Napoleonic Army handbook - Mike Oliver

The Napoleonic Wars raged across Europe between 1799 and 1815 as the French army, inspired by Napoleon Bonaparte and led by able generals, defeated its enemies time and again in pursuit of la gloire. They achieved mastery of Europe by 1808, apart from Great Britain and Russia, and the conflict spread as far afield as South America, the Ottoman Empire and the Indian sub-continent.

In this long-awaited new volume, following up their first much-praised handbook on the British Army and her Allies, the authors set out the only comprehensive regiment-by-regiment guide to the armies that fought with the Emperor, with chapters on the French Army itself, including the Imperial Guard, the German states that were his allies or vassals, the Kingdoms of Italy and Naples, and the Bonaparte Kingdom of Spain and Denmark. There are details on matters as diverse as uniform design and colouring, organizational breakdown, drill, tactics and preferred methods of fighting. The book also features a regiment-by-regiment treatment of the major battles to which they were committed and biographies of General Officers.

Combining broad scope and painstaking attention to detail, this is an indispensable reference for historians, re-enactors and wargamers alike.