Synopses & Reviews
At a time when Napoleon needed all his forces to reassert French dominance in Central Europe, why did he fixate on the Prussian capital of Berlin? Instead of concentrating his forces for a decisive showdown with the enemy, he repeatedly detached large numbers of troops, under ineffective commanders, toward the capture of Berlin. In Napoleon and Berlin, Michael V. Leggiere explores Napoleonand#8217;s almost obsessive desire to capture Berlin and how this strategy ultimately lost him all of Germany.
Napoleonand#8217;s motives have remained a subject of controversy from his own day until ours. He may have hoped to deliver a tremendous blow to Prussiaand#8217;s war-making capacity and morale. Ironically, the heavy losses and strategic reverses sustained by the French left Napoleonand#8217;s Grande Armee vulnerable to an Allied coalition that eventually drove Napoleon from Central Europe forever.
Review
andldquo;No other book in English .and#160;.and#160;. discusses the two campaigns conducted by Napoleon in North Germany .and#160;.and#160;. in as much scope.andrdquo;andmdash;Journal of Military History
About the Author
Michael V. Leggiere is Assistant Professor and Deputy Director, Military History Center, University of North Texas, and author of Napoleon and Berlin: The Franco-Prussian War in North Germany, 1813 (OU Press, 2002), and The Fall of Napoleon, Vol. I: The Allied Invasion of France, 1813-181 (Cambridge, 2007).