Britain Against Napoleon: The Organization of Victory, 1793-1815 by Roger Knight


Britain Against Napoleon: The Organization of Victory, 1793-1815
Title : Britain Against Napoleon: The Organization of Victory, 1793-1815
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0141038942
ISBN-10 : 978-0141038940
Language : Anglais
Format Type : Britain Against Napoleon: The Organization of Victory, 1793-1815
Number of Pages : 720 pages

A wonderfully disorienting read for Knight the real heroes of the struggle against Napoleon are not Wellington or Nelson or Collingwood or Cochrane but the clerks and administrators and silent men of business who put Britain s armies in the field and kept her ships at sea and her allies in funds and ultimately won the war there is scarcely a wasted sentence here, not a duff page, not a chapter that does not bring you very close to the realities of a total war David Crane SpectatorFrom Roger Knight, established by the multi award winning The Pursuit of Victory as an authority none of his rivals can match NAM Rodger , Britain Against Napoleon is the first book to explain how the British state successfully organised itself to overcome Napoleon and how very close it came to defeatForthan twenty years after , the French army was supreme in continental Europe How was it that despite multiple changes of government and the assassination of a Prime Minister, Britain survived and eventually won a generation long war against a regime which at its peak in commanded many times the resources and manpower This book looks beyond the familiar exploits and bravery of the army and navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars It shows the degree to which, because of the magnitude and intensity of hostilities, the capacities of the whole British population were involved industrialists, farmers, shipbuilders, gunsmiths and gunpowder manufacturers The intelligence war was also central but no participants wereimportant, Knight argues, than the bankers and international traders of the City of London, without whom the armies of Britain s allies could not have taken the fieldGER KNIGHT was Deputy Director of the National Maritime Museum until , and now teaches at the Greenwich Maritime Institute at the University of Greenwich In he published, with Allen Lane Penguin, The Pursuit of Victory the life and achievement of Horatio Nelson, which won the Duke of Westminster s Medal for Military History, the Mountbatten Award and the Anderson Medal of the Society for Nautical Research The present book is a culmination of his life long interest in the workings of the late eighteenth century British state Superb Spectator

Britain Against Napoleon: The Organization of Victory, 1793-1815 Reviews

  • Mandrake

    This was my choice for my economics book club, and it almost caused a rebellion. Although very positively reviewed everywhere, the book we read was dry, overly detailed and overlong. A few members accused me of having wasted a week of their lives, and spoilt their christmas

  • Charles Vasey

    All wars are than just mud, blood, rapine, slaughter, and a dash of glory. They also have a layer of administration, finance and logistics: the dark arts of war practicised often by very small key teams especially in the pre industrial age. In the wars against France

  • Peter Hobday

    Roger Knight has done a great service to those of us interested in the 18th century, especially the long wars with Republican and then later Imperial France under Napoleon. So much is written about the soldiers and sailors heroic deeds, while the biographies of the

  • FranklinJ

    I think this is a riveting account of Britain's relationship with Europe and in particular the machinations of the French Revolutionary war and Napolionic wars and how they affected Britain and the government of the time. The book also deals with the British

  • John Grimbaldeston

    A fascinating insight into the Napoleonic Wars and the logistics behind equipping, organising and financing a major war, starting from the nadir of the 1783 defeat to the American Colonies, when British capabilities were called into question. Mr Knight gives the practical

  • Terentius Varro

    This is a very serious and detailed study of the politics of the Napoleonic era in Britain. It is especially valuable for its coverage of the logigistics of the period : how to keep the army and the navy equipped and supplied. Particularly eye opening is the explanation

  • Nathan

    Insightful book for those interested in war time economics and economy.

  • Goff

    This wonderful book describes what went on behind the scenes to ensure that the Royal Navy and the army had the resources needed to fight Napoleon. Politics, finance, manufacturing, communications, transport, recruitment and much beside are documented with telling stories