Includes over 200 maps, plans, diagrams and uniform prints Lt.-Col. Theodore Ayrault Dodge was a soldier of long and bloody experience, having served with the Union Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War losing one of his legs during the battle of Gettysburg. After the end of the war he settled down in retirement to write, he produced a number of excellent works on the recently ended Civil War and his magnum opus "A History of the Art of War", tracing the advances, changes and major engagements of Western Europe. His work was split into twelve volumes, richly illustrated with cuts of uniforms, portraits and maps, each focussing on periods of history headed by the most prominent military figure; Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus Adolphus, Frederick the Great and finally Napoleon. Napoleon and the period which he dominated received such care and attention that Dodge wrote four excellent, authoritative and detailed volumes on him. This first volume focuses on the initial wars of the French Revolution until the 1799 Allied campaign in Switzerland under the great Suwarov. Napoleon's Italian campaign in Italy in 1796-1797 fully displays his emerging genius, the battles of Montenotte, Dego, Castiglione, Arcola and Rivoli are explained with expert attention to detail. A well written, expansive and excellent classic.