Description
Book SynopsisBritain''s defeat of Napoleon is one the great accomplishments in our history. And yet it was by no means certain that Britain itself would survive the revolutionary fervour of the age, let alone emerge victorious from such a vast conflict. From the late 1790s, the country was stricken by naval mutinies, rebellion in Ireland, and riots born of hunger, poverty and grinding injustice. As the new century opened, with republican graffiti on the walls of the cities, and revolutionary secret societies reportedly widespread, King George III only narrowly escaped assassination. Jacobin forces seemed to threaten a dissolution of the social order. Above all, the threat of French invasion was ever-present.
Yet, despite all this, and new threats from royal madness and rampant corruption, Britain did not become a revolutionary republic. Her elites proved remarkably resilient, and drew on the power of an already-global empire to find the strength to defeat Napoleon abroad, and continued p
Trade Review
David Andress writes well, charts the British experience of the struggle against Napoleon in a manner that is as thorough as it is enthusiastic, approaches his subject from a refreshing perspective and fills a serious gap in the historiography . . . The Savage Storm is a book that . . . should be read by all those interested in Britain's role in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars -- Charles Esdaile * Literary Review *
Andress's vivid account of Britain's history during the war years . . . He writes movingly about the reality of war, the experience of the common soldier and especially of the sailor . . . He shows commendable skill in interweaving the two narratives, the military and the political, to offer a convincing overview of the age -- Alan Forrest * BBC History Magazine *
