Charge: Great Cavalry Charges of the Napoleonic Wars

Rating:
Summary: The book is not for me
Review: This book is an anthology of selected charges in the Napoleonic wars. I didn't really enjoy the book due to the writing style.

Rating:
Summary: An Enjoyable Read
Review: This book is an enjoyable read where the author takes the reader through various Napoleonic battles and examines the use of cavalry at each. The introduction and 1st chapter introduces the reader to the various types of cavalry, their uses and tactics and points out that the cavalry losses in the disastrous Russian campaign hit the French hard because it takes at least 5 years before a foal is ready for military training. The resulting shortage of horses impacted on Napoleon's subsequent campaigns as he was unable to effectively conduct reconnaissance and keep contact with the enemy and his own forces.

The author gives diverse coverage of battles from Italy to the Peninsular, to Prussia and Russia and includes some famous battles like Marengo, Austerlitz, Borodino, Waterloo and some lessor known ones like Fere-Champenoise. For each battle and encounter the author first outlines the strategic situation before examining the tactical use of cavalry. As Digby Smith points out, this is to give the reader an overall understanding of the context of each situation.

The author has carefully choosen battles to show the different situations faced by cavalry and to show how effective or ineffective it could be depending on how it was utlilized. Therefore the battles and encounters examined show: cavalry decimating infantry in line, cavalry been squandered in attempting to break solid infantry in square, cavalry successfully breaking tired infantry in square, cavalry trying to hold positions without support and cavalry vs cavalry clashes. The author has drawn on various sources of reference and has also included some 1st hand accounts from soldiers/cavalrymen from the period that brings the book to life.

Some people may find that the 20 odd pages per battle is not enough to give any real indepth analysis. I however found each chapter of battle to give a good sharp account that was thoroughly enjoyable and enticed the reader to read on to the next battle. The book includes a beautiful book jacket.