ePub Peyote vs. the State: Religious Freedom on Trial by Garrett Epps in History

Description

If there was one man; other than Napoleon himself; who determined the course of the Napoleonic Wars; it was Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte; comte de Guibert; the foremost military theorist in France from 1770 to his death in 1790. Taking in the full scope of the times; from the ideas of the Enlightenment to the passions of the French Revolution; Jonathan Abel’s Guibert is the first book in English to tell the remarkable story of the man who; through his pen and political activity; truly earned the title of Father of the Grande Armée. In his Essai général de tactique; published in 1771; Guibert set forth the definitive institutional doctrine for the French army of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. But unlike many other martial theorists; Guibert; who served in the French Ministry of War from 1775 to 1777 and again from 1787 to 1789; was able to put his ideas into practice. Drawing on a wealth of primary source documents—including Guibert’s own papers and the letters and memoirs of his friends and associates—Jonathan Abel re-creates the temper of an era of great turbulence and remarkable creativity. More than a military theorist; Guibert was very much a man of his day; he attended salons; wrote poetry and plays; and was inducted into the Académie française. A fiery figure; he rose and fell from power; lived and loved fiercely; and died swearing that he would “find justice.” In Abel’s account; Guibert does at last receive a measure of justice: a thorough; painstakingly documented picture of this complex man in the thick of extraordinary times; building the foundation for Napoleon's success between 1796 and 1807—and in significant ways; changing the course of European history.