Napoleon's Marshals

by R.P. Dunn-Pattison

The long-awaited reprint of this classic book provides a detailed account of the men selected by Napoleon to lead his armies in Europe. It reveals the bravery, incompetence, loyalty, and strategic brilliance of these opportunity-hungry nobles as they helped Napoleon retain the imperial crown.

Genres: History

436 pages, Hardcover

First published September 11, 1996

Reviews

[Sarthak Bhatt]

This was a brilliant book, very well written. The author makes sharp observations on these marshals that hold up remarkably well considering the book is now over 100 years old — made all the more poignant by the fact that Pattison himself was killed in action during WW1. My top 5:

Davout
Massena
Suchet
Lannes
Soult

The author rates Davout, Massena, Suchet, Saint-Cyr and Soult as strategists capable of independent command — I would add Brune to that list. I love Oudinot and Ney but both were promoted well above their abilities. As nap himself said "Ney is good for leading 10000 troops otherwise a true idiot!"

Pattison is too forgiving of Marmont. He was an ok general, no question, but he was a traitor of the first order and I have no sympathy for him.

On a lighter note if I were ranking purely by how interesting they are as characters, Saint-Cyr and Brune take it easily — both complete weirdos, and Saint-Cyr was probably the most intelligent of the lot.

Overall a great read.

[Koeneman]

This was a good book about all the Marshals of Napoleon. Every Marshal’s got his own little biography, their personal life and military accomplishments or failures. The more well-known get around 20 pages and the lesser known around 10 pages or less which is fair, although sometimes I missed some interesting information for example: The mistress that Massena took with him to Spain which caused some upset in the army, the eye incident of Massena, Soult his project of getting Napoleon his body back to France in 1840, Marmont his vote for the death penalty against Ney, Oudinot his last stand in a wooden house during the Russian Retreat and some other pretty big things.

So many different characters, backgrounds, personalities, desires, ambitions and glamour were leading the troops of the French. One thing they all had in common though was when they were leading the troops they did it in the best interrest of France.

So all in all it is a really good book and definitely worth 4 stars.

[Juancho Vizcaino]

“From the advent of the Consulate a blight fell over Jourdan’s career. Napoleon could never forgive him for the obstinacy with which he had opposed him on the 18th Brumaire. True, in 1800 he appointed him Governor of Piedmont, and in 1804 created him Marshal. He could not withhold the baton from the general who had in 1794 driven the enemy from the sacred soil of France, who, more often than any other general, had commanded in chief the armies of the Republic, and who, in spite of numerous defeats, had established a reputation as one of the most brilliant of the generals of republican France. But though he gave him his baton Napoleon thought but little of his military ability, and called him “a poor general”; for in his eyes success, and success alone, was the test of merit, and he could see nothing in a general who, from his capacity for emerging with credit from defeat, was surnamed “The Anvil.” But it was not this which caused Napoleon to snub the gallant marshal: it was his ardent republicanism and well-known Jacobin sentiments which made him so hateful to the emperor. But though Napoleon treated him shamefully, and did all he could to cast him into ill repute, the marshal showed he had a soul above mere personal ambitions, and served France faithfully.

At St. Helena the fallen emperor confessed: “I certainly used that man very ill: he is a true patriot, and that is the answer to many things urged against him.”

[Andrew Cockcroft-Charles]

Exceptional! These small biographies chronicling the 26 Marshals of France are deeply insightful. The revolution amassed and assembled, maybe the highest concentration of heroes in european history. Still, none rival the man who endowed them with their titles.

[Sheffielder]

This is a very well-written series of biographies, dealing in turn with each of the Marshals appointed by Bonaparte. Each Marshal is covered by a separate chapter, dealing with their background, promotion, character, actions and the circumstances of their death. Interesting stuff. [Read for the Smooth Reading phase of Distributed Proofreaders.]