Alexander Mikaberidze

Winner of the Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize, the first global history of the world''s first world war.Austerlitz, Wagram, Borodino, Trafalgar, Leipzig, Waterloo: these are the places most closely associated with the era of the Napoleonic Wars. But how did this period of nearly continuous conflict affect the world beyond Europe? The immensity of the fighting waged by France against England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, and the immediate consequences of the tremors that spread throughout the world.In this ambitious and far-ranging work, Alexander Mikaberidze argues that the Napoleonic Wars can only be fully understood in an international perspective. France struggled for dominance not only on the plains of Europe but also in the Americas, West and South Africa, Ottoman Empire, Iran, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Taking specific regions in turn, Mikaberidze discusses major political-military events around the world and situates geopolitical decision-making within its long- and short-term contexts. From the British expeditions to Argentina and South Africa to the Franco-Russian maneuvering in the Ottoman Empire, the effects of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars would shape international affairs well into the next century. In Egypt, the wars led to the rise of Mehmed Ali and the emergence of a powerful state; in North America, the period transformed and enlarged the newly established United States; and in South America, the Spanish colonial empire witnessed the start of national-liberation movements that ultimately ended imperial control.Skillfully narrated and deeply researched, here at last is the global history of the period, one that expands our view of the Napoleonic Wars and their role in laying the foundations of the modern world.

The third of three volumes, this book offers to English readers, for the first time, the memoirs of Ilya Timofeyevich Radozhitskii, which rank among the best in the vast Napoleonic memoir literature. Radozhitskii, a distinguished Russian artillery officer, chronicled his experiences shortly after the wars against Napoleon, drawing from notes kept during his campaigns.Born in 1788, the author was educated at the Imperial Orphanage and entered military service in 1806 as part of an artillery unit. Through skill and determination, he rose steadily through the ranks, earning a reputation as a capable and dedicated officer. Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 changed his life. Serving as an artillery lieutenant, Radozhitskii saw action in virtually every major battle of that historic campaign. In 1813-1814, he took part in the War of the German Liberation and the invasion of France, serving with distinction in several battles before finishing the war as a staff captain in Paris in 1814.Radozhitskii’s memoirs provide vivid, unvarnished insight into the daily lives of Russian officers during the Napoleonic Wars. This volume follows him through the invasion of France and its aftermath, offering striking descriptions of soldiers’ trials and triumphs, gripping accounts of battles, and poignant tales of human suffering. When first published in Russia, these memoirs captured the public imagination and were widely acclaimed. Leo Tolstoy drew upon them while crafting his epic War and Peace. Now, these evocative pages allow readers to step into the chaos, courage, and calamity of the Napoleonic era through the eyes of one who lived it.