The War of Wars is the thrilling narrative of the twenty-two-year struggle between two great powers: England and France. At the turn of the eighteenth century the greatest nations in Europe, separated by only 21 miles of water, offered two distinct idealogies that would shape the new century: in England there was a democratic, constitutional monarchy; in France the cataclysm of Revolution had dragged the absolute King from the throne and replaced him with the Mob. Out of that maelstrom emerged a military leader, Napoleon Bonaparte, commander of the revolutionary army, who went on to conquer Italy and Egypt before returning to Paris to proclaim himself Emperor. As Napoleon gained power in France, the world stood on the brink of total war. By 1805 the victorious General was making plans to cross the channel and invade England.The subsequent drama reaches from the frozen plains surrounding Moscow to the waters of the Caribbean, from the debating chamber of Parliament to the muddy fields of Waterloo. 1793-1815 can truly be called the first global war; it was also the first conflict driven by industrial might. And it was a battle between commanders that history will never forget: as Napoleon's forces moved to engulf Europe, it was men like Duke Charles of Hapsburg and Gebhard von Blucher, the Duke of Wellington and Horatio Nelson, who turned the tide. Through the story of battles, politics and diplomacy of the era, Robert Harvey brings vivid new life to these men who changed the course of history - for out of the furnace of the Napoleonic Wars, the modern world was born.