These excellent volumes cover the Waterloo campaign 'from muzzle to buttplate' and are well-researched and definitive. Taken individually, each book stands on its own. Taken as a group the books are an indispensable work and reference for the French campaign in Belgium in 1815.
Prelude to Waterloo: Quatre Bras: The French Perspective
"The Battle of Quatre Bras was critical to the outcome of the Waterloo campaign to the victory of the allied armies of Wellington and Blcher, the defeat of the French and the fall of Napoleon. But it has been overshadowed by the two larger-scale engagements at Ligny and at Waterloo itself. And too often the clash at Quatre Bras has been seen mainly through the eyes of the British and their allies the viewpoint of the French has been neglected. It is this weakness in the history of the battle that Andrew Field focuses on in this original and highly readable new study. Drawing on French eyewitness recollections and later commentary, he reconstructs the French experience of the battle and the French interpretation of it. He quotes extensively, and subjects to critical analysis, the conflicting accounts written by Napoleon and his subordinates as they sought justify their decisions and actions at this pivotal moment in the campaign."
Waterloo: The French Perspective
"The story of the Battle of Waterloo - of the ultimate defeat of Napoleon and the French, the triumph of Wellington, Blücher and their allied armies - is most often told from the viewpoint of the victors, not the vanquished. Even after 200 years of intensive research and the publication of hundreds of books and articles on the battle, the French perspective and many of the primary French sources are under-represented in the written record. So it is high time this weakness in the literature – and in our understanding of the battle – was addressed, and that is the purpose of Andrew Field's thought-provoking new study. He has tracked down over ninety first-hand French accounts, many of which have never been previously published in English, and he has combined them with accounts from the other participants in order to create a graphic new narrative of one of the world's decisive battles. Virtually all of the hitherto unpublished testimony provides fascinating new detail on the battle and many of the accounts are vivid, revealing and exciting."
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The French at Waterloo - Eyewitness Accounts: Napoleon, Imperial Headquarters and 1st Corps
"Andrew Field, who has published four best-selling books on the Battle of Waterloo, has established himself as one of the leading experts on the French perspective of the campaign. Using selected extracts from French eyewitness accounts that haven't been published before in English, he has added a new dimension to our understanding of what happened on the battlefield on 18 June 1815. Now he takes his pioneering work a step further by publishing these accounts, with all their vivid and personal detail, in full.
For the first time readers will be in a position to make their own interpretations of them and compare them to the recollections of soldiers from the allied armies, in particular the British, which have largely determined our assumptions about the battle for the last 200
years. They will also gain a heightened insight into the trauma that the French eyewitnesses went through as they tried to explain how the French lost a battle they claim they had been on the point of winning.
This, the first of two volumes of the French accounts, features Napoleon's own description of the battle, those of his immediate household and the Imperial headquarters, and those of members of 1st
Corps. Napoleon's own version of events, one of the first to be published in France, was used as the basis of many subsequent histories that ignore or gloss over his many dubious claims. His account of his actions and his view of what happened on that decisive day, and those of his close associates, make fascinating reading."
The French at Waterloo - Eyewitness Accounts: 2nd and 6th Corps, Cavalry, Artillery, Imperial Guard and Medical Services
This volume of French eyewitness accounts of Waterloo, published for the first time in full in English, completes Andrew Field's pioneering work on the French experience in this decisive
battle. These vivid recollections add a new dimension to our understanding of what happened on 18 June 1815.
Readers will now be in a position to come to their own conclusions and they can compare the French accounts with those of soldiers from the allied armies, in particular the British, which have largely determined our assumptions about the battle for the last 200
years. They will also gain a heightened insight into the trauma that the French eyewitnesses went through on the battlefield and afterwards as they tried to explain and come to terms their loss.
This second volume features graphic descriptions of the battle as it was remembered by men of the 2nd and 6th corps, cavalry, artillery and Imperial Guard and medical services of Napoleon's
army. Their words give us not only a telling inside view their actions during that extraordinary day, but they also record in graphic detail what they saw and show us how they reacted to Napoleon's historic defeat.
Waterloo: Rout & Retreat: The French Perspective
"Henry Percy is best known as the officer who carried the Waterloo Dispatch, the Duke of Wellingtons account of the Battle of Waterloo and the ultimate defeat of Napoleon, to London in June 1815. This was the climax of a remarkable military career. He served in the British army throughout the Napoleonic Wars in Sicily, Egypt, Sweden, Portugal and Spain, and he fought at Waterloo. This biography gives us a fascinating insight into active service and the high command during those wartime years. The strong, contrasting personalities of the notable British and French commanders he encountered Moore, Wellington and Junot among them are revealed, and his time as a captive in France offers us a rare inside view of the everyday existence of a prominent prisoner of war. Using archives in England, in particular at Alnwick Castle, and in France, William Mahon has reconstructed Percys life in meticulous detail. He paints a vivid picture of Percys wartime experience. He also describes his enduring friendships and his liaison with the French woman who bore him a son."
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Grouchy's Waterloo: The Battles of Ligny and Wavre
In this concluding volume of his highly praised study exploring the French perspective of the Waterloo campaign, Andrew Field concentrates on an often-neglected aspect of Napoleon's final offensive—the French victory over the Prussians at Ligny, Marshal Grouchy's pursuit of the Prussians, and the battle at Wavre. The story of this side of the campaign is as full of controversy and interest as the battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo which he has examined in such a penetrating and original way in his previous studies.
Napoleon in his memoirs accused Grouchy, like Marshal Ney, of a series of failures in command that led to the French defeat, and many subsequent historians have taken the same
line. This is one of the long-standing controversies that Andrew Field explores in fascinating detail. Grouchy's extensive description of his operations forms the backbone of the narrative, supplemented by other French sources and those of Prussian eyewitnesses.
"This book, when taken by itself, is a great addition to the history of the
campaign. When looked at in conjunction as the third volume of four on the campaign, these books are a treasure trove of information from the French perspective." —A Wargamers Needful Things
"The research has been thorough, the style of writing clear and lucid with many maps and illustrations. A book not to be put down until it is finished. Very highly recommended." —Clash of Steel
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I've read the complete series and I can't recommend them highly enough. Written so well, with great attention to detail. A must for anyone's library with an interest in the Napoleonic Wars.
for those who can only read Anglo Saxon speak and by that have no access to French sources - important to read to obtain a view of the French perspective.