The Battle

For a blood and guts narrative of Napoleonic war in a simply but descriptively written style, this book tops the list. There is little doubt why Rambaud won several French literary awards for this book, it is extremely colorful, brutal, emotional and telling of what one can imagine Aspern-Essling waould truly have been for one who fought there, and many times in this tale, died there as well. This may well be the best story of Napoleonic battle I have read, as not only could I feel the pulse of battle for the common voltegieur in the front, but Rambaud also manages to take you into the mind of Lannes and the emperor himself, creating vivid characters that keep you turning the pages. Though not for the feint of heart (anyone seeking anything romantic or joyful need look elsewhere) I would fully recomend this title.

The Great Army is attacking Essling in the surbubs of Vienna. Napoleon galvanizes its troup to win yet another battle while facing an ennemy twice as numerous . This is like a 3D movie. you will smell the powder, feel the wounds and cringe at the horror of the scene. Unlike Hollywood revisionist view of history, these facts are historical and the courage of these men so amazing that you do not need loud explosive noises on the screen to be engulfed in the action. By far the best war book ever written.

On May 16, 1809, the battle of Essling took place at the gates of Vienna. It lasted two days. 40'000 soldiers were killed. Napoleon, accompanied by his trusted marshals Berthier, Lannes and Massena, was on his way to Vienna. The Austro-Hungarian forces met him at the Danube, at the plain of Essling. Napoleon miscalculated the terrain and hesitated. He lost the battle. The author describes the 48 hours, meticulously researched, in incredibly vivid detail. The sound of the battle. The cannon shot ripping through the ranks of Napoleon's imperial guard. The field hospital awash in blood, amputated limbs and the dead. The surgeons' muscles giving out from sawing arm after arm, leg after leg. Soldiers fleeing across the Danube to a little island in the river, not being safe there either. An incredible carnage, interspersed with observations of the life in Vienna. The writer Stendhal and the painter Lejeune caught up in it. The author paints a picture that is incredibly vivid. It is on the same level as Plivier's "Stalingrad" in describing th command of the battle and the mortal fear of the common soldiers. In 1998, this book won the highest French literary award, the Prix Goncourt. It amply deserved it. It must be read by everyone interested in military history. Two weeks after the battle of Essling, the composer Haydn died in Vienna.

i love a good war film, but this book, a historical recreation of Napolean's defeat near two small towns in Austria, is cinematic in its intensity, drama, excitement, and horror. while it helps to know some prior biographical information about the marshals and generals who lead the troops into battle, you won't be too hard-pressed to keep straight all the details. as vivid and anti-war as "johnny got his gun" or "all quiet on the western front," you will gain a front row seat to what it was like to wage hand-to-hand combat on a warm May day in 1809. you will experience the cannons, the smoke, the blood, the confusion, the terror, the roundshot taking off soldiers' limbs, the bloodlust and anarachy on the battlefield. Napolean was a lucky and brilliant leader, whose quick tactical thinking led to surprising truimphs, but even he acknowlwedges at the end that what had defeated him was not another army or leader but General Danube--the river. A force of nature, Napolean met his match with the Danube. Just wait til he experiences the Russian winter in a few years.

This historical novel slaps its readers in the face with the reality of a grape loaded 12 pounder. We are wisked from the streets of a newly occupied city, Vienna in 1809, to the front lines of a Napoleonic battle, where in one stunning scene the emperor's guard stand to attention while a hail of fire thins their ranks, literly filling the gaps in the line by shoving away the fragments of their now destroyed commrads. Each scene is accurate, in every detail, from the horrors of 19th century medicine, to the soilder's uniforms, arms and food. One feels the panic of the helpless city as it is looted and plundered, and one can smell the cordite and hear the clash of sabers as the combat discriptions grip your heart and stomach to each line. A excellent book if only because of its ability to seem like a bit of real insight into what a event like this was at so many levels. To the common solider, the oficer, the camp follower, and to Naploeon himself. A great read