Napoleon’s Polish Gamble: Eylau and Friedland 1807

Written in a racy, journalistic style, this chronicle of the Prussian and Polish campaigns of 1806 is a informative and very readable. Always very “military history” in style, it depends heavily on memoir accounts, giving a very appealing 'eye-witness' quality to the writing. Whilst the author's general implicit stance of trying to knock Napoleon off his perch is in the end a bit wearying, it is nevertheless thought-provoking. Indeed, the Summerville is very emphatic about the emperor's cynicism in the setting up of a 'duchy of Warsaw' instead of a 'kingdom of Poland', and also scathing regarding the latter's destruction of Prussia. But all in all, the book a very useful treatment of this complicated campaign. Particularly interesting are the now commonplace “inserts” within the narrative dealing with small self-contained issues: 'Poland, Partition and Rebellion', is one, Dabrowski's Mazurka' is another. Included are useful maps, half-tone images, biographical sketches (though no timeline), a bibliography and an index.
P.H.