The Franco-Prussian War: The German Conquest of France in 1870-1871
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List Price:
$24.99
Czech Hotels Travel Price: $24.99
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Availability: Usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 943.082
EAN: 9780521617437
ISBN: 052161743X
Label: Cambridge University Press
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 342
Publication Date: 2005-02-21
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Studio: Cambridge University Press
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Editorial Reviews:
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The Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 violently changed the course of European History. Alarmed by Bismarck's territorial ambitions and the Prussian army's crushing defeats of Denmark in 1864 and Austria in 1866, French Emperor Napoleon III vowed to bring Prussia to heel. Digging into many European and American archives for the first time, Geoffrey Wawro's Franco-Prussian War describes the war that followed in thrilling detail. While the armies mobilized in July 1870, the conflict appeared "too close to call." Prussia and its German allies had twice as many troops as the French. But Marshal Achille Bazaine's grognards ("old grumblers") were the stuff of legend, the most resourceful, battle-hardened, sharp-shooting troops in Europe, and they carried the best rifle in the world. From the political intrigues that began and ended the war to the bloody battles at Gravelotte and Sedan and the last murderous fights on the Loire and in Paris, this is the definitive history of the Franco-Prussian War. Dr. Geoffrey Wawro is Professor of Strategic Studies at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Wawro has published two books: The Austro-Prussian War (Cambridge, 1996) and Warfare and Society in Europe, 1792-1914 (Routledge, 2000). He has published articles in The Journal of Military History, War in History, The International History Review, The Naval War College Review, American Scholar, and the European History Quarterly, and op-eds in the Los Angeles Times, New York Post, Miami Herald, Hartford Courant, and Providence Journal. Wawro has won several academic prizes including the Austrian Cultural Institute Prize and the Society for Military History Moncado Prize for Excellence in the Writing of Military History. He has lectured widely on military innovation and international security in Europe, the U.S., and Canada and is host of the History Channel program Hardcover History--a weekly book show with leading historians, pundits, critics, statesmen and journalists.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A thorough and engaging account
Comment: Mr. Wawro's account of the Franco-Prussian War provides enough background information for anyone not familiar with the history surrounding the conflict to comfortably jump into it and follow along. The book also provides detailed information about the post-war events that would ultimately unfold into the many causes for the next large-scale conflict that would engulf Europe, and the world, less than fifty years later. Most definitely a pleasant read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very good politico-military history
Comment: Wawro succeeds again in bringing life to an often underappreciated episode in modern European history. The Franco-Prussian War is covered in textbooks, but Wawro fleshes it out in marvelous detail, fully explaining not only the military side of the war, but the politics as well. Readers will gain insight into late 19th-century warfare and its eerie foretelling of wars to come.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Franco-Prussian war
Comment: The book gives a comprehensive and very detailed description of the events/battles of this conflict. Good maps. Well written.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Praises for Wawro
Comment: As an introduction to the Franco-Prussian War, I have little hope that I could have stumbled across a better writer to acclimate me to that history.
After having just read Keegan's "The First World War", itself an excellent and thorough work (which, however, suffered from moving at a pace more compelled by the events than by the author), I wanted to read about one of the origins of conflict, being France's declaration of war on and eventual defeat by the blossoming Prussian Empire, 1870-71. I can say without the slightest hint of gratuity that Wawro's account of that contest is a vibrant literary work.
Let me open by saying that more than just a tale of two armies, Wawro successfully captures the social and political perspectives of the two nations and weaves them seamlessly with the military aspect of the narrative in such a way...well, think of it in musical terms when three notes are used in creating a song, sometimes individually and sometimes as a chord but always within the perfect framework of the song, I guess, would be the way I would like to describe it.
But more than that in making this a great read, and in fact the most compelling factor of all, is simply Wawro's abilities as an storyteller; rather than a dry discourse on an instance in history, I imagine that Wawro must be amongst the great historians for his ability to capture the wonder of the reader. The text has bounce, it finds an interia immediately and sustains it throughout, it is humorous and grave, and he gives it the daring and adventure one normally finds in fiction. He is also impeccable in his choice of quotes further lending to the spirit of the atmosphere he creates of the history.
Marvelous reading! Before I was halfway through the book I also purchased a copy of his history of the Austrio-Prussian War and am enjoying that special circumstance of knowing that when one finishes a fantastic book, there is another waiting on the nightstand.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Comment: Not only does Wawro do a very creditable job of covering the color and drama of the war, but he does a brilliant job of explaining the broader issues. I teach foreign relations and, in just a few pages, Wawro does a better job of explaining how Napoleon III and Bismarck upset the European balance of power than any specialist writer in the field. He also does a superb job of explaining the significance of the revolution in weaponry and tactics that would come to fruition (or doom) in WWI. All done in a very readable and accessible style.
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