The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier - Couverture rigide

Springer, O.; Walter, Jakob

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0900075376 ISBN 13 : 9780900075377

Editeur : Cassell Reference, 1991

Synopsis

When 18-year-old Jakob Walter was conscripted into the Grand Army of Napoleon, he had no idea of the trials that lay ahead. The long, gruelling marches on Prussia and Poland sacrificed countless men to Napoleon's grand designs. But it was the disastrous advance on Russia which tested human endurance on an epic scale. In Jakob Walter's account of his privations in Napoleon's army during the long retreat home from Russia to Germany, the reader can observe how he and his fellow conscripts were driven past reason by starvation and bitter cold; how men turned upon each other, killing for a half loaf of bread or tearing off each other's clothes in their grim fight for survival. Although there are numerous accounts of the Napoleonic Wars written by officers, Walter's is the only memoir by an infantryman from the ranks.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Eighteen-year-old German stonemason Jakob Walter served in the Grand Army of Napoleon between 1806 and 1813. His diary intimately records his trials: the long, grueling marches in Prussia and Poland, the disastrous Russian campaign, and the demoralizing defeat in a war few supported or understood. It is at once a compelling chronicle of a young soldier's loss of innocence and an eloquent and moving portrait of the profound effects of all wars on the men who fight them.

Also included are letters home from the Russian front, previously unpublished in English, as well as period engravings and maps from the Russian/Soviet and East European collections of the New York Public Library.

"Vivid and gruesome … but also a story of human fortitude. … It reminds us that the troops Napoleon drove so mercilessly were actually more victims than victors—a side of Napoleon that should not be forgotten."
—Chicago Tribune

Biographie de l'auteur

Mark Raeff, the Boris Bakhmeteff Professor Emeritus of Russian Studies at Columbia University, is a scholar of pre-revolutionary Russia. His books include Understanding Imperial Russia, Origins of the Russian Intelligentsia, The Well-Ordered Police State, and Russian Abroad.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Cassell Reference
• Date d'édition: 1991
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0900075376
• ISBN 13: 9780900075377
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 128
• Éditeur: Raeff Marc
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible