Books on Specific Battles

Lord Chalfont leads a team of three historians as each in turn presents an account of the events of June 18, 1815 in the vicinity of the small town of Waterloo - each historian representing on the three principal nationalities present - English, French, German.

In this account of the Battle of Trafalgar, Roy Adkins stunningly evokes the unsurpassed violence of nineteenth-century naval warfare. For more than five hours, sixty ships fought at close quarters as their occupants struggled under the constant barrage of cannon and musket fire, amid choking fumes and ear-splitting explosions. Nelson's navy was severely outgunned; twenty-seven British battleships carrying 2,150 guns faced thirty-three French and Spanish ships carrying 2,640 guns. Yet the British gunners, quicker and more disciplined, carried the day. While the men maneuvered the ships and kept the cannons firing, the women tended the sick and helped the boys carry gunpowder cartridges to the gun decks. When Nelson died in the midst of the battle, French Vice-Admiral Villeneuve remarked that "to any other nation the loss of a Nelson would have been irreparable, but in the British Fleet off Cadiz, every captain was a Nelson."" Adkins has drawn on a broad range of primary source material to write this powerful, unforgettably vivid history that captures as never before the harsh conditions in which sailors lived and died, the mechanics of nautical combat and the human costs of the conflict.

Austerlitz was the battle that established Napoleon' reputation: a classic example of the general's masterly use of deception to lure his enemy into a carefully devised trap. Beginning with the bold and crushing advance of the French Army from the Rhine to the Danube, David Chandler describes the envelopment of Mack's army at Ulm, the manoeuvres to Austerlitz and the counter-attack that resulted in the decisive defeat for the Austro-Russian Army. Excellent overview illustrations of the battlefield at Austerlitz supplement the text by clearly showing the movements of the opposing armies. A comprehensive guide to one of the most important battles of the Napoleonic Wars

Classic account of one of the world's most famous battles. This is a best-selling, authoritative, and accessible study of the epic confrontation at Waterloo. The armies of the period are brought to life and the battles recreated from the viewpoint of both Wellington and Napoleon. Every move and counter-move in this sweeping campaign is charted, from Napoleon's dramatic offensive and the opening battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras, to the hard pounding at Waterloo itself. Valuable to both historian and general reader, this guided tour of the battle includes all the key features of the terrain, and brings out the drama and tragedy of battle. Jac Weller is a distinguished authority on the Duke of Wellington and the author of Wellington in India and Wellington in the Peninsula.