Francis Loraine Petre O.B.E's Books

Napoleon and the Archduke Charles

By: Francis Loraine Petre O.B.E

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Napoleon and the Archduke Charles

By: Francis Loraine Petre O.B.E

“The campaign which forms the subject of this volume is one which has received scant notice in England, and has been a good deal misunderstood. The misunderstanding has been mainly due to Napoleon's successful misrepresentation of the earlier part as one of his greatest and most successful efforts.” So begins Petre’s excellent study of the 1809 campaign in Germany, the most concise study of one of the most interesting of Napoleon’s campaigns. The peace of Tilsit in 1807 was the Apogee of Napoleon’s reign, he had subdued all of his continental enemies; Prussia a broken wreck after Jena-Auerstädt, Austria smashed at Austerlitz, Russia humbled after Friedland. However the new allies of the French smarted from the reduction of territory, prestige and glory, they were also being squeezed by the constraints of commerce embodied by the Continental system whereby Britain and her products were meant to be kept out of mainland Europe. They looked only for a sufficient time to re-gather their forces, bide their time and strike to take back what was formerly theirs, as the peace creaked and groaned under the pressure, Napoleon decided to dethrone the Spanish Bourbons in 1808. The Peninsular war would grow into a painful “ulcer” for the French and after set backs such as the disaster of Baylen, where an entire French army corps surrendered to the Spanish, and Vimiero where the French were kicked out of Portugal, the continent took heart and prepared to strike at Napoleon. The Austrians were to take up the challenge in 1809, under the leadership of the Archduke Charles, the Emperor’s younger brother. He had spent some time modernising the army after the defeats of 1805, and although advising against the timing of the war he stood ready to take charge. Napoleon gathered his forces quickly, boosted in numbers by German allies, and advised his lieutenants in the theatre what to prepare. However his orders were misinterpreted and when put into action the French forces were scattered and in danger of being overwhelmed piece-meal. However Napoleon managed to salvage the situation, and despite a growing number of mistakes, and some sterling fighting on the part of Davout, pushed the advancing Austrians from Bavaria. The road to Vienna was thus opened for him, but he would have to first cross the Danube and pass to the Marchfeld to take on his most able continental opponent. The battles of Aspern-Essling and Wagram were to follow, leaving Napoleon beaten off the field of battle for the first time in a major engagement, as the decline in his “star” starts. A great read, by a master historian. Author – Francis Loraine Petre OBE - (1852–1925)

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318

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Pickle Partners Publishing

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ISBN 10

1908692804

ISBN 13

9781908692801

Napoleon’s Conquest of Prussia – 1806

By: Francis Loraine Petre O.B.E

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Napoleon’s Conquest of Prussia – 1806

By: Francis Loraine Petre O.B.E

At the beginning of 1806, Napoleon could feel rather satisfied with his conquests, although the Russian Bear had been brutally beaten and the Austrian Eagle damaged beyond repair after the carnage of Austerlitz. However lurking to the north were the inheritors of Frederick the Great’s legacy of Rossbach and Leuthen, their sullen neutrality during 1805 had been bought by the price of the annexation of Hanover, the Prince-elector of which sat on the British throne. It would only be a matter of time before the Prussian army tested their might against Napoleon’s legions, young Prussians could be found outside the French embassy in Berlin sharpening their swords against its steps, Queen Luise was a vocal focus for the war party. With the most positive expectations for the campaign, the lumbering Prussian army, led by veterans in their sixties, seventies and even eighties, groped to find Napoleon and his much faster moving corps d’armée. Napoleon’s Marshals and generals were mostly, apart from a few notable exceptions, one bordering on treason, at the top of their professional competency. Few if any however would have expected the campaign to unfold as it did, as Napoleon actively searched for the main Prussian army, he found and destroyed a significant portion of the army at Jena, a single of his corps, under Davout, faced and defeated the majority at Auerstädt. What followed thereafter was the most relentless pursuit of the Napoleonic Wars, combined with a number of capitulations which did not honour to Prussian arms. Prussia was defeated completely, with a scant regard to future relations with this state, Napoleon dismembered the state, imposed war reparations that would have made the French at Compiegne, a century, later blush, allowed his soldiers to pillage on an unheard of scale. Not that he himself was immune to the tendency to take what might allowed, he took amongst other trophies, Frederick the Great’s own sword. Reduced to a second rate power Prussia, occupied by French soldiers, would look to the crumbs that Napoleon might hand out and hope that other powers might topple the mighty Napoleon. As with all of Petre’s books on the Napoleonic period, his work is well written, scrupulously researched and balanced. We have taken the liberty as diacritics appear in Petre’s book to change Blucher to Blücher. Author – Francis Lorraine Petre OBE - (1852–1925) Plans – ALL included – 7 total Portraits and Illustrations – ALL included - 19 total

