769 pages, Free Press, ISBN-10: 030-6807572
Throughout history, few armies have left as great and enduring a legend
as Napoleon's Grande Armée. In existence for only a decade, this
powerful weapon – numbering at its peak over one million soldiers from France,
as well as from varied vassal and allied states – swiftly conquered vast
territories across Europe and threatened to overrun more yet. Swords Around A Throne: Napoleon's Grande Armée is an outstanding masterpiece by military professional and historian John R. Elting who paints
an exciting, detailed picture of the magnificent fighting force created
by the genius and imagination of Napoleon. This is history as engaging as a novel, for Elting recreates
the daily life of the Grande Armée's soldiers and leaders and the
conditions under which they existed and fought, including rations, pay,
mud, disease, mobile hospitals, camp followers, loot, marches, baggage,
uniforms and more. Placing the reader in the boots of individuals – from yardbird conscripts to generals – Elting carries us along the Armée's
path, through triumph and disaster, in peace and at war. Sharing the experiences
of the men (and women) who served in, serviced and supported this awesome
military force, the reader meets the Emperor himself, his extraordinary
officers such as Berthier, Caulaincourt, Ney and others, as well as the
ordinary Frenchmen and foreigners who, imbued with the Armée's unique
fighting spirit, followed its eagles.
Swords Around A Throne is the result of thirty years of research and is a first rate organizational history of the Grande Armée. Quite simply, the Grande Armée is covered from muzzle to butt plate. All of the combat arms are meticulously reviewed, as well as the supporting services, along with such esoteric topics as law and order, the armies of the Revolution, and even the Royal Army of the ancien regime just prior to the conflagration of 1789. The flotsam and jetsam of the Grande Armée is covered in painstaking detail: vivandieres, colors, decorations, music, medical services and practices, food, marches, replacements and draft dodgers.
There are excellent chapters on logistics, strategy and tactics (which I consider superb and quite informative), as well as three chapters on the end of the Empire and the Grande Armée itself. Marshals and generals and lesser personalities are all given their due and are generously covered in some detail, especially some virtual unknowns that some of us may have barely heard of, if at all. The Imperial Navy has a chapter dedicated to it, especially detailing its support of land operations, while allied and foreign troops serving in the Grande Armée are given their just due; the chapter on the Grande Armée's (many) enemies is enlightening and very well done. One of the best chapters is on the Imperial General Staff; this attention has been long overdue and recognizes its value in the Emperor's method of waging war, as well as the value of its chief, Marshal Berthier. It was the first great modern staff and Berthier the first of the great chiefs of staff; two of the reasons for the Emperor's ability of waging such sweeping, quick and deadly campaigns were the efficiency of Berthier and the staff.
If Swords Around A Throne has a weakness, it is that you hunger for more information. There is so much that is unsaid that it again makes the student in all of us go out and do research on his own which, if I may be so bold, is one Col. Elting's purposes. At heart, he is still the teacher, trying to have us improve our knowledge of the period, one of the most fascinating in military history. The list of sources in the back is impressive, most being either archival sources or first hand accounts of combatants or participants (some, unfortunately for us English-only types, are still in French and many are hard to find, but there are many libraries that do hold these unique volumes). In short, Swords Around A Throne is the perhaps best single-volume history of the Grande Armée in English, probably in any language.
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