A very good book, for once abandoning French sources to explore the Austrian side of the story. It could still be better; the limited format makes it impossible to include a bibliography or glossary, and the maps are not as useful as they could be. The text could expand on some of the points made, if there had been room to do so. In spite of these minor problems, I unreservedly recommend it.

Yours,
James D. Gray

Prior to this book I knew next to nothing about this all important battle from Nappy's early days. This battle illustrates the importance of assigning good men to the command of your Army so that they can arrive in the nick of time to save you from defeat.

This author, together with Terry Crowdy, has done a considerable amount of original archive research in both the Kriegsarchiv in Vienna and the S.H.A.T. in Vincennes. Not surprisingly, the new information they have brought to light has shattered the odd cherished myth or two. As such, there are those who have subjected David Hollins to a considerable amount of abuse for the revelations made in this book. Their unfounded and ill-considered comments do not change the facts as established in this work. The falacy of their arguments has been shown on debate on a number of website forae. In all, a well-researched work that is ideal for the purposes it is designed.

This book offers an enjoyable battle narrative of the two great Franco-Austrian campaigns of 1800: Bonaparte's campaign in Northern Italy, culminating at Marengo, and Moreau on the Rhine achieving the last victory of the French Republic, Hohenlinden. The armies and their leaders are well described. The action is fast paced and the author does an excellent job of making his material completely understandable. Throughout, the author uses excellent maps to detail the positioning and movements of opposing forces prior to and during engagements. For all its wealth of detail, Mr. Arnold should be complimented for making this a very easy to follow battle narrative.

Although there has evidently been much effort put into detailing the combat to a high degree of precision, the book however is littered with annoying anti-bonapartist rhetoric which has little to do with fact. The author's most frequently quoted source on Bonaparte's personal actions and character is the infamous personal secretary Bourrienne. Monsieur de Bourrienne was a rapacious embezzler who was fired by Bonaparte in 1802. Sometime afterwards, as Emperor, Napoleon, who for a tyrant was unusually forgiving, gave de Bourrienne another job as charge d'affaires in Hamburg. In 1810 he was once again caught stealing as well as selling forged passports. This time he was dismissed for good, being fined substantial amounts and disgraced publicly. After the return of the Bourbons, he attempted to ingratiate himself with the court by publishing memoires which are a travesty to truth. These memoires are cited time and again by Mr. Arnold in this book. In an appendix to this book, Mr. Arnold supplies brief biographies of the persons most mentioned in the narrative. Had Bourienne been included, Mr. Arnold would have no doubt mentioned the above and that Bourrienne eventually died in 1834, in an insane asylum.

The last chapter is a particularly irritating experience. Mr. Arnold dismisses those in England who were in favor of peace by claiming that Addington's government was simply bending to the "selfish views of the mercantile class which equated any sort of peace with a trade revival and profit." Mr. Arnold does not offer any reasons why Britain should have preferred war. For the Bourbons? Next Mr. Arnold flippantly calls the plebiscite making Bonaparte consul for life a "probably rigged national plebiscite", without offering a shred of evidence to support this. After enjoying the no nonsense, fact based account of the military campaigning, one can see how this politically motivated frivolty could be annoying. Mr. Arnold sums up by lamenting how 1800 was the last chance to stop the Bonaparte dictatorship from consolidating. No doubt he sees an alternative to the re-imposition of a Bourbon dictatorship with its system of class preferment supported by an atrocious taxation of all those not fortunate enough to be born with a pedigree. He does not share this with us though. The Italian states are referred to more than once as satellites of Bonaparte's France, yet he stops short of analysing what advantage the Italians would have had by remaining under the Austrian yoke. In short, Mr. Arnold, you do not have to like Bonaparte, but if you are going to include political wrangling along side the details of a military campaign, the reader has a right to expect the same kind of well thought out, fact based no nonsense approach as was used to describe the fighting.

This is the author's best effort so far and he has established himself as an accurate, reliable historian. The story of this critical campaign, which could have resulted in cutting Napoleon's amazing career somewhat short, is stirringly told with verve, wit, and an understanding of the period.

Using reliabe, accurate sources, the book tells of the critical fight at Marengo in northern Italy first, with the desperately raised Armee de la Reserve, and Napoleon's hair-raising fight that almost resulted in his defeat. Reinforced and saved at, quite literally, the last moment by his friend Desaix, whom Napoleon considered the 'best balanced of his lieutenants, the momentarily triumphant Austrians were hurled back in rout, and French arms triumphant. Unfortunately, Desaix was killed leading the decisive attack, shot dead out of the saddle. French generals Kellermann and Marmont provided the needed cavalry and artillery support, and the epic 30 minute fight of the Consular Guard infantry, in its first fight as a unit, is all told here.

Hohenlinden, fought in Germany after Marengo by the Armee de la Rhine under Moreau, is a different type of campaign. Moreau, popular, sluggish, and definitely not a friend or supporter of Napoleon, generally ignores directives from Napoleon, but manages to catch the Austrians at a disadvantage, and thanks to the combat leadership of his aggressive subordinates, Ney, Richemanse, and Dacaen, wins a decisive victory effectively ending the war.

This volume is definitely a keeper. It is accurate, enjoyable, and thorough, and holds the reader's interest throughout. Highly recommended.