Robert Goetz

I don’t know how I missed this one, but it’s a superb history of the Austerlitz campaign. Robert Goetz is an amateur historian. I would look forward to his next work, but, alas, 1805 Austerlitz seems to be the only book he has written.

In retrospect, Austerlitz appears to have been an almost inevitable triumph of a dynamic military leader against the tired, old leaders of monarchist Europe. In fact, it was very much a near-run thing, and if the monarchist leaders of Russia were defeated, it was because they were too young and frivolous, not because they were old and tired. Oh, and Napoleon was a skillful military leader after all, not merely an “average” general.… (meer)

An excellent review of the battle, without going too deeply into detail. There are quite a few situation maps, which is a definite plus for trying to follow the flow of the action within the text. The book includes a lengthy discussion on trying to establish troop strengths and losses, which tends to presume familiarity with the books cited. Fortunately, this is presented as an appendix, which can be skipped without detracting from the enjoyment of the book and the acquistion of knowledge about the campaign and battle.… (meer)