Russia 1812 by Curtis Cate

Russia 1812 by Curtis Cate

Regular price
Checking stock...
Regular price
Checking stock...
Summary

Napoleon's calamitous invasion of Russia in 1812 is the stuff of legend. In a day-by-day account, Curtis Cate depicts a disaster which never should have happened. He shows how two emperors led their nations to a momentous confrontation fed by their pride, suspicion, vanity and stubbornness.

The feel-good place to buy books
  • Free US shipping over $15
  • Buying preloved emits 41% less CO2 than new
  • Millions of affordable books
  • Give your books a new home - sell them back to us!

Russia 1812 by Curtis Cate

Moving from the arrogant magnificence of St Petersburg to the gaudy vulgarity of Napoleonic Paris - from the splendid assemblage of crowded heads at Dresden in May 1812 to the frozen hecatombs of common soldiers at Vilna in December - Cate revistis the war and examines what had gone wrong. How did Napoleon misplay his Polish card? Why, once in Russia, did he repeatedly refuse to turn back when it became clear that he was being drawn into a trap of his own making? How was he tricked into staying extra weeks in the burned-out shell of Moscow - weeks that might have saved his army? And why, once the retreat began, did he choose the worst route possible? In a day-by-day account, Curtis Cate depicts a disaster, which never should have happened.
Born of American parents in Paris, Curtis Cate was educated in France, England, and the United States. He is the holder of three university degrees - from Harvard (History), the Ecole des Langues Orientales, Paris (Russian), and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he read Politics and Economics and studied English and German philosophy with Harry Weldon. After serving as a correspondent in the Middle East, he joined the staff of the Atlantic Monthly, and was for eight years its European Editor in Paris. His books include The Ides of August, which he wrote to condemn the building of the Berlin Wall in August 1961, and four highly acclaimed biographies of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, George Sand, and Andre Malraux and most recently, Friedrich Nietzsche, which was published in Pimlico.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9781844133246
ISBN 10 1844133249
Title Russia 1812
Author Curtis Cate
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Year published 2004-08-05
Number of pages 512
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.