L' Armee Francais

Book Review

by Dave Watkins

An illustrated history of the French Army 1790-1885, illustrated by Eduard Detaille, text by Jules Richard.
Published by Waxtel and Hausner £ 35
Sole distributor: Partizan Press

This is the first English edition of this century old French work and consists of 354 pages with over 300 cracking Detaille illustrations and 21 colour pictures of his works. the book gives excellent coverage to the Napoleonic Wars and later wars ofthe 19th century. The book was written when French military esteem was pretty low and was intended to incite the French nation to go in search of lost military pride. This is reflected throughout the text, but if you are a confirmed "bonapartist" you won't notice...you'll enjoy it.

There are some nice touches, for example all the names of the Napoleon's cavalry and artillery colonels for each regiment throughout the empire can be found, as can the losses and colonels for infantry units at Austerlitz. Recommended reading for all napoleonic gamers, you may not find anything new to you, but it's stirring stuff and you can always drool over the colour plates.

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