Napoleonic History 1789-1815
February 1811. Marshal Victor had besieged the Spanish city of Cádiz for a year. Generals Manuel de Lapeña and Thomas Graham, at the head of Spanish and British troops, disembarked at Algeciras and at Tarifa and led their men towards Chiclana in order to attack the French lines from the rear. On 5 March, the opposing armies ran into each other on ground overlooked by the Bermeja and the Barrosa towers; the latter giving its name to the battle. The French troops commanded by Generals Villatte, Leval and Ruffin fell back before the Allied army. The fighting was fierce and the 8th Regiment of the Line lost its golden wreathed Eagle. Using French, Spanish and British sources and archives, drawing on numerous eyewitness accounts, the author captures the views of both sides of the conflict and provides a new and objective narrative in fascinating detail of this long-forgotten and little-known battle of the Peninsular War.
On 6th February 1814, the deputy mayor of Reims opened his city gates to a handful of Cossacks. Following this bold move, the city would alternate between French and Coalition rule four times within the month of March. Renegade General Saint-Priest seized the city by force on 12th March at the head of a Russian-Prussian Army Corps: This pushed Napoleon to commit himself in this battle in order to restore a critical tactical situation. He triumphantly entered Reims from the day after at nightfall upon rough fights which took place in Tinqueux and at the gate of Vesle. The inhabitants cheared enthusiastically at him when he left the city in the morning of 17th Marc. He had to proceed on his tragic destiny about to be achieved a few days later in Fontainebleau.
A highly illustrated introduction to some of the greatest battles in world history, from the iconic encounters of the Ancient World such as Thermopylae and Cannae, through to the major clashes of the 20th century epitomized by Stalingrad and Khe Sanh.
This concise study by renowned military historian Angus Konstam examines one hundred of the most famous battles from world history. It includes great naval engagements such as Salamis, Trafalgar, Jutland and Midway; pivotal land battles that decided the fate of nations, such as Hastings, Yorktown, Gettysburg and the Somme; and the impact of the new dimension of aerial warfare in the 20th century at Pearl Harbor, in the Battle of Britain and in the skies over Hiroshima.
This highly illustrated book features 100 full-colour battlescene artworks from Osprey's comprehensive archive and is the ideal introduction to the battles that changed the course of history.