Soldier for Napoleon: The Campaigns of Lieutenant Franz Joseph Hausmann - 7th Bavarian Infantry

Description

'Fills a very noticeable gap in the history of the Napoleonic Wars by providing a good description of what it was like to be a member of the Royal Bavarian Army.' HistoryNet. The letters and diaries of Lieutenant Franz Joseph Hausmann are here placed in the context of the military events of the period by renowned historian John Gill. They stem from Hausmann's first campaign in 1805 in the war against Austria, followed by the 1806 and 1807 campaigns in Prussia and Poland. In 1809 he was in action against the Tyrolean insurrection and he also fought at Abensberg and Zniam. He was only twenty-three when he embarked on the ill-fated 1812 invasion of Russia and served as part of the Bavarian corps that was shattered in this cataclysmic campaign. He survived to describe the 1813 campaign and the 1814 campaign in France when the Bavarians switched sides and fought against Napoleon. With additional commentary by John Gill on the Bavarian Army and its campaigns and battles, this book is an important, authoritative addition to the works on the Napoleonic Wars. AUTHOR: John H. Gill (Jack), a military historian specializing in the Napoleonic era, is the author of With Eagles to Glory and the editor of A Soldier for Napoleon. He has contributed numerous papers to the Consortium on the Revolutionary Era and other academic forums. His latest work is 1809: Thunder on the Danube, just published in March 2008, which is to be the first of three volumes. An associate professor at the Near East-South Asia Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, DC, he has also published on military history and contemporary security issues relating to India, Pakistan, and other South Asian countries. A retired US Army colonel, he lives in Virginia, USA with his wife, and their two teenage sons. John has also received the John Elting Award from the Napoleonic Historical Society for contributing to the study of Napoleonic history which was awarded to him for being a 'fine historian' and 'great writer'.

Cynthia Hausmann, who deciphered and translated the original letters and diaries, is the great-granddaughter of Franz Hausmann. John Gill is a former colonel in the United States Army and the author With Eagles to Glory, a history of the 1809 campaign and 1809: Thunder on the Danube. He has contributed numerous papers to the Consortium on the Revolutionary Era and other academic forums. He is an associate professor at the Near East-South Asia Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, DC.

"This book is a necessary read for anyone who wants to know what life was like for the common soldier of the period and what motivated them to do so much in the name of the Emperor."-- "The Napoleon Series" "The letters and diaries of Lieutenant Franz Joseph Hausmann are here placed in the context of the military events of the period by renowned historian John Gill. This book is an important, authoritative addition to the many new works on the Napoleonic Wars that modern scholarship is bringing to light."--Julian Stockwin, historical fiction author