The Exploits of Baron De Marbot - Softcover

De Marbot, Baron

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786708018 ISBN 13: 9780786708017

Publisher: Da Capo Pr, 2000

Synopsis

Both the inspiration and the sourcebook for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Brigadier Gerard stories, this hugely entertaining account of the Napoleonic Wars was written by a young officer about the action he saw, the adventures he experienced, the battles he fought, and the escapes he engineered in the campaigns that brought Napoleon and his armies to Waterloo. A vital and vibrant tale packed with bravado, duels, deceptions, and no lack of derring-do, it recounts in authentic detail and with compelling immediacy the careers that Napoleonic soldiers made of military perils, personal risks, and tactical maneuvers in the service of an imperial France. Originally published in France as a two-volume set under the title The Adventures of Baron de Marbot, the exploits of the man who was promoted to the rank of general on the eve of Waterloo appear here for the first time in a one-volume English edition. Not only has this classic soldier's memoir been discreetly edited to heighten the narrative of de Marbot's colorfully picaresque and anecdotal tale, but also expert commentary and essential background materials have been added to make the book's lively history more accessible, and the fascinating biography more illuminative for contemporary readers. "The first of all soldier books in the world - which gives us the best picture by far of the Napoleonic soldiers." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

About this title

Review

Why read fictional tales of Napoleonic adventure, the Sharpes and Patrick O'Brians of this world, when the actual participants left behind so many and such entertaining memoirs? CJ Summerville has now excerpted and edited the best bits from the autobiography of French General, the Baron de Marbot; memoirs the publishers consider "the most vivid and most evocative picture of the Napoleonic Wars ever written". They may well be right; Marbot has a novelist's eye for the telling detail, and he recounts adventures many of which would be too outlandish to be believed in a work of fiction. He tells of astonishing hardships and extraordinary bravery in battle. At one point Marbot sees a hallucination of his mother on the battlefield begging him to spare a Russian cossack's life. At another he returns a defeated German soldier's sabre to him: "the combat over, I was generous enough to hand back his weapon, as is the practice in such cases. He thanked me warmly." A few moments later, though, the defeated hussar thinks better of it and tries to kill de Marbot. "He laid open my horse's shoulder and was on the point of sabreing me when I threw myself weaponless upon him." In the struggle the German "pulled me hard enough by my epaulette. My saddle spun round and there I was with one leg in the air and my head pointing downwards while my prisoner bolted back to his comrades." You couldn't, as they say, make it up.

As the story goes on, the tragic inevitability of impending French defeat adds gravitas to de Marbot's perky tales. The retreat from Moscow, through the Russian winter, is brilliantly told: "the way was strewn with dead and dying; our march slow and silent. We had often to halt and clear away from the horse's bits the icicles formed by their frozen breath." By the time we get to Waterloo the reader's sympathies are very much with de Marbot. "I cannot get over our defeat," he says of that last battle, with a metaphor both baffling and strangely expressive: "we manoeuvred like so many pumpkins." Summerville's selections, linked with brisk historical summaries, are excellent; he picks out the best and most thrilling material, and contextualises it neatly amongst the amazing events of the war. You finish reading the book having been--that dream of historical writers--both entertained and educated. --Adam Roberts

Book Description

'The first of all soldier books in the world...' Conan Doyle

Edition details

• Publisher: Da Capo Pr
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0786708018
• ISBN 13: 9780786708017
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320
• Editor: Summerville Christopher J.