Description
Eighteen-year-old German stonemason Jakob Walter served within the Grand Army of Napoleon between 1806 and 1813. His diary intimately records his trials: the long, grueling marches in Prussia and Poland, the disastrous Russian campaign, and the demoralizing defeat in a war few supported or understood. It’s at once a compelling chronicle of a young soldier’s lack of innocence and an eloquent and moving portrait of the profound effects of all wars at the men who fight them.
Also included are letters home from the Russian front, prior to now unpublished in English, in addition to period engravings and maps from the Russian/Soviet and East European collections of the New York Public Library.
“Vivid and gruesome … but additionally a story of human fortitude. … It reminds us that the troops Napoleon drove so mercilessly were in fact more sufferers than victors—a side of Napoleon that are meant to not be forgotten.”
—Chicago Tribune