napoleonic wars, 1800-1815

Presents part two of Tolstoy's epic novel about the lives of five aristocratic families in Moscow and St. Petersburg against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars of 1805-14.

"Separated by their own government and threatened at every turn by Napoleon's forces, Laurence and Temeraire must struggle to find each other amid the turmoil of war and to aid the resistance against the invasion before Napoleon's foothold on England's shores can become a stranglehold. If only they can be reunited, master and dragon might rally Britain's scattered forces and take the fight to the enemy as never before--for king and country, and for their own liberty. But can the French aggressors be well and truly routed, or will a treacherous alliance deliver Britain into the hands of her would-be conquerors?"--Amazon.

The dragon Temeraire and Captain Will Laurence, having been convicted of treason and sent to the prison colony at New South Wales, is asked by Captain Bligh to help him regain his office, which was taken away from him when the government was overthrown, and, as the dragon and the rider journey through the forbidding Blue Mountains, they struggle to protect the two remaining dragon eggs they carry with them and find the missing third.

Captain Will Laurence and his noble dragon Temeraire battle against Bonaparte's invading forces, but when China discovers that their rare gift, meant for Napoleon, is now in the hands of the British forces, they demand the return of the dragon.

Temeraire the dragon and his captain, Will Laurence, fly to Africa to search for a cure to the epidemic plaguing England's dragon ranks and hold off conquest by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Captain Will Laurence and his dragon, Temeraire, are waylaid by a mysterious envoy bearing urgent orders for Britain that send them to the Ottoman Empire, where they must escort three valuable dragon eggs back to England.

After capturing a French frigate and seizing its precious cargo, Captain Will Laurence of the HMS "Reliant" befriends the dragon Temeraire and uses his new friend to help defend his country from other airborne dragon forces.

In 1808 Ghent, eighteen-year-old Constance runs away from an arranged marriage to a much older man and by stealing his clothes, sneaking out of the house disguised as a man, and joining Napoleon's army.

The author maintains that modern attitudes toward total war were conceived during the Napoleonic era; and argues that all the elements of total war were evident including conscription, unconditional surrender, disregard for basic rules of war, mobilization of civilians, and guerrilla warfare.

An English translation of Leo Tolstoy's classic epic novel about the lives of five aristocratic families in Moscow and St. Petersburg against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars of 1805 to 1814.