Albert Sidney Britt

This is the sort of history that would have old Leo Tolstoy turning in his grave. Recall that in War and Peace, Tolstoy railed against historical accounts that attribute large movements of people to the actions and influence of a few leaders. Well, not surprisingly, in "The Wars of Napoleon", Albert Sidney Britt III attributes virtually everything that happened in Europe over a fifteen year period to one man, Napoleon Bonaparte. Britt does a great job of describing the Italian campaign, the Ulm and Austerlitz campaigns, and finally the Jena and Friedland campaigns. Everything else seems to get a little bit of short shrift, perhaps because Napoleon was not at his best in other campaigns (e.g. Egypt and Russia). I guess that reinforces why Tolstoy hated this sort of work: it emphasizes and exaggerates the prowess of one man without giving due consideration to the estimated one million men he lost along the way.… (más)