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267

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ISBN 10

1908692766

ISBN 13

9781908692764

Napoleon at Bay – 1814

By: Francis Loraine Petre O.B.E

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Napoleon at Bay – 1814

By: Francis Loraine Petre O.B.E

Following on from the Author’s “Napoleon’s Last Campaign in Germany”, Petre’s closely researched and well argued account of the 1814 campaign, which would see some of the finest strategical manoeuvres of Napoleon’s entire career. As the wreck of the last Grande Armée created in 1813, retreated home from Germany to France it was a pale shadow of its former glory. Marched into the ground as Napoleon struggled to pin down his enemies, and then beaten at Leipzig in the “battle of Nations” as faced by overwhelming weight of men, cavalry and cannon. They had shown their mettle at Hanau by brutally brushing aside the Bavarians who sought to bar their way across the Rhine, but there were now only some 70,000 to 80,000 men still with the colours. The men garrisoning cities and fortresses such as Danzig were lost to the great General, and his enemies implacably approached the soil of France. With such an outlook, what then occurred was perhaps Napoleon’s finest hour, he rallied every last reserve, he could from veterans scraped from the Spanish frontier, or barely adult conscripts. He would then embark on the “Six Days Campaign”, in which he beat the army of Silesia under Blücher, four times in six days. The manoeuvres that led to the battles of Champaubert, Montmirail, Château-Thierry and Vauchamps, are justly celebrated. The tragic dénouement which he and his victorious veterans would suffer, despite all of their hard fought victories would still be the ignominy of defeat as Napoleon’s Generals and Marshals shed their allegiance to him to save France. Author – Francis Loraine Petre OBE - (1852–1925)

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221

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ISBN 10

1908692790

ISBN 13

9781908692795

Napoleon's Campaign in Poland, 1806–1807

By: Francis Loraine Petre O.B.E

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Napoleon's Campaign in Poland, 1806–1807

By: Francis Loraine Petre O.B.E

F. Lorraine Petre was at the forefront of a number of British historians who wrote at the turn of the 20th Century who advanced the knowledge, understanding of Napoleonic times and warfare hugely. Petre wrote a number of books on the subject, particularly because of the dearth of information focusing on Napoleon’s “lesser-known” campaigns, with a depth of research unheard of at the time. His writings have stood the test of time and have been re-printed a number of times, as recently as the last ten years. In this book his second in his series, shines the spotlight of the Napoleon’s quest to vanquish his last remaining continental enemy, Russia. Having smashed Prussia in 1806, Napoleon eagerly sought out his Russian opponents, however his tactics of lightning advances and strategic envelopment founded in the mud and cold of Poland. Extended over a vast area, his troops acutely suffered from shortages and played a deadly game of cat and mouse with the last of the Prussian forces under Lestocq whilst waiting for the thaw that would enable them to come to grips with the enemy. As it transpired they did not have to wait as long as they might have imagined, fighting the bloody slugging match in the snow with the Russians at Eylau and although they held the field, it was a field covered by their own comrades’ corpses. After another brutal but more successful engagement at Heilsberg, during which the Russians lost heavily, Napoleon finally ran his quarry to the ground at Friedland. After a sterling delaying action by Lannes’ corps and supporting cavalry under Grouchy, Napoleon found his opponent pinned with his back to a river. After an abortive attack by Marshal Ney, General Sènarmont drove a battery of thirty guns into canister range of the Russian centre leaving a red ruin, and allowing a victory for the French turn into a bloody rout for the Russians as many drowned trying to reach their lines on the other side of the river. The peace of Tilsit was to be signed soon after, marking arguably the highpoint of the French Empire. Author – Francis Lorraine Petre OBE - (1852–1925)

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468

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1908692715

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9781908692719

Napoleon's Last Campaign in Germany

By: Francis Loraine Petre O.B.E

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Napoleon's Last Campaign in Germany

By: Francis Loraine Petre O.B.E

Having escaped the disaster of the Russian campaign of 1812, Napoleon set out to defeat a coalition of epic proportions, who had coalesced to change the French preponderance of power on the Continent. Leaving his stepson Eugène with the shattered remnants of the Grande Armée in northern Germany, Napoleon’s great organisation skills would be used to the full to replace his depleted ranks. Short of cavalry, to scout and follow up any victory and with in-experienced troops, Napoleon struck at the Allied armies with vigour and energy, not wholly seconded by his subordinates. The battles of Lützen and Bautzen proved that he had the will and drive to beat his opponents, but time was running out. As losses mounted, including Grand Marshal of the Palace Duroc and Marshal Bessières, Napoleon could not hope to be everywhere at once. Oudinot was beaten at Gross-Beeren, Vandamme was destroyed at Kulm, Macdonald defeated on the Katzbach and Ney at Dennewitz, the hopes of the French were also brutally dashed by the Austrians joining the ranks of their enemies. The dénouement would be the largest battle known to man at that point in history, fought over three days the battle of Leipzig was rightly known as the “Battle of Nations”, two thousand cannon and nearly six hundred thousand men would pound, charge, fire, and die to change the face of Europe. Continuing on in the series of books, after Napoleon and the Archduke Charles, Petre’s monumental summation of the 1813 campaigns in Germany is still relevant fresh and excellently researched, balanced. Author – Francis Lorraine Petre OBE - (1852–1925)

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1908692782

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9781908692788

Napoleon and the Archduke Charles

By: F. Loraine Petre

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Napoleon and the Archduke Charles

By: F. Loraine Petre

The Archduke Charles was the most formidable of Napoleon s continental foes but only once came into direct conflict with him: this was in the 1809 Franco-Austrian campaign in the Danube Valley. Smarting from Austria s humiliations in 1805, the Archduke launched a surprise attack upon the French whilst Napoleon was occupied in distant Spain. Outnumbered, the French faced disaster but, with typical energy and decisiveness Napoleon arrived just in time. In five days of marching and fighting he repulsed the Austrians at Abensburg and Eckmuhl. The road to Vienna was now open and he pushed on but he underestimated his enemy, being thrown back by the Archduke Charles as he tried to cross the Danube. Failing to follow up his success, the Archduke hesitated too long and when Napoleon attempted to cross the river a second time, at the Battle of Wagram, he succeeded. F. Loraine Petre s penetrating analysis of this pivotal campaign was first published in 1909 on the centenary of the great conflict, to become one of his celebrated series of works on Napoleon s wars.

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