Known collectively as the ' Great War', for over a decade the Napoleonic Wars engulfed not only a whole continent but also the overseas possessions of the leading European states. A war of unprecedented scale & intensity, it was in many ways a product of change that acted as a catalyst for upheaval & reform across much of Europe, with aspects of its legacy lingering to this very day. There is a mass of literature on Napoleon & his times. Yet there are only a handful of scholarly works that seek to cover the Napoleonic Wars in their entirety, & fewer still that place the conflict in any broader framework. This study redresses the balance. Drawing on recent findings & applying a 'total' history approach, it explores the causes & effects of the conflict, & places it in the context of the evolution of modern warfare. It reappraises the most significant & controversial military ventures, including the war at sea & Napoleon's campaigns of 1805-9. The study gives an insight into the factors that shaped the war, setting the struggle in its wider economic, cultural, political & intellectual
Dimensions.