1812: Napoleon's Russian Campaign

By Richard K. Riehn

Book Overview

The author, an editor of Campaigns Magazine for ten years, has written a groundbreaking new study of Napoleon's disasterous Russian campaign of 1812. In doing this, he has employed primary sources never before translated from the German and Russian. He points out the real reasons for Napoleon's defeat which had nothing to do with cold weather but rather were a complex combination of faulty logistics, bureaucratic mismanagement and Napoleon's own but uncharacteristic indecision and bad choices.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471543020
• ISBN13: 9780471543022
• Release Date: April 1991
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Length: 540 Pages
• Weight: 1.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.2" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Super chronicle of a super debacle

Invading Russia doesn't seem to be a good idea. I know of three major campaigns, all ending in disaster: Charles XII of Sweden (against Peter the Great), Napoleon, and Hitler. Charles XII and Hitler were mediocre generals at best, but Napoleon--how could he blunder so grotesquely in strategy and tactics? Riehn's book does an excellent job of explaining it. The lack of maps, as the other reviewer noted, is definitely a problem in following the details of logistics and battles. My paperback edition has one map, but it's lousy. However, Riehn makes up for this with a strong narrative that makes the whole campaign come alive. My father found a great book years ago--"Retreat from Moscow", by Bourgogne (?) long out of print. It's the memoirs of a French officer who miraculously survived the retreat. If you can find it, read it!