The Battle - By Patrick Rambaud, a short review of a Napoleonic Novel

Usually novels set in the Napoleonic Era use battles as the back drop. In this the Battle of Aspern Essling is the main character and it looms large.

The Battle is an award winning novel written by Frenchman Patrick Rambaud.

He tracks the two day battle itself through a combination of personalities,  Berthier and Bessiers, Massenna and Davout  and Napoleon himself, alongside a voltigeur a cuirassier and a staff officer.  The characters are filled out (although maybe could've been a little fuller).

The struggle of the battle, the choices and hazards, the way in which fate shapes futures are vividly painted, at times brutally.

I raced through this - reading it filled out my understanding of this piece of history more vibrantly than any traditional history might have done.  I recommend it as a great way to while away some time.

I bought a used copy from my local Oxfam shop.  You can also look here:

Amazon      EBay
Military History on Audible.

bookshop.org (support local indpendent bookshops this is a link to one of three graphic novels.

 

Musee de la Cavalerie - Saumur, visit summer 2019

Right folks - some pictures from my summer visit to the Cavalry Museum in Saumur, hosted in one of the old building used for training French Cavalry -  mostly images from Napoleonic times.

Worth an hour, not much more.