It’s a good book on the biographies of the 26 admirals listed on the Arc de Triomph in Paris as being among the honored military leaders of France. The level of scholarship is probably worth a 4-Stars rating but I gave the book an overall 3-Stars rating because I found it to be a bit dull to read. The book tells of their early lives, backgrounds, and eventual promotions. Repeat 26 times.
The 26 men pretty much followed similar career paths. They all joined the French navy or merchant marine around age 12 - 16. They studied mathematics in order to pass the navy navigation examination and qualify as junior officers and be able to stand watch. They made many long overseas voyages, especially to the French colonies in the Caribbean to Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Haiti and to French colonies in India and the Indian Ocean such as Ile de France (modern day Mauritius). In the navy they frequently served on the same ships although perhaps at different times or as subordinates to a senior captain or admiral. The book also discusses the effects the politics of the French governments had on the men’s careers and promotions. The Convention and the Directory were paranoid about possible treachery from former aristocratic officers. It was sort of a preview to similar Soviet paranoia in the 1930s.
Along the way, the book tells of the many sea battles fought against the British Royal Navy and their famous admirals. It’s interesting that most naval history books tell primarily of the great British successes such as Trafalgar, Aboukir / Nile, and The Saints. This book points that it wasn’t all one-sided. The French Navy had it successes.
There is much duplication as it describes battles and sea campaigns from the points of view of the various characters in the book; many of them fought together as ship commanders or as squadron or fleet admiral commanders.
I found the most interesting sub-stories to be the naval activities associated with Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798, the naval maneuverings associated with Napoleon’s projected invasion of England in 1805, and a couple of French attempts to invade Ireland. There are also interesting accounts of French sea wars against British commerce in the Indian Ocean, assorted battles around Gibraltar, and various attacks on British merchant convoys in the Atlantic sailing to England. There are several accounts from the French viewpoint of the Battle of the Glorious First of June (1794) in which the British sank more French ships than they lost but the vital convoy of grain ships from America got through unscathed to French ports.
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| Price | $32.05 | $30.60 | $12.85 | $33.80 | $14.13 |
| Military History | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Maritime | ✓ | no data | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Napoleonic Era | ✓ | ✓ | no data | no data | no data |
| Submarines | no data | no data | no data | ✓ | ✓ |
| French History | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | no data | no data |
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- Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2022
