pantheon, and remain relatively unscathed, are Davout the Iron Marshal; Ney, the Bravest of the Brave, Lannes, the Roland of France; and Poniatowski, Prince of Poland.

The other Marshals are treated well and complimented for their roles and abilities -- though depreciated for their weaknesses and vanities. They are put on a lesser shelf, revealing more than anything the values of the author. I happen to agree with Delderfield that adherence to duty, bravery and loyalty are the three highest standards to judge these men.

All of the Marshals have an interesting personal story. We have to give all of them credit for ability and bravery beyond the common varieties. None of them became Marshals of France because they were incompetents or cowards. The abiding values of the Napoleonic Creed were merit and joie de virve or elan. The Marshals, on the whole, personified these values.

The Emperor could forgive vanity as in Murat; disloyalty as in Bernadotte, and greed, as in Messena. He forgave them all, and many times, in the name of merit (also probably in the name of necessity which is often a reflection of the same thing).

I recommend this book for three reasons. First, it is organized - it gives a compact lucid picture of the chessboard of the age. It tells us about how the campaigns and politics were structured. Second, it is complementary to other work such as Gallo, Tolstoy, Chandler and so on. It provides an additive perspective on the events which can enhance and enrich your reading of all the other literature on Napoleon. Third, it is literate and enjoyable. As I have already said, I share strongly the values and sensibilities expressed by Delderfield.

I suspect Delderfield's perspectives on the French and Americans were shaped by interactions in World War II and World War I. The 20th century Delderfeild, if placed in the 18th Century, would have been a political sympathizer in the American Revolution, and he might have crossed the Channel to march with Davout, Lanne, Bessieres, Oudinot or Ney.

I don't mean to say he would be a traitor to England - I do not wish to dishonor him that way. What I mean is, from the benefit of perfect hindsight, he would have seen the vision of marking men by ability. He would have marched off of the old Road to Serfdom, as Hayek called it, and onto the new Road to Freedom which was then being beaten across Europe by the French.

As with all books about this age, the principal subject is Napoleon himself, who by any objective standard was the greatest leader of men in battle the world has ever known. As is usually the case with a leader, you will see in this book that any given leader cannot do everything in a complex enterprise, and so must organize around himself a way that expresses his own goals, interests and competencies.

By examining the complexities of the individual Marshals and their interactions, you will be looking into the heart and mind of the Emperor himself. You will see why, at Waterloo, Napoleon was no longer himself. He was no longer able to articulate his visions without his Marshals of years gone by. You can speculate, for example, that if Berthier was present at Waterloo, the calvary would have stayed in reserve for the coup de grace, and that Grouchy would have not been lost, hence blocking Blucher from the field, while Napoleon finished Wellington -- who was at the time already beaten on the hillsides of Waterloo.

While Richard III would have given his kingdom for a horse, Napoleon lost his Empire for want of his Marshals.

There are many, many books on Napoleonic military history, but this one was extraordinary in that it captured the personalities and feel of the Napoleonic era unlike so many other dry tomes that concern theselves with the maps and events on such-and-such a date. Delderfield really enables one to understand the personalities of Napoleon's marshals and how their relationships helped to guide the rise and fall of the empire.

This book could be very good reading for those not even interested in the Napoleonic era, but rather those who lead organizations and must build talent for any endeavor. Napoleon identified and promoted the best men he could find - wherever they came from, and used each man's unique personality and talents to forge an army that conquered Europe. None of them were perfect, but his brilliant description of each marshal shows how the essence of true leadership is to use the best in each man, and subsidize his weaknesses with others' strengths. This book is not just a great Napoleonic history, but an extraordinary treatise on leadership as well as how to identify and manage extraordinary performers.

One of those books I wished could go on and on...The author deftly handles all of the marshals in a relatively short read. A book sure to have you choosing your favorite marshals and doing further research to see if full biographies are available on them. Long live Ney and Davout!

WOW... Let me just say that first. When you finish this book, you too will be just as taken aback..

OK, I like reading about the Napoleonic era, but with the exception of such books as Baron de Marbot and the fictional account of Brigadier Gerard ( based on Marbot, ) my reading list on the subject has been composed of books that concerned themselves primarily with Napoleon..I am so happy that I decided to get THIS book. It really was SUCH a thrilling read! It is certainly a book that one can become excited about. ( You know very well how often books about history can be rather dry, but this one will keep you riveted throughout. ) After having read it I am even more interested in these men and am eager to continue in my quest in seeking out information regarding their lives.

At first I was trying to imagine how I would be able to keep track of all the different men involved in this account, but the writer does such an amazing job of helping one put names with backgrounds and names with deeds...I cannot explain how he does it, but trust me when I tell you that you will come away from this book feeling as if you personally knew all these men. To be able to see them from the start of the campaigns, as young men, to the very last days of their long lives feels like a priviledge indeed. Their backgrounds are so diverse, and each man has his own unique personality quirks; strengths, weaknesses, etc, which are in themselves interesting enough, but then you see how Napoleon was able to use each of them in his own capacity, and well,...I sat so often reading and shaking my head in amazement. Also I think this book gives a brilliant portrait of what it is like to live one's entire life as soldier in a time when the battlefield was SO OFTEN a part of one's daily life! There are so many anecdotes, and Delderfield does such a smashing job with his subject matter that you will feel as if you are in the midst of the action at all times.

The book certainly gives a much broader perspective of Napoleon's reign and it is worth every page. If you are even remotely interested in this period of History I would highly recommend this book. It is a shame that I cannot properly express my high praise of it. Just buy it now.

This is an excellent account of Napoleon's elite generals. It is every bit as good as MacDonell's book ("Napoleon and His Marshals"), albeit written in a different spirit. MacDonell's prose is unrestrained with passion and quite partial, trumpeting out who's actions are valiant or ignoble, which marshals are loyal to Napoleon and which are mere opportunists, which generals are brilliant on the battlefield and which are incompetent. Delderfield's writing is deliberate and more objective, giving the reader more opportunity to judge for himself the actions of these men who served under Napoleon. Yet it is plain that both authors were quite enthusiastic about these marshals, and what is more, both succeed in transferring this passion to the reader. What a story to be told and what a telling ! Both books have indexes, by the way.

I thoroughly enjoyed both books and recommend getting both. However, I was quite unhappy with my 1996 Prion paperback version of "Napoleon and his Marshals": the book cover is flimsy to the point of being nonfunctional. I felt compelled to mount an adhesive book jacket to the cover before I dared to begin reading.

Delerfield's engaging history of the men who led Napoleon's armies across Europe is essential for anyone who is interested in this period of history. While not an in-depth study, the author did an excellent job of bringing the marshals to life, especially the larger-than-life Ney and Murat. These men made their imprint upon Europe as no one before or since. The reader practically becomes a part of the great campaigns of the Grand Armee across Europe and the torment of the Peninsula War.

While this book is not exceptionally well written it is very readable and keeps the reader engrossed in the events of the time. Even for any accomplished student of the Napoleonic Wars this is a must read.

This book came in great shape, in great time, and my husband really enjoyed reading it!

My only gripe is that it wasn't 2000 pages so it could have really covered all of the ground. As it was the book offers lots of good insights into many of the lesser known Marshals like Suchet and Davout, two fighting marshals who were sorely missed at Waterloo.