The Napoleonic Wars

By: Alexander Mikaberidze

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

The Napoleonic Wars saw fighting on an unprecedented scale in Europe and the Americas. It took the wealth of the British Empire, combined with the might of the continental armies, almost two decades to bring down one of the world's greatest military leaders and the empire that he had created. Napoleon's ultimate defeat was to determine the history of Europe for almost 100 years. From the frozen wastelands of Russia, through the brutal fighting in the Peninsula to the blood-soaked battlefield of Waterloo, this book tells the story of the dramatic rise and fall of the Napoleonic Empire.

©2020 Alexander Mikaberidze (P)2020 Recorded Books

The Gold Standard for understanding the Napoleanic Era

The Gold Standard for understanding the Napoleonic Era. Global in outlook he ties together events and traces consequences across the globe. fascinating.

Dry but thorough overview

This is a military history that reads more like an annal with some limited commentary on competing historical scholarship. There are no character studies, no psychological hypotheses, no cultural analysis- just many facts. This happened then this happened then this happened. But it gives a fascinating sense of the entangled alliances and economic and political motivations and maneuvering of all the major and minor players throughout this period that remade the world. Only after listening to this do I feel I understand how the ancient regime and its colonial empires transformed into the mote familiar world of the nineteenth century. Worthwhile but can be a bit of slog - especially the Scandinavian section.

Well researched and entertaining

Broad in scope but with excellent attention to detail, this was a great intro into a topic I did not know much about. It puts the period from the 1780s-1810s into a broader context both in terms of time and geographically. Its premise is that the Napoleonic wars had a global impact, then goes on to individually address the story from different contexts, including the Americas, Middle East, Asia, and of course Europe. Napoleon is of course the star, but it is not a biography of him but brings in great side stories of great characters of this time. The story is mostly told around the countless wars of this time period. There are excellent descriptions of the great battles and how strategy won and lost these conflicts. The narrator does a good job keeping the story moving and keeps it from getting boring. In all, I was very happy with the time spent

Impressive

This book truly captures the global effects of the Napoleonic Wars. Some of these long strands stretched into the 1900s. Excellent read

useful

The author when sticking to his international scope did very well. When his digressions into naval history were far less successful.

Global setup to the World Wars

Dense content brought to life by a very good narrator. This book is great for is global illustration to what I though of as a conquest of Europe. You might need a map to keep up with the story told region by region and empire by empire around the turn of the 19th century (1800). Rich in political intrigue, double agents, and king making. Reality is more interesting than fiction.

Great overview

This book, although dense, was very enjoyable. The far reaching aspects and global impacts of the era are highlighted much more so than other books concentrating mainly on troop movements and military history alone. This book details struggles in the Americas, South Asia and the Middle East in addition to the famous campaigns and battles. I would like a print version for reference.

Excellent Hostory

A wonderful overview of the global geopolitics of the Napoleonic Era. It really makes a lot of connections between events around the world and events in Europe, such as the Louisiana Purchase.

Very Thorough Book

This book gave a very thorough, comprehensive, and unbiased look at any and all factors of the Napoleonic Wars. I appreciated that it dealt not only with European matters but every conceivable theater or culture that was affected by the conflict(s). I'd highly recommend for a in-depth understanding of this era.

Outstanding

I read a biography on Napoleon (by Andrew Roberts) about a year ago and wanted to circle back to a deeper dive of the military history of the conflicts. This book is very much not a robust military history in that individual battle tactics largely play no role in the book. That said, this book had a fascinating global perspective. While the book was more political than military, it certainly provided greater context to the conflicts and was very enjoyable. Definitely recommended.