The Napoleon Options: Alternate Decisions of the Napoleonic Wars

Rating:
Summary: Easy Reading
Review: A nice collection of alternate realities where often the key factor lies in the after effects of a changed descision. Some of the chapters are better than others. The best ones are the ones which run closest to what actually happened with the smallest change amending the course of history Hofschroer,Elting,Haythornwaite,Gallagher,Elting all fitting nicely within this with strong possibilities the weakest in my opinion was Uffindell's who wrote a nice story but then ruined it by calmly stating that the campaign was a foregone conclusion and Napoleon would never have won. Read the other 2 two waterloo accounts and make your own mind up on this.

It was also enjoyable, after reading, to work out any other obvious 'changes' that could have changed history at Waterloo d'Erlon not being recalled and hence winning Ligny - all it needed was one order to arrive with Ney before he lost his temper at the second or Bourmont not defecting and hence Ligny starting 3 hours earlier. Junot in Russia blocking the Russian retreat etc etc.

All in all enjoyable and a mind opening book

Rating:
Summary: If Only That Division Had Rallied After Waterloo...
Review: I am not normally a fan of 'what if' historical books. I'll make an exception for this volume. Jonathan North has done a superb job here assembling ten reputable Napoleonic scholars, including himself, to write chapters on alternate solutions to episodes in the Napoleonic Wars.

Ranging from the Revolutionary period to the denouement at Waterloo, which gets three chapters on its own, including the last one by noted authority Colonel John Elting, which is my favorite, the authors give viable, believable alternate solutions to important, decisive Napoleonic events.

The contributors include Peter Hofschroer, Digby Smith, Jack Gill, and Paddy Griffith, as well as four other reputable Napleonic scholars, and all of these historians have contributed mightily to this little gem of a volume.

John Elting's is indeed the finest of the lot. He tells in graphic, realistically gritty prose of the rallying of the 7th Infantry Division at Quatre Bras by Napoleon after Waterloo, introducing two characters, tough little Captain Merle, and tall, wiry, experienced, and feral-eyed Sergeant Gros-Noir, both of the venerable 1st Hussars, all of whom combine to ambush Gneisenau's amateurish pursuit after Waterloo, capturing Gneienau himself. The ambush succeeds, Blucher is ridden down in Genappe by Merle's scratch squadron, while Gros-Noir, with a 'volunteer' Belgian guide, sows hate and discontent in the allied rear areas. Grouchy is on the march and at grips with the Prussians, and then comes the rumor that the terrible, greatly feared Davout is marching north...Ah, if only...

This is an excellent volume that does add to our knowledge of the period, as most of each chapter is at least somewhat factual. If not, it does give us plausible alternate solutions, and in the case of Col Elting's chapter, what Napoleon's 'old sweats' were like. Jonathan North has done us all a great service.

Rating:
Summary: If Only That Division Had Rallied After Waterloo...
Review: I am not normally a fan of 'what if' historical books. I'll make an exception for this volume. Jonathan North has done a superb job here assembling ten reputable Napoleonic scholars, including himself, to write chapters on alternate solutions to episodes in the Napoleonic Wars.

Ranging from the Revolutionary period to the denouement at Waterloo, which gets three chapters on its own, including the last one by noted authority Colonel John Elting, which is my favorite, the authors give viable, believable alternate solutions to important, decisive Napoleonic events.

The contributors include Peter Hofschroer, Digby Smith, Jack Gill, and Paddy Griffith, as well as four other reputable Napleonic scholars, and all of these historians have contributed mightily to this little gem of a volume.

John Elting's is indeed the finest of the lot. He tells in graphic, realistically gritty prose of the rallying of the 7th Infantry Division at Quatre Bras by Napoleon after Waterloo, introducing two characters, tough little Captain Merle, and tall, wiry, experienced, and feral-eyed Sergeant Gros-Noir, both of the venerable 1st Hussars, all of whom combine to ambush Gneisenau's amateurish pursuit after Waterloo, capturing Gneienau himself. The ambush succeeds, Blucher is ridden down in Genappe by Merle's scratch squadron, while Gros-Noir, with a 'volunteer' Belgian guide, sows hate and discontent in the allied rear areas. Grouchy is on the march and at grips with the Prussians, and then comes the rumor that the terrible, greatly feared Davout is marching north...Ah, if only...

This is an excellent volume that does add to our knowledge of the period, as most of each chapter is at least somewhat factual. If not, it does give us plausible alternate solutions, and in the case of Col Elting's chapter, what Napoleon's 'old sweats' were like. Jonathan North has done us all a great service.