'No review can do justice to the human sensitivity of this book, or to the horror it describes 1812 is one of the greatest stones ever told 'Christopher Woodward, Spectator Napoleon's invasion of Russia and the terrible retreat from Moscow were a military epic and a human tragedy on a colossal scale - history's first example of total war. 1812 is a masterful account of this turning point in European history, both a poignant tale of the individual foot soldier and a sweeping history of a turbulent time. Adam Zamoyski lias drawn on a vast pool of first-hand accounts in French, Russian, German, Polish and Italian, many never before translated into English, to paint a harrowing and vivid picture of the experiences of soldiers and civilians on both sides of the conflict. The result is that rare and elusive thing: a truly original historical masterpiece, a landmark book that will be read for decades to come.