What do you think?
Rate this book
Revolutionary/Napoleonic France
The Age of Elegance, 1812-1822
Britain's first global war...as told by Britain's first great popular historian.
The Years of Elegance: 1812-1822 is one of the master-works of British narrative history. In his own peerless style, the final volume of a three-part history of the Napoleonic Wars, Bryant tells the compelling story of the conflict with revolutionary France which began in 1793. Fought over four continents and two oceans this war shaped the world for the next century. From 1812 onwards, with Napoleon marching into Russia and Wellington's men knocking open the door into Spain behind him, Bryant details the brilliant campaigns which ultimately brought the dictator to his knees.
Bryant charts the road to Waterloo where he describes the battle with unforgettable clarity, and then tells the story of the peacemakers at Vienna. In the final part of the book the author surveys the England that had emerged after so many years of struggle. It was an England rich, powerful, and victorious, overflowing with energy and self-confidence. He describes both the sources of her power, in agriculture, industry, and commerce, and the depths of injustices, un-redressed wrongs, and simmering discontents that had accumulated under the surface, unperceived by the architects of victory.
The Years of Elegance: 1812-1822 is one of the master-works of British narrative history. In his own peerless style, the final volume of a three-part history of the Napoleonic Wars, Bryant tells the compelling story of the conflict with revolutionary France which began in 1793. Fought over four continents and two oceans this war shaped the world for the next century. From 1812 onwards, with Napoleon marching into Russia and Wellington's men knocking open the door into Spain behind him, Bryant details the brilliant campaigns which ultimately brought the dictator to his knees.
Bryant charts the road to Waterloo where he describes the battle with unforgettable clarity, and then tells the story of the peacemakers at Vienna. In the final part of the book the author surveys the England that had emerged after so many years of struggle. It was an England rich, powerful, and victorious, overflowing with energy and self-confidence. He describes both the sources of her power, in agriculture, industry, and commerce, and the depths of injustices, un-redressed wrongs, and simmering discontents that had accumulated under the surface, unperceived by the architects of victory.
450 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1950
24 people are currently reading
144 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Bryant
246 books9 followersSir Arthur Wynne Morgan Bryant was an English historian, columnist for The Illustrated London News and man of affairs. His books included studies of Samuel Pepys, accounts of English eighteenth- and nineteenth-century history, and a life of George V.
Bryant's historiography was often based on an English romantic exceptionalism drawn from his nostalgia for an idealised agrarian past. He hated modern commercial and financial capitalism, he emphasised duty over rights, and he equated democracy with the consent of "fools" and "knaves"
Bryant's historiography was often based on an English romantic exceptionalism drawn from his nostalgia for an idealised agrarian past. He hated modern commercial and financial capitalism, he emphasised duty over rights, and he equated democracy with the consent of "fools" and "knaves"
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 13, 2024
Fascinating until 1815 then the narrative drive fails as it becomes social history. Probably a matter of personal preference though.
January 25, 2022
An absolutely extraordinary social history of Great Britain. Arthur Bryant's brilliant trilogy covering Britain and the wars against Revolutionary and Napoleonic actually concludes on a surprising note, where he looks back with regret on the failure of society to grapple with the new challenges of a transformed Britain. Of course it is the pinnacle of society (the elegant!) and those heroic, wise and insightful leaders of the nation that otherwise deserved so much praise across this trilogy; that now are seen as failing.
The industrial and agricultural revolutions, particularly under the impetuous of wartime demand had restructured society in a way no one could have ever anticipated, after all it was unprecedented leading the world into a new era. The first half of the book Bryant largely cheers these magnificent achievements and the tremendous benefits brought about. He rightly applauds Britain as the leading light of all the world in every sphere of human endeavour (oh that the woke revisionist leftists of today would understand). However the changes wrought also disembodied from all that it meant to be English (British - less so), the new proletariat in countryside, and most of all in the industrial slums in making. Certainly Briton's had always been an unruly lot (as he points out), but now they were divided by class as never before with a new entitled elite separated from a destitute ignorant mass.
Could anyone have seen a better way forward? It would have taken a genius, of which there were still many, but they were tired and shaped by the war that had demanded conservatism. Wellington for one was a genius, but he was far too personally attached to his peers in the aristocracy to find again the vision he exhibited for war. Perhaps Coleridge the poet is the hero who did see? Certainly the rabble rousing radicals hindered rather than helped with their destructiveness and hypocritical judgemental condemnations - such seen in the arch hypocrite Byron. Bryant however gives much sympathy to these Whigs and radicals - seeing them perhaps as more symptoms of the problem rather than negative influences preventing its cure.
