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1812 #2
1812 : Napoleon in Moscow
Napoleon's troops finally reach Moscow only to watch the city go up in flames. In their own words, the invaders record events as they camp in the charred ruins and realize retreat is inevitable.
262 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1995
34 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
Paul Britten Austin
54 books3 followersPaul Britten Austin was an English author, translator, broadcaster, administrator, and scholar of Swedish literature. He is known for his translations of and books on the Swedish musician, singer and poet Carl Michael Bellman.
Britten Austin was born in Dawlish, South Devon, England. His parents were the writers Frederick B.A. King and Mildred King. He was educated at Winchester College. In 1951, he married novelist Margareta Bergman, sister of film director Ingmar Bergman; they lived in Stockholm, where he worked for Radio Sweden as head of English-language broadcasting. He directed the Swedish Tourist Office in London between 1957 and 1968, at the same time working on his book on Carl Michael Bellman.
Britten Austin was employed by Swedish Radio's international investment program from 1948 to 1957 and at the Swedish Tourist Association's office in London from 1957 to 1968.
Alongside his career and his other writings, Britten Austin spent 25 years working on his detailed three-volume eyewitness-only account of Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812. He explains he is "profoundly skeptical of historians." He felt "the more readable they are, the less historically reliable", so instead he chose "to invent nothing, hardly even a phrase" but instead to "resurrect them - in their own words". Britten Austin takes "160 people of the many thousands who made up the Grande Armée". "I thought, and without any impertinent comments of my own (after all I wasn't there), I might be able to reconstitute, as authentically as ever can be done, six months of vanished time." To achieve this "Naturally I have had to take my thousands of vivid fragments, longer or shorter, snip them and put them together in what I came to think of as a 'marching order', and generally help the reader not to go astray." The result is a uniquely detailed report from the front.
Britten Austin was born in Dawlish, South Devon, England. His parents were the writers Frederick B.A. King and Mildred King. He was educated at Winchester College. In 1951, he married novelist Margareta Bergman, sister of film director Ingmar Bergman; they lived in Stockholm, where he worked for Radio Sweden as head of English-language broadcasting. He directed the Swedish Tourist Office in London between 1957 and 1968, at the same time working on his book on Carl Michael Bellman.
Britten Austin was employed by Swedish Radio's international investment program from 1948 to 1957 and at the Swedish Tourist Association's office in London from 1957 to 1968.
Alongside his career and his other writings, Britten Austin spent 25 years working on his detailed three-volume eyewitness-only account of Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812. He explains he is "profoundly skeptical of historians." He felt "the more readable they are, the less historically reliable", so instead he chose "to invent nothing, hardly even a phrase" but instead to "resurrect them - in their own words". Britten Austin takes "160 people of the many thousands who made up the Grande Armée". "I thought, and without any impertinent comments of my own (after all I wasn't there), I might be able to reconstitute, as authentically as ever can be done, six months of vanished time." To achieve this "Naturally I have had to take my thousands of vivid fragments, longer or shorter, snip them and put them together in what I came to think of as a 'marching order', and generally help the reader not to go astray." The result is a uniquely detailed report from the front.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 23, 2011
Awesome! I actually read this one first out of the series and based on it bought the other two. The use of all the actual sources is the best way to write history I think. It really puts you into the minds of the people who were actually there more than any other history book I have read.
July 2, 2011
The second in his triology of the French invasion of Russia and the least enjoyable. Still and OK read, but tends to drag and could possibly have been added to the first book.
July 30, 2011
One of the best history books I have ever read!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews