Nelson and the Nile: The Naval War Against Bonaparte, 1798 [Hardcover]

Brian Lavery (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1998

In this book, Brian Lavery places the Battle of the Nile in its full strategic context, showing the interplay of military and political factors that sent Nelson's squadron into the Mediterranean in pursuit of the powerful French invasion fleet. This was also Nelson's first independent fleet command, and the author shows the development of his command style and the forging of the esprit de corps which was later to triumph at Trafalgar. It also provides a fascinating and detailed insight into the nature and conditions of naval war in the Age of Sail, from the strain felt by fleet commanders, isolated from higher authority and starved of information of the enemy, to the daily lives of the sailors and the tactics used in battle.

All these strands of the story are brought seamlessly together to present the most thorough, detailed, fascinating and vivid account of the most decisive naval campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Original publication in association with the National Maritime Museum- approved by the Official Nelson Celebrations Committee. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

Front Cover Illustration:
HMS Vangaurdrunning down on the anchored Spartiate at the Battle of the Nile, 6:40pm on August 1, 1798. From an original oil painting by Geoff Hunt. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press (July 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155750640X
• ISBN-13: 978-1557506405
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,591,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A history more exciting than most novels!, July 24, 1999

By 

Donal A. O'Neill - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nelson and the Nile: The Naval War Against Bonaparte, 1798 (Hardcover)

This single volume combines the story of Nelson's hamstringing of Bonaparte's Egyptian and Middle Eastern ambitions with a lively overview of the mechanics and organisation of naval power at the apogee of the age of sail. The narrative shifts rapidly between the French and British viewpoints and the technical, sociological and organisational interpolations never interrupt the flow. The tension builds up rapidly as the ramshackle French task-force heads south and east, occupying Malta on the way, and as Nelson's squadron gropes to find it, encountering near disaster off Sardinia. Correctly guessing Egypt as the French destination Nelson then heads east - but chance and mischance ensure that Bonaparte will have landed his forces and conquered Egypt before the French fleet is trapped by Nelson at its Aboukir anchorage. The description of the battle is both exciting and terrifying, and the close insights that Lavery has previously given into the characters of the individual captains as well as admirals make the reader identify closely with those involved. The idealogical differences between the protagonists run as an important, but never explicit, subtext and the contrast between French improvisation and the ruthless professionalism of the British add an extra dimension. This is history in the grand narrative tradition and it reads as easily, and as enjoyably, as the naval novels of Forrester, kent and O'Brien. A splendid read - highly recommended.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Narrative history as it should be written!, August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Nelson and the Nile: The Naval War Against Bonaparte, 1798 (Hardcover)

"Nelson and the Nile" is something of a departure for Brian Lavery. He is best known for his superb books on the design and development of sailing warships and as the author of "Nelson's Navy", an excellent survey of the ships and men of the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. With "Nelson and the Nile", however, Lavery has produced a history of a single naval campaign, which ended in Horatio Nelson's great victory over a French fleet at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. He describes this battle as having a greater importance than the better-known Trafalgar, concluding that the Battle of the Nile irrevocably killed the new French Navy which was struggling to emerge from the destruction of the French Revolution. It was the Nile which made Trafalgar inevitable. Lavery fills the pages with vivid character sketches, exciting description of dramatic events, and rich details which create a wonderful sense of place and time. This is how narrative history should be written, as exciting and compelling as a novel. I imagine that naval fiction enthusiasts, such as the avid fans of Patrick O'Brian's novels, would relish "Nelson and the Nile".

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful book on Nile Campaign, August 31, 2004

By 

lordhoot "lordhoot" (Anchorage, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nelson and the Nile: The Naval War Against Bonaparte, 1798 (Hardcover)

This proves to be a highly readable and well searched book on the Nile Campaign of the summer of 1798 where British admiral Sir Horatio Nelson hunted down Napoleon's French fleet and defeated it. Nelson remains the main subject of the book but the author didn't skimp on the other major characters of the campaign as well as putting his massive technical knowledge of Nelsonian navy into the context of the book and campaign. One of the more interesting elements of the book was how the author compared the activities and motives of the two major players of this campaign, Nelson and Napoleon.

I thought the book gave a very complete coverage of the entire naval campaign, told expertly by a naval expert. The author armed the book with many illstrations and maps that make reading and understanding the campaign that much easier. I thought it was one of the better books written about the campaign.