Marshal Ney

Born in Saarlouis in 1769, Michel Ney rose from an enlisted hussar to one of Napoleon's marshals, and in December 1815 he was shot by a royalist firing squad, six months after Waterloo. This biography follows his whole career. Ney joined the 5th Hussars in December 1788 and climbed the ranks quickly: corporal in 1791, then sergeant-of-horse, and sergeant-major in May 1792, the month war with Austria began and the long conflict of the Revolution and Empire opened. He saw his first pitched battle at Valmy in September 1792, by which point he was a sub-lieutenant, and by twenty-five he held the rank of chef de brigade, the equivalent of colonel.

Ney first met Napoleon in May 1801, though he was slow to attach himself to the rising general. Napoleon named him a marshal of France in 1804. As commander of the 6th Corps in 1805, he fought at Ulm and Austerlitz, and his corps later fought at Jena and Friedland. A dispute with Masséna during the Peninsular War cost him his command and sent him back to France, but Napoleon restored him for the Russian campaign, where he led the 3rd Corps and earned the title "Bravest of the Brave." The book also covers his last campaign, in which his judgement at Quatre Bras was no longer sharp and his recklessness at Waterloo was plain to see.

After declaring for the king when Napoleon fell in 1814, Ney was seen by royalists as a traitor when he switched sides again during the Hundred Days. Atteridge's study is aimed at readers of military history and of Napoleonic-era biography.