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Gill’s third book has Wagram and Znaim as the subtitle, and these battles are indeed important to the volume. However, we finally get a proper recounting of events elsewhere (other than Italy, which was covered previously, though the sequel to the campaign is in here). Napoleon and the Hapsburgs were both concerned with events elsewhere, and Gill brings them in to show how things went, and how they influenced strategic thinking. Neither were very concerned with Spain (which, unlike everything else, was not adjacent to the Danube front), so naturally, that doesn’t get explored, but outside of that, this turns into a thorough look at the 1809 campaigning season.

He starts with an account of the campaigning in Poland, moves into Hungary, where Eugene’s victorious army moved into after chasing Johann out of Italy, and then ties in all the smaller forces in the south, scattered from the north Italian border to Dalmatia. This takes about half the text. After talking about the pause on the Danube while Napoleon put everything together for a surprise second crossing (which really shouldn’t have been a big surprise) we go to the centerpiece of the book: Wagram.

Znaim is a battle that started, but was called off on account of a ceasefire that paved the way to the eventual peace. Gill has done another book really detailing the situation, but it certainly gets good coverage here.

And over one third of the book is a set of detailed orders of battle for everyone.

As expected, the three books are an excellent set, and while I quibble over some of the order of presentation, they’re excellently written and put together, and recommended for anyone who has an interest in one of Napoleon’s more important campaigns.