Bryant gives an amazingly broad social commentary, drawing on a vast knowledge of sources to paint his picture. Indeed it is a wonderful flowing literary picture that he presents. Unfortunately for the 21st Century and non resident Briton, there is a lot of jargon, cross references and vocabulary which is lost to the reader. Nevertheless the style of writing is enough to convey the meaning for all the lost words. If this is stylish and engaging writing, it does not mean (as it does with some pseudo history) that Bryant is not accurate both in his facts and his conclusions. He certainly is both a great historian and great writer, but most of all a great patriot. In the end this is patriot history, with a sadness to it.
The industrial and agricultural revolutions, particularly under the impetuous of wartime demand had restructured society in a way no one could have ever anticipated, after all it was unprecedented leading the world into a new era. The first half of the book Bryant largely cheers these magnificent achievements and the tremendous benefits brought about. He rightly applauds Britain as the leading light of all the world in every sphere of human endeavour (oh that the woke revisionist leftists of today would understand). However the changes wrought also disembodied from all that it meant to be English (British - less so), the new proletariat in countryside, and most of all in the industrial slums in making. Certainly Briton's had always been an unruly lot (as he points out), but now they were divided by class as never before with a new entitled elite separated from a destitute ignorant mass.
Could anyone have seen a better way forward? It would have taken a genius, of which there were still many, but they were tired and shaped by the war that had demanded conservatism. Wellington for one was a genius, but he was far too personally attached to his peers in the aristocracy to find again the vision he exhibited for war. Perhaps Coleridge the poet is the hero who did see? Certainly the rabble rousing radicals hindered rather than helped with their destructiveness and hypocritical judgemental condemnations - such seen in the arch hypocrite Byron. Bryant however gives much sympathy to these Whigs and radicals - seeing them perhaps as more symptoms of the problem rather than negative influences preventing its cure.
Bryant gives an amazingly broad social commentary, drawing on a vast knowledge of sources to paint his picture. Indeed it is a wonderful flowing literary picture that he presents. Unfortunately for the 21st Century and non resident Briton, there is a lot of jargon, cross references and vocabulary which is lost to the reader. Nevertheless the style of writing is enough to convey the meaning for all the lost words. If this is stylish and engaging writing, it does not mean (as it does with some pseudo history) that Bryant is not accurate both in his facts and his conclusions. He certainly is both a great historian and great writer, but most of all a great patriot. In the end this is patriot history, with a sadness to it.
November 19, 2019
Fascinating easy read. Interesting perspective of England and English society at the time.
July 17, 2023
Bryant's third book of the Napoleonic era starts with Wellington in the Peninsula in front of Badajoz, while Napoleon faces the Sixth Coalition in Germany. This is very much English-centric history, so the focus is entirely on the Spanish front.
The first four chapters give a good account of Wellington's advance over the Pyrenees, and the campaign in the south of France. This, along with what happened in Germany and the road to Paris in 1813-14, does not get enough attention, and so makes interesting reading right there.
Unsurprisingly, he doesn't stop there, but talks about the peace process after Napoleon's abdication, and the Hundred Days, concluding with the Battle of Waterloo.
Surprisingly, he doesn't stop there either. The second half of the book is a social history of England over the next several years, as British and world economy struggle with the transition to peace. Wartime expenditures come to a sudden halt, causing dislocation in industry. But free access to European markets is restored, which helps, but the world economy stutters trying to absorb the scale of production now flooding out of the British Isles. Bryant mostly looks at the lower-level impacts of this in protests and economic hardship, and outright rebellion.
This has been another good transition from print to electronic format by Endeavour Press. The focus, as ever, is very English-centric, but it is well-written, and very enjoyable. Don't let this be your primary source of knowledge on the era, but it does talk of things that you won't encounter a lot of other overviews too.
The first four chapters give a good account of Wellington's advance over the Pyrenees, and the campaign in the south of France. This, along with what happened in Germany and the road to Paris in 1813-14, does not get enough attention, and so makes interesting reading right there.
Unsurprisingly, he doesn't stop there, but talks about the peace process after Napoleon's abdication, and the Hundred Days, concluding with the Battle of Waterloo.
Surprisingly, he doesn't stop there either. The second half of the book is a social history of England over the next several years, as British and world economy struggle with the transition to peace. Wartime expenditures come to a sudden halt, causing dislocation in industry. But free access to European markets is restored, which helps, but the world economy stutters trying to absorb the scale of production now flooding out of the British Isles. Bryant mostly looks at the lower-level impacts of this in protests and economic hardship, and outright rebellion.
This has been another good transition from print to electronic format by Endeavour Press. The focus, as ever, is very English-centric, but it is well-written, and very enjoyable. Don't let this be your primary source of knowledge on the era, but it does talk of things that you won't encounter a lot of other overviews too.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews