Crisis on the Danube: Napoleon's Austrian Campaign of 1809

by James R. Arnold

The year 1809 witnessed a geopolitical shift in Europe. While France and Napoleon’s Grande Armée remained ascendant, new forces weighed in the European balance of power. The author conducts us through the swirl of diplomatic intrigue that preceded the 1809 Austrian campaign. Revealed is the complex web of alliances, Napoleon’s mistaken political calculations, and the duplicity of his underlings that draw the French emperor into an unwanted war. Despite his diplomatic naïveté, Napoleon continues to exhibit the flashes of military genius that prompted him to describe this campaign as among the finest in his career. A detailed description of the makeup and tactical objectives of the Napoleonic war machine is followed by an explanation of the rival army’s organization and qualities. Crisis on the Danube relates the major engagements in this first phase of the 1809 war, from the Austrian invasion of Bavaria to the French capture of Ratisbonne. Readers see troop movements from the perspective of Napoleon and the Archduke Karl, allowing them to perceive how imperfect knowledge, “the fog of war,” influenced command decisions. In this atmosphere of uncertainty, the ability to make good strategic choices and stick to them was the hallmark of great military leadership and here Napoleon’s genius remained unsurpassed. Dramatic first-hand accounts vividly relate the consequences of these decisions by depicting what it was like to be under fire on a Napoleonic battlefield.

286 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1990

Reviews

[Brock Koleski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great historical account of the battle with the Fifth Coalition in 1809.