Featured battle : Minsk [Capture]

Part of The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Date : 17 November 1812

The advanced guard of the Russian army of the Danube took Minsk with very light losses. The main body of the Russians began to come in as evening fell. Not only was this important communication centre lost to Napoleon but a greater loss to the Grande Armée were the two million rations carefully hoarded in the city.

Napoleon and the Art of Leadership

William Nester
When I first saw this book I was fearful that it was just another biography of Napoleon. But part of the title ‘the art of leadership’ intrigued me. I was pleased to find that the author stuck faithfully to his brief for at least the first three-quarters of the book. The focus was very clearly on the leadership actions and thinking of Napoleon himself and includes on the way the large amount of advice on leadership he gave to others. The final quarter reverts to more of a biography which perhaps reflects the absence of fresh thinking on Napoleon’s part.
Almost incidentally to the main theme we end up with a rather good biography of this ‘flawed genius’. We see the initial energy and drive of the genius become more and more egocentric until the flaws take over. This narrative flows through the book and beautifully draws out the increasing mismatch between what Napoleon said/wrote and what he did.
It is quite a large book as befits the subject with 395 pages of well written text and with over a hundred further pages of supporting notes.
We highly recommend this book to those who only want a good read about the life of a ‘flawed genius’ and those who want more will get more.

Frontline Books, 2020