ON THE NAPOLEONIC WARS - Collected Essays by Chandler, David G

London 1994, Greenhill, first UK edition, hard bound in dust jacket, Fine/Fine condition, 270 pages, maps, sketches, bibliog.----------------------------------------------------------Dr David G. Chandler is one of the twentieth century's leading military historians. This collection of his work presents articles, essays and lectures containing some of his most significant ideas, which have evolved throughout his career to the present day, on aspects of the dynamic and dramatic period of Napoleonic warfare.The range of subjects examined here includes the origins of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars; the Egyptian campaign; the battles of Marengo, Austerlitz, Maida and Sahagun; the Peninsular War; the Russian campaign; the myths surrounding the Emperor and his battles; the marshalate; and the wars viewed in the light of classical military theory.New papers appear together with articles now made accessible following their original publication in a wide variety of journals and periodicals; and, coincidentally, David Chandler's first and most recently published articles, both included in this collection, relate to aspects of the same campaign: the British in Egypt in 1801. To establish the context, each chapter is preceded by an introduction, detailing the circumstances of the article or lecture being prepared, and in some cases the heated debates that have arisen as a result.In the overall Introduction, David Chandler provides an entertaining account of his life and career. As a distinguished historian (only two others have earned a military history D.Litt from Oxford since Sir Charles Oman in the 1920s) he has travelled around the world to lecture at universities and military colleges and speak at international conferences. He has just retired from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where he has been Head of the Department of War Studies for nearly fourteen years.On The Napoleonic Wars is a stimulating, varied and valuable addition to the literature of military history in general and the Napoleonic Wars in particular.