Author Description

'My notes were made everywhere, at my desk and in my camp, every day and at all times of day... More than once it occurred to me that this journa, written under the very eyes of the Emperor, might fall into his hands; but that reflection did not check my pen' - Armand de CaulaincourtA unique and detailed account of Napoleon's disastrous attempt to conquer RussiaAn intimate portrait of the struggling EmperorWritten by one of the highest officials of the French Empire, who rode constantly at Napoleon's sideNowhere is the tragedy of the Napoleon's Russsian campaign described as clearly as in the memoirs of Armand de Caulaincourt. He was an aristocrat of the ancien regime who had come to tems with the French Revolution and was ready to serve the new Emperor. Riding day by day at Napoleon's side, Caulaincourt witnessed the growing horror of defeat which culminated in the Grande Armee's disastrous retreat from the vast expanses of Russia.The Grande Armee had entered Russia triumphantly on 18 June 1812 with as many as 600,000 men, while the remnants that staggered out of Russia in December that year were a mere few thousand. In military terms it was a catastophe; the recent discovery of mass graves in Vilnius, Lithuania, bear testimony to the terrible human cost of the campaign.Caulaincourt was made Duke of Vicenza, Master of Horse, and was twice the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador to Russia, as well as a close political adviser to Napoleon. His memoirs offer the closest possible insight into the Emperor as the winds of fortune began to turn against his great adventure. This new Enigma edition is the first to be printed in English for many years.