Broken Eagles: Napoleon and His German Allies in the 1813 Campaign : Volume I: Campaigns Overview, Bavaria, Saxony John Gill
Publisher: Greenhill Books, August 2025
Description: 496 pages ISBN: 9781805001737
Traditional accounts of the campaigns of 1813 concentrate on the major powers: Napoleon's France versus Russia, joined successively by Prussia, Sweden and Austria, and how, as in the French catastrophe of 1812, early successes were transformed into ruinous defeat. However, the smaller German states in Napoleon's alliance system, the Confederation of the Rhine, or Rheinbund, also played an important part.
Despite its significance, there are few books, especially in English, that explore the Rheinbund's creation, evolution and demise. This groundbreaking new work seeks to redress this. Based on years of research in archives across Germany and France, as well as battlefield visits, this unprecedented study provides the first comprehensive analysis of the confederation's military campaigns of 1813 - culminating in Napoleon's defeat and the collapse of his German alliance.
Presented in two parts, this first volume opens with an overview of the Rheinbund as an institution, a summary of its brief history and an overview of the campaigns, battles and sieges of 1813. It then proceeds to a detailed examination of the activities of the armies of Saxony and Bavaria in this critical year. The second volume continues with an analysis of the forces of W rttemberg, Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt, Westphalia and the multitude of smaller states that comprised the Rheinbund. Supplemented by more than 100 maps, charts and orders of battle, this is an essential reference work for any Napoleonic scholar and all those with an interest in the historical development of Germany.
Does sound like a possible read for me
Yes, Prussia was the only German state in 1813 which was not member of the Rheinbund. There is a certain anomaly with some Rheinbund states in 1813 too: Some of them fought at the same time for and against Napoleon, e.g. Anhalt (-Bernburg, -Köthen, -Dessau) which had a battalion with Bernadotte's Nord-Armee (Allied Army of the North) and other contingents with Napoleons Grande Armée (one regiment fought at Kulm) or Bavaria which turned sides in the beginning of October (Treaty of Ried, 8th October) but had still a contingent in Danzig under General Rapp.
I also got a glimpse on one chapter (not covered in the first volume) ... and it is promising and of high quality as all of Jack's works. It is very valuable that Jack understands German very well and is able to read the sources (even archival ones).
Looking forward reading the book ... greetings from Berlin
Markus Stein
I was one of the peer reviewers of the book. It is quite good. I am surprised that it is being divided into two volumes. Jack covers all of the German states participation in the 1813 Campaign. . . except for the Prussians.