Russia Against Napoleon

Book excerpt: 'Brilliant' MICHAEL GOVE, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, BOOKS OF THE YEAR 'A historian's version ofWar and Peace . . . this is military history of a high order, plunging us into a world of dashing dragoons and bristling moustaches, in which the largest army ever assembled came to grief in the snow outside Moscow' DOMINIC SANDBROOK, DAILY TELEGRAPH, BOOKS OF THE YEAR In the summer of 1812 Napoleon, the master of Europe, marched into Russia with the largest army ever assembled, confident that he would sweep everything before him. Yet less than two years later his empire lay in ruins, and Russia had triumphed. This is the first history to explore in depth Russia's crucial role in the Napoleonic Wars, re-creating the epic battle between two empires as never before. 'A landmark book' ECONOMIST,BOOKS OF THE YEAR 'A magnificent and outstanding tour-de-force . . . as exciting and sensitive as the most thrilling novel but packed with new revelations and vivid descriptions of savage battles, swashbuckling cavalrymen and towering personalities' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE, EVENING STANDARD 'Radically alters our assumptions about how Napoleon was beaten' ANDREW ROBERTS, DAILY TELEGRAPH, BOOKS OF THE YEAR 'A monumental work' ORLANDO FIGS Shortlisted for the 2009 Duff Coper Prize