Reviews for Realms of Memory: The Construction of the French Past (Volume 2), Vol. 2

The average rating for Realms of Memory: The Construction of the French Past (Volume 2), Vol. 2 based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-06-20 00:00:00 Tom Bolding The final paragraph in this book contains the following statement (page 90): "Never again would [Napoleon] experience the crowning glory of a triumphant campaign across the battlefields of Europe and don the victor's laurels." This slender Osprey volume, in the Campaign" series, explores the twinned battles of Aspern and Wagram. The campaign pitted the capable Archduke Charles (Austria) against the redoubtable Napoleon Bonaparte. The Archduke was a very capable commander and gave Napoleon as much as he could handle. As with others in this series, we get a glimpse of the commanders on both sides, the armies (including a very useful order of battle), and strategy/tactics of each side. The focus is on the preliminary battle at Aspern and Essling, after which Napoleon retreated, and the follow up major battle at Wagram (around 300,000 soldiers involved--the largest battle up to this point in time, according to the text). The battles were bloody and both armies fought fiercely. Napoleon began the campaign with a dismissive attitude toward the Austrians. He felt quite differently at the conclusion of the conflict! There are some useful (and other not so useful) maps, orders of battle for both battles, and so on. All in all, a nice addition to the "Campaign" series.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-05-01 00:00:00 Megan Smyth Standard Osprey Campaign offering - basic overview of historical events and a decent primer with very good selection of graphics material, maps and orders of battle. Ian Castle's narrative is compact and to the point, which allows him to squeeze significant amount of information into limited space available to him. At the same time I must question wisdom of Osprey's decision to compress two so significant battles as Aspern-Essling and Wagram into a single booklet. In my opinion, these battles deserve their own volumes.