My knowledge of the Napoleonic wars is limited to this side of the Atlantic – the War of 1812 – and fiction: War and Peace, Sharpe, Hornblower, Aubrey/Maturin, and even Georgette Heyer. I’d heard of the 1806 Battle of Jena – often called Jena-Auerstādt – but didn’t know much beyond that. This Osprey Campaign book was therefore enlightening.

The French provoked Prussia into declaring war by reneging on a previous agreement that would have transferred Hanover to Prussian control; Napoleon instead offered it to the English in the hopes that would lead to a treaty. The Prussians couldn’t take this blow to their national honor (Author David Chandler argues that Queen Louise of Prussia was a major factor in pushing for war, reportedly by denying her husband conjugal privileges – sort of a reverse Lysistrata). Unfortunately for Prussia, King Frederick-William III was not his grandfather, Frederick the Great, and Napoleon Bonaparte was Napoleon Bonaparte.

The Prussian organization was characterized by arguments among the nobility, more concerned about who was going to get the glory instead of how to fight the war. The French, on the other hand, had an efficient general staff headed by Louis Alexandre Berthier, who Chandler claims “…was the greatest chief of staff in history.” Berthier’s talent was translating Napoleon’s general instructions into specific orders for each component of the army, telling them when to march and where to march to. As a result, the French invaded when the Prussians were still arguing about what they were going to do.

The French seized key road junctions before the Prussians could react and debouched near the town of Jena, while another corps under Marshal Davout collided with the Prussians at Auerstādt, about 12 kilometers north. Both battles were hard-fought; although the Prussian officer corps was no match for Napoleon’s marshals, the Prussian soldiers were just as brave as the French. Chandler argues that major factor in the French victories was tactical flexibility; French units could change quickly from column to line to square to take advantage of battlefield conditions.

The Prussians eventually broke and routed; the French pursued and eventually occupied Hamburg, Stettin, Magdeburg, and Berlin, taking 43000 prisoners. Napoleon redeployed to take on the remnants of the Prussian army and the Russians, eventually concluding a separate peace with each at Tilsit in 1807.

Like most Osprey books, this one is heavy on illustrations – the generals on each side, depictions of uniforms, a table of organization for each army, and maps of the battlefield. I found all the sections – pre-campaign diplomacy, the march to the battlefield, the battles, the pursuit, and the aftermath – quite clear and easy to follow. I’ll have to read some more. ( )

This book, like all others in this series, are designed to give the casual reader a quick and dirty guide to the campaign with some background information, contextual information, information on the military units and leaders involved as well as a step by step walkthrough of the major battles.

It does all that. But note that it is only 96 pages. So, for the serious reader or student of military history it is just a decent starting point.

It is beautifully illustrated, lots of pictures of the major players, the battle areas as they look today, 3-D maps of the battlefield. I have a couple of complaints: The captions to the numrous pictures are long and directly lifted from the text. Minor beef, but they could have added something on the subject or been real short. Even though the campaign itself was rather short, the author is pressed to put it in context and present it in the short space of the book. It's 86 pages, but probably 20 total pages of prose. Something I found necessary is a good regional map. Also, I think a (visual) timeline might have been helpful. ( )