Napoleon and Berlin: The Franco-Prussian War in North Germany, 1813

Michael V. Leggiere

University of Oklahoma Press, 2002 - History - 384 pages

At a time when Napoleon needed all his forces to reassert French dominance in Central Europe, why did he fixate on the Prussian capital of Berlin? Instead of concentrating his forces for a decisive showdown with the enemy, he repeatedly detached large numbers of troops, under ineffective commanders, toward the capture of Berlin. In Napoleon and Berlin, Michael V. Leggiere explores Napoleon’s almost obsessive desire to capture Berlin and how this strategy ultimately lost him all of Germany.

Napoleon’s motives have remained a subject of controversy from his own day until ours. He may have hoped to deliver a tremendous blow to Prussia’s war-making capacity and morale. Ironically, the heavy losses and strategic reverses sustained by the French left Napoleon’s Grande Armee vulnerable to an Allied coalition that eventually drove Napoleon from Central Europe forever.

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User Review  - jcbrunner - LibraryThing

After a truly bad introduction which highlights the author's weak knowledge about European history and military tactics, the book recovers and even delivers a nice operational study about von Bülow's ...

Contents

• France and Prussia: 3
• The Sixth Coalition: 28
• The Defense of Berlin: 55
• Luckau: 70
• Muskets Saddles and Shoes: 89
• Axes Spades and Water: 104
• Plans and Preparations: 120
• Opening Moves: 141
• Groß Beeren: 160
• The Politics of Dissension: 177
• Dennewitz: 189
• At the Rubicon: 212
• Crossing the Rubicon: 229
• Leipzig: 256

About the author

Michael V. Leggiere is Assistant Professor of History at Louisiana State University, Shreveport.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Napoleon and Berlin: The Franco-Prussian War in North Germany, 1813; Volume 1 of Campaigns and commanders
• Author: Michael V. Leggiere
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002
• ISBN: 0806133996, 9780806133997
• Length: 384 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / General; History / Military / General