With Napoleon In Russia

by Christian Wilhelm von Faber du Faur

This handsome book is a unique record of Napoleon's invasion of Russia by Faber du Faur, a talented artist and front-line soldier. It combines his detailed, accurate and compelling illustrations of scenes recorded as they actually happened with his vivid and gripping memoirs of the campaign. The result is a superb and remarkably detailed evocation of 1812, from the sweeping battle scenes which capture the ordeal of Smolensk and Borodino, to the day-to-day struggle to keep campfires burning and famished men fed. Faber du Faur's plates - admired and highly-regarded primary source material - are here presented, for the first time, complete and in full color. His moving and frank memoirs, edited and translated by Jonathan North, are accompanied by a detailed campaign history and biography of the artist. Napoleon's invasion of Russia is a legendary campaign and a captivating story of endurance, survival and the rigors of total war. Few of the 500,000 men to cross the Niemen in July 1812 were to survive - the French army was decimated by the advance into the heart of Russia, and almost completely destroyed in the epic retreat from Moscow. With Napoleon in Russia is a unique presentation of this epic and an unforgettable depiction of the horrors of war.

Genres: History, Art

208 pages, Hardcover

First published February 19, 2006

Reviews

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read as a family room coffee table book. This was an excellent and unexpected gift from one of the guys who sometimes attends our game days.

As all military historians know, Russia kicked Napoleon around when he foolishly invaded. The shorthand explanation is that he was beaten by distance and weather. This book, written and illustrated by two officers who survived the campaign, gives a day-by-day account of what they saw. There is no overview, no judgment, no explanations. It's written in a humble way. The two do not glorify their actions or claim they were smarter than others and therefore survived. If anything they realized that they were just part of an army, later a mob, that got whittled down and they were a part of the stick the knife didn't get to.

The book has a "further reading" appendix listing many other firsthand accounts of the military disaster, but they are all written in French or Russian. Therefore I can't compare this book to alternatives. I did very much enjoy the book, and I do recommend it.

Thanks Tom for the thoughtful gift.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the illustrations and first-hand account of the invasion and retreat with Le Grand Armee. This is vivid history from primary source Major Faber du Faur.

[Sebastian Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christian Wilhelm von Faber du Faur, was, like Albrecht Adam (whose very similar book was republished around the same time as this edition appeared; see my reviews elsewhere), a German artist. Born in 1780, in Stuttgart, he initially took up painting, before becoming a soldier. It was in the latter role, as a lieutenant in the 25th (or Württemberg) Division of III Corps, in the Grande Armée, that he took part in the 1812 campaign in Russia.

The sketches he made on campaign were exhibited (in 1816), and later re-worked as prints, eventually being published, circa 1831-44. Staying in the profession of arms he ultimately attained the rank of general (1849), dying in Stuttgart, in 1857, aged - as was Adam at the time of his death, by a curious coincidence - 76.

As I mention elsewhere, in relation to Adam's illustrated memoirs, reading widely on the disastrous French invasion of Russia in 1812 I'd become aware of the works of both Adam and du Faur, their illustrated memoirs often supplying such books with evocative imagery. I remember frequently thinking, especially whilst reading Zamoyski's gripping account of the campaign, 'wow, I'd love to see more of these pictures: I wonder if they've been published in book form?'

Well, fortunately for us they have, and both books are superb. As already noted, Faber du Faur's has a distinct advantage over Adam's, which is nonetheless wonderful and well worth having, because, unlike Adam - who rather wisely opted to head home before everything started falling apart - he saw the whole campaign through, from it's glorious beginnings to it's abject end.

As a result du Faur's work has the fuller coverage, including, as it does, the descent of the Grande Armee into a crazed rabble of patchwork harlequin scarecrows, caught up in a tragically apocalyptic farce, humanity running the full gamut from the heroic to the horrifyingly brutal.

The artworks are really phenomenal, and Greenhill Books has printed the book beautifully: it's large format (in landscape orientation), and Jonathan North's translation of the text reads very well. Such specialist books can sometimes suffer from poor editorial quality control, or slightly odd or even just plain poor, writing. Thankfully the synopsis of the 1812 campaign given here is very good, and there's a decent map of the theatre of operations.

And, this bears repeating, the artwork itself, the heart of the book, is just fabulous.

So many aspects that simply reading about this fascinating subject can't quite convey are brought vividly to life: the realities of life on campaign, mostly spent travelling, camping outdoors - more often than not unprotected from the elements - foraging, bivouacing, eating, etc. The landscapes, the architecture, the importance of logistics - the sheer volume of horses, wagons, and such like is wonderfully evoked - and dealings with the native inhabitants - commerce between the Grande Armee and Russian Jewry is a noticeable feature in both Adams' and du Faur's books - all are depicted.

Almost all the books I've read on this subject, from those written now to these two much older sources, stress how things went terribly wrong right from the start. But visible manifestations of the harrowing descent into a motley bedlam, despite this, only really start to become strongly apparent on the retreat. The haggard, skeletal, fancy dress scarecrows, amidst the appalling squalor, suffering and sheer dehumanising brutality, make for compelling characters, in this excellently draughted material.

A stunningly beautiful and well realised edition, this is a classic document of Napoleon's hubristic over-reaching, the pivotal moment, where over a million lives were grist to the mill of what proved to be his unrealisable imperial ambitions. The French and their allies, having rapaciously looted and laid waste to much of Russia, would soon be jettisoning nearly all the booty, in the scramble to survive.

Fortunately for all concerned, this jewel of a book is one of the only real treasures to come back to us from the campaign, and I really can't recommend it highly enough.

[Steve Groves · Rating 5 out of 5]

A series of paintings from an eyewitness of the campaign in Russia and the retreat. One of the few survivors. The deterioration of the French army even after the first few weeks is startling, with only eight days of supply at the beginning. The troops had to resort to scavenging for food very early which did not bode well for the remainder of the long raid to Moscow.

The pictures become more surreal and horrific, particularly during the retreat, but an incredible visual testimony to the event.

[Rob Jeffery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating and artful telling of Napoleon's disastrous retreat from Russia.