SWORDS AND SOULS MILLS EAGLES PROFESSIONAL

To Ann, my wife, typist, and editor, whose steadfast and loving comradeship got me through this long task. Acknowledgments To my mother, Myrtle Welborn Elting, who gave me that wonderful publication, The Book of Knowledge, with its pictures of Napoleon and his white horse that caught my imagination even before I could read, and taught me her own love of history. This book is about that army, and those men. It also was many men of many different nations-many heroes, not a few cowards, and the multitude who were neither but did their duty as they saw it. Swift-marching, furious in the attack, grimly enduring, high-hearted, stubborn in disaster, it still ranks among the few greatest of the great. The Grande Armee was the trenchant instrument with which Napoleon reshaped both Europe and the art of war. Patton's Third Army were of their true lineage. Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps and George S. Thomas's indomitable Army of the Cumberland. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia George H.

To the cadenced thunder of their drums they pass, to the lilting of forgotten trumpets, riddled standards high about the Great Captains who shaped and led them: The pikes and muskets of Gustavus Adolphus's tautly disciplined Swedes and Scots Oliver Cromwell amidst his Ironside horsemen and redcoat infantry: George Washington's tattered, hard-bitten Continentals Napoleon's Grand Armde the lean butternut ranks of Robert E. Some have left us little more than a proud tradition others, a changed world.

Preface and Acknowledgments Certain of mankind's greatest armies have passed like meteors, bursting out of chaos to storm across our history into enduring legend. Tout Est Fini 663 Appendix A Comparative Napoleonic and United States Military Grades 675 Appendix B Glossary of Military Terms 678 Notes 681 Bibliography 735 Index 751 Legitimacy Returns-Temporarily 623 XXXII. Vivandieres, Blanchisseuses, Enfants, et Bric-a-Brac 605 XXXI. 'Haut les Armes!': Weapons and Ammunition 475 XXV. Law and Order: La Force Publique and L'Armee de 1'Interieur 411 XXI. Trumpets and Drums and Cuckoos 335 XVIII. Wherever a Comrade May Need My Help 281 XV. Genie: 'The Jesuits of the Army' 267 XIV. 'It Is with Artillery That One Makes War' 249 XIII. Much High Brass and Some Low Brows 123 VIII. Tall in the Saddle and Under the Rose 103 VII. 'Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite': The Armies of the Revolution 27 III. All the King's Horses and the King's Men: The Royal Army 5 II. Elting To Ann, my wife, who-during the years of research that went into this book-sometimes declared herself the last widow of the Napoleonic Wars! 'The Grand Arm&e fought hard, seldom cheered, and always bitched.' Elzear Blaze, La Vie MilitaireД¬ontents Preface and Acknowledgments Xi Points of Information xiii Prologue 1 1. Swords Around a Throne Napoleon's Grande Armee John R. Elting's attention to the most minute detail would make Napoleon proud.' -Fort Worth Star-Telegram

SWORDS AND SOULS MILLS EAGLES PROFESSIONAL

It is a mine of information that will be read with interest by professional historians and military buffs alike. Scholarly without being ponderous or presumptuous, this work will be appreciated by scholars, students, buffs, and general readers.' choice 'The text is superb. The author approaches a familiar topic from a fresh perspective. Perceptive and colourful.' -London Times `An excellent and unique book.

Elting's analytical, often wry, style lends needed perspective.' -Sea Power 'Elting creates a fascinating picture of the people, their motives and their methods, that made up the metabolism of the Grande Armee and gave it its life blood. His graceful prose makes the intricacies of grand strategy clear, even to the casual reader, but does not neglect the minutiae of the daily grind of military life. A work rich in narration and anecdotal flair.' -The Historian 'The author is knowledgeable, articulate, and meticulously accurate. Swords Around a Throne is unlikely to be surpassed.' -Washington Post Book World 'Written in a lively and ironic style, Elting's book offers a wealth of information and color on this vast undertaking, both new and familiar, which is likely to be of great interest to military historians, wargamers, and Napoleon buffs. no aspect of the life of the Grande Armee escapes Elting's attentions. It is a military buff's delight, but also offers large rewards for the general reader of history.' -Wall Street Journal 'In this thorough and immensely entertaining book. this book reads like a grand novel in the old style, with the added charm of one of the world's most enduringly fascinating people at its center. Stokesbury, Army Magazine 'Fresh, evocative, vivid, and dramatic.

Acclaim for Swords Around a Throne `A fascinating tale, an excellent book.' James L.

Swords and souls mills eagles