Alternate Decisions of the Napoleonic Wars

Greenhill, 2000, ISBN 1-85367-388-9, 221 pages

Take a number of Napoleonic literary giants like Elting, Griffith, Haythornthwaite, Gill, and Hofschroer, add in a few more, and then let them explain an alternate series of events during the Napoleonic Wars. The result is a 10-chapter book, one per author, on what could have happened to snatch victory from defeat or visa versa at Waterloo, Kulm, Borodino, and other battlefields.

It's hard not to be amazed that scholars all wrote down what we mere mortals argue about. And it's a nice feeling to be able to point to some chapter and say, "Hey! Elting agrees with me!" or "That Digby Smith--you know he agrees that Borodino could have been a decisive Russian victory."

But lest you think that such giddiness belongs to we armchair generals, know that each chapter includes "The Reality" that summarizes what did happen and where the scholars compare and contrast events. Sometimes, their conclusions are that such alternate histories are quite possible. Othertimes, they believe it improbable that so many event changes would occur.

In either case, the chapters are full of interesting ideas and angles with a smooth progression through the years. For folks who can imagine alternate histories, The Napoleon Options is mandatory reading.