1812: The March on Moscow - Softcover

Britten Austin, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1848327048 ISBN 13: 9781848327047

Publisher: Frontline Books, 2013

Synopsis

More than a third of a million men set out on that midsummer day of 1812: none can have imagined the terrors and hardships to come. They would be lured all the way to Moscow without having achieved the decisive battle Napoleon sought; and by the time they reached the city their numbers would already have dwindled by more than a third. One of the greatest disasters in military history was in the making.

The fruit of more than twenty years of research, this superbly crafted work skillfully blends the memoirs and diaries of more than a hundred eyewitnesses, all of whom took part in the Grand Army’s doomed march to Moscow, to reveal the inside story of this landmark military campaign. The result is a uniquely authentic account in which the reader sees and experiences the campaign through the eyes of participants at each stage of the advance in enthralling day-by-day, sometimes hour-by-hour detail.

About this title

About the Author:

PAUL BRITTEN AUSTIN was born in Dawlish, South Devon. His parents were the writers Frederick B. A. King and Mildred King. He was educated at Winchester College. In 1951, he married novelist Margareta Bergman, sister of film director Ingmar Bergman. They lived in Stockholm, where he worked for Radio Sweden as head of English-language broadcasting. Paul Britten Austin spent twenty-five years researching and writing his vast study of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812. His 1815 book follows the same principle of ‘stitching together’ eyewitness accounts to create an exciting narrative.

Review:

' ... Already heralded as a classic ... The text is enriched with first-hand accounts which bring the whole narrative to life with an air of stark realism ... Britten Austin's trilogy truly ranks as a masterpiece, representing all that is to be admired in a research-based work' - Waterloo Journal The fruit of more than twenty years of research, this superbly crafted work skilfully blends the memoirs and diaries of more than a hundred eyewitnesses, all of whom took part in the Grand Army's doomed march into Moscow, to reveal the inside story of this landmark military campaign. The result is a uniquely authentic account in which the reader sees and experiences the campaign through the eyes of participants at each stage of the advance in enthralling day-by-day, sometimes hour-by-hour, detail. - Books Monthly Britten Austin spent more than twenty years studying this campaign, and thus had a vast range of eyewitness accounts at his disposal. Some of our witnesses appear throughout the book, providing a continuous threat to the narrative, others are used only once or twice, where their letters, diaries or memoirs provide information on a particular topic. We also get several different views of many key events, author's text, a mix of a narrative of the campaign (where needed) and comments on the reliability or otherwise of his sources.- History of War Website Almost as epic as the campaign and a masterpiece. The Bulletin

About this edition

• Publisher: Frontline Books
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1848327048
• ISBN 13: 9781848327047
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416