Book Description

The situation in 1800 was not auspicious for the new born French Republic, Napoleon Bonaparte, as he then was, had with some aid from his family, fellow army officers and politicians, overthrown the venal and corrupt Directory. However France was menaced on its German borders by a vast Austrian army and a further large Austrian army bearing down on the Var and Nice in Northern Italy. Most of the gains won by Bonaparte in his first campaign ending in the triumphant battle of Rivoli had been lost, Switzerland had only just been saved by a masterful campaign by Masséna. Bonaparte attacked the problem with energy, activity and genius, although not secure on a throne he had to balance the ego of his main military rival Moreau, he embarked on a risky gamble to take an army across the Alps and shatter the Austrians in Italy. Herbert Sargent’s book follows Bonaparte’s first campaign as First Consul of the French Republic as he drives, organizes and masterminds his very own blitzkreig across the Alps. As a serving officer in the American Army, who saw active service in a number of the late 19th and early 20th Century campaigns of the United States, he is well qualified to pass his opinion on Napoleon’s brilliant campaign. It would be this campaign that would be the bedrock for the political machinations that would see Napoleon crowned as Emperor of the French some four years later. A classic account of a campaign not much covered in Napoleonic literature. Author – Herbert H. Sargent - (1858–1921)