Napoleon Against Russia: A Concise History of 1812

Digby Smith¹s usefull account of 1812 claims to be based on the diaries and letters of soldiers not previously published in English. As such it will be a useful adjunct to Paul Britten Austin's excellent compilation of sources published under the title 1812. The style is brisk and the work will be useful for the non-specialist. There are however some unfortunate features. The book is unquestioningly anti-Napoleon (never a very useful attitude, and even less so here where criticism is so clearly due) and contains some unfortunate errors in the French quotations (the German soldiers are frequently made feminine (“allemande” when they should be “allemand”! – p. 224, for example). There are also some infelicities in the bibliography – it is unclear why Clausewitz is cited twice – once in Murray's English version (republished by Greenhill) and once in the German original – was Murray's translation defective? Faber du Faur is given an incorrect German title and a later date (the first edition was published bilingually in Stutgart in 1831-43 by Franz von Kausler, under the title Blaetter aus meinem Portefeuille, im Laufe des Feldzugs 1812 in Russland an Ort und Stelle gezeichnet von C. W. von Faber du Faur und mit erlaeuternden Andeutungen begleitet von F. von K – Feuilles extraites de mon portefeuille esquissées … en Russie par C. G. de Faber du Faur, accompagnées de notes explicatives par F. de K.“). The famous Minard “Chart of the Advance and Retreat of the French, showing troop strength, position, and for the retreat, the date and temperature” can also be seen on James Rubarth-Lay's web site Napoleon's Invasion of Russia, 1812 but no source is credited. But these are small criticisms of what is essentially useful book with excellent maps.