Napoleon and Europe: Volume One, 1801-1805, The End of the Old Order

 
From the publishers:
An account and analysis of the Napoleonic era in Europe concentrating on the interaction of continental politics and the war which shaped our modern world.
Perhaps no person in history has dominated his or her own era as much as Napoleon, and for this reason, most historical accounts of the Napoleonic era tell the same Napoleon-dominated story over and over again, or focus narrowly on special aspects of it.
Frederick Kagan, basing himself on little-used archival materials from Austria, Prussia, France, and Russia, attempts to redress the balance presenting the history of these years from the perspective of all of the major players of Europe. In The End of the Old Order readers encounter the rulers, ministers, citizens, and subjects of Europe in all of their political and military activity-from the desk of the prime minister to the pen of the ambassador, from the map of the general to the rifle of the soldier.

This is the first volume of a promised tetralogy and is purposefully revisionist and has two major bones to chew: 1) that politics and war are inseparable and the two must be considered together and 2) the provocative idea that Napoleon and France are not central to the history of Europe in the later 18th century, but that Napoleonic propaganda has misled us into thinking that this is the case. Although one unfortunate result of this point of view is that recent works in French on Napoleonic history are not cited, the standpoint leads to interesting remarks. The pace is fast and judgements pour from the author's pen, but his resolute fixing of the focus on Napoleon's opponents (Francis, Paul, Alexander, Frederick William, George) is refreshing and challenging. We look forward to the following three volumes.
P.H. September 2006
 
About the Author
Frederick W. Kagan is a military historian who has taught at West Point. He is now Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute specializing in defence issues and the American military. He is the author of The Military Reforms of Nicholas I: The Origins of the Modern Russian Army, and is co-author with Donald Kagan of While America Sleeps: Self-Delusion, Military Weakness, and the Threat to Peace Today.