Book Description

This important historical account is the first in a series of two volumes, first published in 1856—the same year as the original French edition. The author, Baron de Bazancourt, was appointed official historiographer by Napoleon III, and charged with the responsibility of producing a history of the French part in the war in the Crimea. On arriving there in January 1855, he was warmly welcomed by the principal officers of the Army and, in writing his two volumes, he has drawn from “these living sources, the valuable and authentic documents which have guided [him] through the labyrinth of this complicated work.” Bazancourt was privy to the original journals of the various Divisions, as well as those of all the military operations of the campaign and the siege: “It is upon the very spot where the greater part of these events had passed, that those who had directed them have recounted to me their most striking episodes. I inquired,—I listened,—and I wrote. Not a day passed, but had its labour and its allotted task.” An invaluable addition to every personal, professional or educational British Military History library.