The Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars by Alexander Mikaberidze, winner of the Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize, presents the first global history of what is often considered the world's first world war.

Austerlitz, Wagram, Borodino, Trafalgar, Leipzig, Waterloo: these locations are most closely associated with the Napoleonic Wars. However, how did this period of nearly continuous conflict affect regions beyond Europe? The immense battles waged by France against England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia had immediate consequences that resonated globally.

In this ambitious and far-reaching work, Mikaberidze argues that the Napoleonic Wars must be understood from an international perspective. France sought dominance not only in Europe but also in the Americas, West and South Africa, the Ottoman Empire, Iran, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

By examining specific regions, Mikaberidze discusses major political-military events around the world, contextualising geopolitical decisions within both their long-term and short-term ramifications. From British expeditions to Argentina and South Africa to Franco-Russian manoeuvrings in the Ottoman Empire, the effects of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars shaped global affairs well into the subsequent century.

In Egypt, the wars facilitated the rise of Mehmed Ali and the emergence of a powerful state; in North America, they transformed and expanded the new United States; and in South America, the Spanish colonial empire saw the beginnings of national-liberation movements that ultimately ended imperial control.

Skillfully narrated and deeply researched, The Napoleonic Wars offers a global history of the era, expanding our understanding of these wars and their role in laying the foundations for the modern world.