Getting into the Napoleonic Mindset

There doesn't yet appear to be a thread about Napoleonic books, movies and the like, so I decided to make one.

Recently I've been reading Napoleon in Egypt, by Paul Strathern. It's a pretty quick read, and Strathern captures the zeitgeist of the Egyptian Expedition really well. The general, the savants, the interaction between cultures, etc.. they're well woven together. I've found myself with not only a thorough understanding of the particular campaign, but a new perspective on the whole era.

Anyone else have any good media on the era?

Also, anyone see "Passion in the Desert", or am I the only one who watches that sort of lunacy?

When ETW was on the way, I knew almost nothing about the period of fighting. Therfore I read up on historical books and even watched the entire Sharpe DVD collection to get into the spirit. And I got even watched Master and Commander as well for some light ship stuff.

However, when ETW came out it was so bad (even sieges in Sharpe were more authetic then in Empires) that it put all the research I made to nothing. Discovering that CA cared nothing for ship authenticity except in looks also blew it for me.

If I was going to get NTW, I would certainly not bother reading up on the history as you are almost certainly going to regret it when you find that NTW is nothing like the books or even the films.

You`ll just end up a big whiner like me.

I sort of did the same with the lead up to Empire. I got a short book on 18th century warfare and decided to watch a lot of movies and tv shows about the period, including Hornblower, The Last of the Mohicans, Barry Lyndon, The Patriot, The Duellists, The Mission, Rob Roy, Quills, Waterloo, City of Vice, and Master and Commander.

I'd seen some of these films and shows many years before ETW had even been announced but I decided to watch them again. I also watched a bunch of documentaries like the BBC's Heroes and Villains: Napoleon.

Despite all of that it still didn't put me in the proper mood for old horse and musket warfare. I've been thinking of getting Sharpe this Christmas, although I'm a bit daunted by the length of the series. How many hours is it again?

There's a quite good franco-italian movie on Nappy : "Napoléon et moi" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462002/
Very interesting, as it relates to politics, ethics and the way some people of the time percieved the man.
Remember that for each men stating he was a Tyrant, there was another one claiming he was a liberator.
Lots of people where tricked by Napoleon, but at the same time, he was percieved as better than the corrupt leaders of Europe, and was the symbol of revolutionary ideas (again it was false, but still he was percieved as such).
So that's a good movie imho, and Monica Bellucci is ok in the movie, while Daniel Auteil (playing nappy) is just excellent

I am glad that I am not the only nut who drags out his old books and videos in preparation for a game release. There is something very wrong with us.

Moved to the Historical Research Center.

The best source I'm aware of is the 'Memoirs of Baron De Marbot' - available from Amazon and for free online.

The baron was a Napoleonic cavalry officer > eventual general who was with Napoleon the whole way through (though his memoirs stop short of the last 100 days). It's extremely readable and provides incredible firsthand insight into the mindset. These are truly swaggering, fearless people (well, afraid of dishonour but that's it). Some have said de Marbot talks himself up too much, but I don't think so - he is generally extremely objective.

I intend to banish myself to a small island in the South Atlantic and stare at the walls all day.

Anyone even remotely interested in the Napoleonic Wars should read Zamoyski's '1812: Napoleons Fatal March on Moscow'. It truely is a terrific book detailing the events leading up to Napoleons invasion of Russia, the invasion itself and its aftermath. Zamoyski not only gives an outstanding explanation of the campaign and the tactics employed, but also provides some awsome explanations of the strategic decisions and implications of the campaign. Its all woven together with some great source work, providing a human touch to the statistics surrounding the tragedy.

Napoleon's Wars is a pretty good book about the political wrangling during the Napoleonic period, between Napoleon and the coalition, though it glosses over individual battles and campaigns.