Napoleon’s Artillery

Book excerpt: At the end of the Royalist regime, the artillery arm of the French Army was, as Napoleon was later to declare, "the finest and best composed corps in Europe." Designed by the great master of artillery, Jean Baptiste de Gribeauval, the equipment consisted of some of the best pieces in Europe. This book examines the equipment and performance of Napoleon's artillery in the Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802), Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815) and Waterloo campaign (1815). The organization of the Imperial Army is also covered, including the key French failure to develop "Shrapnel" or "spherical case shot" - a weapon used against them to great effect by the British.