The Wars of Napoleon (The West Point Military History Series) Paperback – May 1, 2003

I just got this atlas and wanted to leave a few words. Overall, this is a very good collection of clear and helpful maps of the campaigns. I wanted to mention a few things that might help other readers decide if this book would be helpful for them:1) As many other reviewers have mentioned, it is probably not a great idea to get this book without an accompanying military history describing the campaigns. This book as no text other than a few notes printed on some of the maps.2) Many of the maps are very large scale--maps of Europe from Portugal to the Urals showing state boundaries at various points, etc. Even most of the maps showing specific campaigns are larger scale than I expected, showing not only areas of active campaigning, but where forces were being mobilized, etc. For instance, the maps for the 1805 campaign stretch from Basel in the SW to Lodz in the NE, resulting in almost 3/4 of the map showing areas with no active operations. Very helpful for showing the "big picture", but less so for showing detail. Some of the maps ameliorate this problem by using map insets.3) Finally, there are fewer maps of the actual battlefields than I expected--only a handful of maps are included for specific battles, with Austerlitz and Waterloo being the main battles covered. There is, for example, no map of the Leipzig battle, or many others that I would have expected.4) The quality of the paper and the printing is quite nice; maps are only printed on one side of a page, in landscape format, making them a bit easier to review.

This book is amazing, it is focused around the battles of Napoleon Bonaparte so it is a book more suited to one who wishes to gain a better understanding of his battles as well as his strategies versus one who wants to learn of the Napoleonic Wars from a historical stance. I highly recommend this book and its accompanying Atlas, for if you just get one without the other you're only paying for partial knowledge. Although this book and the knowledge it yields is rich that doesn't mean it is flawless. I bought this book back in February, as it and the Atlas was on sale at that time, but have only really opened it a few times, as i had other tedious works to read. The acknowledgement, introduction, and next7 pages have fallen out and i had to glue them back to the book's spine, which is never a good idea or pretty thing to attemp. Other than it's poor durability it is an extremely insightful piece.

Excellent but very detailed map shown and a great source of Research for the Napoleonic wars

This book is to be bought only if your going to be reading a detailed military book about Napoleon's career. Chandler's is probably the best one to use.made by West Point's History department's Atlas division. As such, it is incredibly detailed and accurate. It lacks smaller unit activity sometimes, but from Italy to Egypt back to Italy to Germany and Prussia, all of the major decisive engagements of the Napoleonic wars are there. I would have liked a Revolutionary Wars prelude, 1792-1796, since those opening campaigns were so crucial to understanding the situation Napoleon found himself in. Already occupying a good deal of territory. Also, showing how different and similar Napoleon's methods were. Definitely dont get this book unless your reading Chandler, a book which has completely explained Napoleon's art of war, tactics to strategy.

Very nice piece to compliement its literary partner. I just wish it was a bit more detailed. For ex. It wouldn't hurt to add exactly how big army units were at this time in the Table of Symbols page.

An amazing book. Any one with an interest in Napoleon Bonaparte would be remiss with out it just know its a coffee table book not a night stand read.

Covers Napoleon's campaigns many at the operational and strategic level. The color registration is off slightly on some maps (the overprinting is a little visible).As other reviewers have noted, a history/description is needed in order to understand the maps and why the various arrows went where they did.Naval operations and operations outside of Europe are touched on, but the focus is on Europe.Update (6 Nov 2014)Just noticed that Napoleon's name was misspelled on the spine. Sloppiness there makes me wonder about other errors. They lose a star.

A MUST when reading about the Napoleonic wars. Helps the student of history visualize what is going on much better than mere words.

There are on a few good maps no descriptions as in the Peninsular War Maps.Very very very disappointed !!!! :( :( :(martin :(

An excellent compendium of the battles fought by the great French general and emperor. It is a lot to ask to see through the fog of war, which was especially dense in Napoleon's time as huge armies fought over difficult terrain, obscured by cannon smoke and lacking anything resembling real time communications. This work does, however, go a long way to bringing out the key elements of individual battles and longer campaigns. Unfortunately, it was designed to be read with an accompanying Atlas which I found to be a shoddy product of little use. Even without this intended supporting material, however, The Wars of Napoleon is a valuable addition to the library of those interested in military history around the turn of the nineteenth century.

The first warning came as I took the book out of the package and read the spine: "West Point Atlas for the Wars of Napolean"---leading one to wonder about the quality of their proofreading. It is intended as a companion to The Wars of Napoleon which is a very thorough account of the military exploits and misadventures of the man many consider the greatest military strategist of all time. The maps could have been an invaluable aid to understanding the flow of these battles but are unfortunately marred by poor quality printing and unclear designs. A great pity to see such a shoddy product emerge under the brand of West Point.

Atlante storico che mostra in un formato medio (pagine tipo A4) i movimenti strategici dei corpi d'armata di Napoleone in tutte le sue campagne.Compendio imprescindibile nella lettura di saggi di storia militare, spesso carenti di apparato iconografico.Utilizzato assieme al "Chandler" crea un'accoppiata vincente.Vive l’empereur!

si tratta solamente dell' atlante geografico, per cui bisogna dotarsi prima di libro.Avendo il libro di Chandler con mappe piccole, questo atlante mi è di grande aiuto