It was the Great War before 1914, a two-decade long conflict with only a brief period of peace reminiscent of the Peloponnesian War of Ancient Greece. The War of Wars: The Epic Struggle Between Britain and France 1793-1815 by Robert Harvey relates the military and political history and the men who shaped the period on land, sea, and in the halls of power.

Harvey doesn’t stray from historical conscious by having Napoleon as the most prominent historical actor that he follows throughout his historical survey, but this is not the mythologized Napoleon but the one that was the politically and diplomatically inept military dictator of France. Yet until Napoleon made his debut in 1793, the French Revolution had been going on for years and Harvey documented how that political upheaval influenced the beginning of the Revolutionary phase of the Wars. Though this was a pan-European War, Harvey focuses on Britain as the primary nemesis of France in every sphere of the conflict on land and sea, as well as economics and politics. While Napoleon has become the dominate figure of the period on the French side—through Harvey brings to the fore those that preceded him and might have been better overall militarily—he brings forward numerous British military and naval commander as well as the leading politicians of the day through stark language that doesn’t hero worship nor for the most part verbally bury either.

The War of Wars covers a two-decade long period of European history in a little over 900 pages of text with battle maps situated in the front of the book. Robert Harvey not only narrates the course of events in a very readable way, he writes very informative biographical sketches for the main individuals that decided the course of events. ( )

An ambitious and accessible history of the French Revolutionary Wars, but the author's clear bias against Napoleon unbalances the whole. If Napoleon was such a mediocrity, Harvey fails to explain his extraordinary decade of triumph. His portraits of Nelson and Wellington are more nuanced.

And if you are going to read the book, set aside plenty of time: it's lively, but very long.... ( )

Purportedly a narrative account of Great Britain's role in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. However, the author has produced a sweeping, if somewhat rambling political and military history of the era. One of Harvey's central points is that Napoleon could never make a lasting peace. The author argues that the political situation in France was too unstable for Napoleon to hold power without the support of the army and his marshals. The army was expensive and had to be paid for by the plundering conquests of others. While there are a few minor errors in the book, (DeLaCroix did not paint Napoleon on the Bridge at Arcole) and some of the author's conclusions are debatable, the work is a quick and entertaining read. Excellent one-volume account of the Napoleonic Wars with unusual detail for a book of this length. Recommended. ( )