Flaptekst

Napoleon's Irish troops and their battles, recounted by one of their officers


Napoleon Bonaparte recruited to his causes the fighting men of nations which had suffered at the hands of the enemies of Republican and Imperial France. These soldiers hoped that by aligning themselves with French successes they would see their own aspirations for liberty realised. At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, it was understandable that in Ireland, which had long suffered under the British yoke, there were those who saw the promises of the French Revolution as beacons of hope. The protagonist of this book, Miles Byrne, was one such Irishmen. Indeed, French forces twice landed in Ireland to assist uprisings. Byrne took part in the abortive Irish Rebellion of 1798, as a guerilla fighter in the Wicklow Hills and in the failed Dublin insurrection of 1803 which resulted in his flight to France. There he became an officer in Napoleon's Irish Legion serving in the Low Countries, Spain and at the Battle of Leipzig. His writings, edited by his wife and covering his entire career ran to two large volumes and contained much biographical information about his former comrades. Included in their pages, of course, was much on the subject of the struggle in Ireland itself. This special Leonaur edition has been edited from this larger work and concentrates solely on Byrne and the legion during their service in the Napoleonic Wars fighting for France. Contains illustrations which did not accompany the original text
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.