Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This volume is full of promise, packed with photographs of period artillery pieces, secondary drawings of artillery pieces and ancillary vehicles and equipment, but in the end is a disappointment. Napoleonic Artillery is a survey work attempting to be all things to all people, and while profusely and well-illustrated, the book needed the editorial direction to be either an illustrated history of the artillery of the Napoleonic Wars or a scholarly history of the artillery of the period. The book is trying very hard to be both, and unfortunately, it is neither.
This is a herculean attempt to shoulder the entire gamut of the European artillery systems of the period, from field artillery to siege, garrison, and fortress artillery, but what has been accomplished is the assembly of a wide range of material with little or no depth to it. Like the Powder River, the book is a mile wide and an inch deep.
In this flawed endeavor, the book fails in two areas: it is not well-sourced (or on the surface appears not to be) and there are too many errors in fact in the text to be a reliable source of information for researchers.
First, and most important, while there are over four hundred reference notes in the volume, about forty percent of these have no page numbers for the cited works. Because of this omission, the book's text cannot be used as a reliable source. This is a shame for there is good and useful information in the text.
There is material that needs to be sourced, and is not. An example is on pages 246-247 where canister, an anti-personnel round, is described as bursting on impact with the ground instead upon leaving the gun tube when the round was fired. This is incorrect. A diagram made for the book supposedly demonstrates this phenomenon, but there is no contemporary artillery manual that supports this theory. This demonstrates a lack of understanding of the artillery and ammunition of the period. And this is not the only place in the text where this takes place.
Jean-Baptiste de Gribeauval was one of the great artillerymen of the 18th century. The artillery system he created was arguably the epitome of 18th century artillery development, but that opinion is not shared in this volume. That is acceptable as historic argument. However, incorrect information has been given about Gribeauval, such as stating he was an engineer; that his `fundamental profession was the building and attacking of fortresses;' and that he was `a specialist in the attack and defense of fortified places.' Further it is stated that Gribeauval was `exchanged into the Austrian service' during the Seven Years' War.
Gribeauval was a school trained French artilleryman, and was commissioned into the artillery as a lieutenant-he was not an engineer. He gained a reputation for innovation and artillery design before 1750. He was a specialist in siege operations because that was part of the training of French artillery officers during the period.
His `fundamental profession' was artillery. He was seconded to the Austrian Army, as the Austrian Army was short of qualified artillerymen. There he distinguished himself among the Austrians, who considered him a gifted colleague, and was promoted to general officer rank and decorated in the Austrian service. This material can be found in the biographies of Gribeauval by Hennebert and Nardin, which are not in the book's bibliography.
On page 262 it reads that `The Gribeauval System was not an all-encompassing and radical change.' Evidence from French artillery manuals of the period and such credible secondary works as Nardin's biography of Gribeauval and Ken Alder's Engineering the Revolution state, and largely prove, otherwise.
There are other questions on the material, such as giving credit to both the Prussians (in 1722) and the Austrians in the 1750s of developing the bricole, an artillery tool used to move a field piece by manpower. It's either one or the other. In one reenactor photograph (not a good practice in an historical study), it reads that bricoles are illustrated. What is shown is not a bricole, at least not a French one, merely looped rope.
On pages 128-129 diagrams name French corps commanders in November 1806 and May 1807. Andoche Junot is listed for the VIII Corps when the commander was Marshal Mortier. Marshal Lannes is named for the V Corps in May 1807, when V Corps was commanded by Marshal Massena. On page 128 it states that the Sailors of the Imperial Guard manned floating batteries in the Danube for the Battle of Wagram. They were not at Wagram; the actual sailors being the Battalion of the Danube and the 44th Bataillon de Flotille commanded by Pierre Baste.
The book's strengths are the photographs of period artillery pieces and equipment and the line drawings done for the book (why were originals not used?). The chapter on the British artillery is excellent, and the authors included most of the belligerents of the period.
The flow charts in the text are confusing and do not facilitate understanding the subject. Errors in the horse artillery section, the tactics section (regarding French artillery command and control), about particular artillery equipment and practices as well as errors in describing certain sources (Louis de Tousard's US artillery manual in particular), stating that certain field pieces, such as the French 8-pounder, were unsuitable, not being specific about what constituted the field artillery of the period, and other such errors detract from the usefulness of this volume.
Errors notwithstanding, this book should be read by anyone interested in the subject, bearing in mind that there are better artillery references available. This book was a great opportunity to educate and enlighten, but the opportunity was missed. Because of the myriad factual errors, this book cannot be used as a reliable reference. However, the book is recommended if used with great care.
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The Napoleonic Wars gripped Europe, and beyond, for over ten years at the beginning of the Nineteenth century. Hundreds of battles were fought between the armies of France (and its allies) and all those powers that wished to see Napoleon Bonaparte stopped in his tracks and an end to the French Empire. The battles and sieges of the Napoleonic Wars, which cost the lives of between 3 and 6 million men, made unprecedented use of large guns, and every participating army possessed a range of artillery. With the wars covering such a long period of time, and with so many armies involved, the subject of Napoleonic artillery is a complicated one, and no work has attempted to examine all the weapons involved in a single, detailed volume. Until now. The product of years of research, this book presents most of what is known about the artillery pieces of the Napoleonic Wars. Including numerous drawings, contemporary illustrations and modern photographs of surviving guns, it will be an invaluable addition to the library of historians, modellers, wargamers and re-enactors.
