Marek Tadeusz Lalowski's Books

Polish Eyewitnesses to Napoleon's 1812 Campaign

Advance and Retreat in Russia

By: Marek Tadeusz Lalowski,Jonathan North

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Polish Eyewitnesses to Napoleon's 1812 Campaign

Advance and Retreat in Russia

By: Marek Tadeusz Lalowski,Jonathan North

The drama of Napoleon’s ill-fated invasion of Russia is captured through the letters and diaries of Polish soldiers who fought with the French. Napoleon’s invasion of Russia cost hundreds of thousands lives and changed the course of history. Europe had never seen an army like the one gathering in Poland in 1812—half a million men in brilliant uniforms and shimmering helmets. Six months later, it was the ghost of an army, frozen and horrified, retreating home. This illuminating volume tells the story of this epic military disaster from the viewpoint of the tens of thousands of Polish soldiers who took part. Some of them were patriots eager to regain independence for their country. Others were charmed by the glory of Napoleonic warfare or were professional soldiers who were simply doing their jobs. They all tell an unrivaled tale of ruthless battles, burning villages, numbing hunger, and biting cold. By the end the great army had been reduced to a pitiless mob and the Polish soldiers, who had set out with such hope, recalled it with horror.

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Page Count

308

Publisher

Pen and Sword Military

Published Date

ISBN 10

1526782626

ISBN 13

9781526782625

War of Lost Hope: Polish Accounts of the Napoleonic Expedition to Saint Domingue, 1801 to 1804

By: Marek Tadeusz Lalowski,Jonathan North

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War of Lost Hope: Polish Accounts of the Napoleonic Expedition to Saint Domingue, 1801 to 1804

By: Marek Tadeusz Lalowski,Jonathan North

Napoleon sent an expedition under General Leclerc to reconquer what is now Haiti and what was then Saint Domingue. It was decimated by fierce resistance when it landed in 1802 and gradually worn down by Yellow Fever, disease, starvation and a brutal insurgency as it struggled to restore French rule over tens of thousands of former slaves. The expeditionary force was soon destroyed in this forgotten crusade and amongst the casualties were thousands of Poles. Polish soldiers had fought for France in Italy and Germany before being sent to the West Indies in 1802 and 1803. There they were used up in this brutal war of attrition in the hostile tropics. Very few made it home. Amongst the survivors were four officers and this book presents their remarkable and detailed recollections of the disaster. Piotr Bazyli Wierzbicki, Kazimierz Malachowski and Jakub Filip Kierzkowski recall what it was like to be sent from liberating Europe to putting down a slave revolt amongst burning sugar plantations, whilst Ludwik Mateusz Dembowski describes his efforts to escape the disaster and avoid falling into rebel hands. The Polish accounts present a unique perspective on Napoleon's expedition to Saint Domingue and they are here presented for the first time and with an introduction placing the memoirs in context. Their texts describe the grim fighting, the mistakes of General Leclerc and his successor, General Rochambeau, the stubbornness of the resistance and the cruelty of the conflict. Massacres, hunting dogs used on rebel fugitives, hangings, drownings and all the disasters of war compete for attention as French rule shrinks to coastal enclaves and by the autumn of 1803 what was left of Napoleon's army was surrendering to the former slaves and their British allies. Napoleon had bartered lives for power and lost. The Poles paid the price for such ambition, whilst the rebels declared independence and Haiti was born amidst the ruins and the ash.

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Page Count

112

Publisher

Independently Published

Published Date

ISBN 10

1976944120

ISBN 13

9781976944123

Polish Eyewitnesses to Napoleon's 1812 Campaign

Advance and Retreat in Russia

By: Marek Tadeusz Lalowski,Jonathan North

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Polish Eyewitnesses to Napoleon's 1812 Campaign

Advance and Retreat in Russia

By: Marek Tadeusz Lalowski,Jonathan North

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

308

Publisher

Pen and Sword Military

Published Date

ISBN 10

1526782626

ISBN 13

9781526782625

Book's by Marek Tadeusz Lalowski

Polish Eyewitnesses to Napoleon's 1812 Campaign

Polish Eyewitnesses to Napoleon's 1812 Campaign

War of Lost Hope: Polish Accounts of the Napoleonic Expedition to Saint Domingue, 1801 to 1804

War of Lost Hope: Polish Accounts of the Napoleonic Expedition to Saint Domingue, 1801 to 1804

Polish Eyewitnesses to Napoleon's 1812 Campaign

Polish Eyewitnesses to Napoleon's 1812 Campaign

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