About this ebook
French general and historian Philippe-Paul, Comte de Ségur two-volume account of the invasion of Russia, first published in French in 1824, has been through many editions and has been translated into many languages. It is both a military history and an eyewitness account.
This 2nd edition English translation was first published in 1825 and remains immensely valuable to historians’ understanding of Napoleon’s ultimately disastrous Russian strategy. Volume 1 covers the invasion and the advance on Moscow, and Volume 2 covers the arrival of the French army at a deserted Moscow, details the conditions endured and the lives lost in the course of the retreat.
About the author
Philippe-Paul, comte de Ségur (1780-1873), was a French general and an historian. He enlisted in the cavalry in 1800, and forthwith obtained a commission. He served with General Macdonald in the Grisons in 1800-1801, and published an account of the campaign in 1802. By the influence of Colonel Duroc (afterwards duc de Frioul) he was attached to the personal staff of Napoleon. He served through most of the important campaigns of the first empire, and was frequently employed on diplomatic missions. During the campaign in Poland in 1807 he was taken prisoner by the Russians, but was exchanged at the Peace of Tilsit.
His brilliant conduct in the cavalry charge at the battle of Somosierra on 30 November 1808 won him the grade of colonel, but his wounds compelled him to return to France. As general of brigade he took part in the Russian campaign of 1812, and in the campaigns of 1813 and 1814 he repeatedly distinguished himself, notably at Hanau (October 1813), and in a brilliant affair at Reims (March 1814). He remained in the army at the Restoration, but, having accepted a command from Napoleon during the Hundred Days, he was retired until 1818, and took no further active part in affairs until the July Revolution of 1830.
On the establishment of the July monarchy he received, in 1831, the grade of lieutenant-general and a peerage. In 1830 he was admitted to the Académie française, and he became grand cross of the Legion of Honour in 1847. After the Revolution of 1848 he lived in retirement, dying in Paris on 25 February 1873.
