Marshal Ney: Fall From Glory
Marshal Ney: Fall From Glory by Brian Williams
Publisher : Independently published
Publication date: : 26 Aug. 2025
Print length : 303 pages
ISBN: 9798262333264
One of the most colourful of Napoleon's Marshals, Michel Ney was best known as “The Bravest of the Brave” - an enduring symbol of heroism and inspirational leadership in battl Ney was born a barrel-cooper's son who rose from the humblest of origins as a cavalry trooper under the Ancien Regime to the highest ranks of the French army under Napoleon.
The bold commander distinguished himself in campaign after campaign, most memorably the 1812 invasion of Russia and his subsequent command of the rearguard in the retreat from Moscow: He was rumoured to be the last Frenchman to leave Russian soil. Always in the thick of the action, Ney survived over twenty years of warfare and close combat only to be condemned by his own countrymen and executed as a traitor. The victim of a squalid judicial murder that divided France for a generation.
Ney was a simple soldier who distrusted politics yet played a pivotal role in great events away from the battlefield: twice forcing an Emperor into abdication and driving a King into exile. Mercilessly castigated for his performance at Waterloo, condemned by history as the reckless and unthinking hot head who squandered the flower of France’s cavalry in futile charges against the British squares, the Marshal has long served as a convenient scapegoat for Napoleon’s own failings.
This is the story of a more complex man than traditionally depicted - a brilliant but flawed commander and man.
Brian Williams is a police officer with the British Transport Police. He lives in London.