Abstract
Richard Humble’s book is a reference book rather than a narrative history, although it does provide a good deal of historical information. It consists chiefly of short biographical sketches, four to 13 pages in length, of the 26 French Rear-Admirals and Vice-Admirals, whose names are inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe. Humble is preparing a companion volume on the 51 flag officers of the period who are not so honored; four of them are given capsule biographies in an appendix to the present book. The entries are clearly written and generally accurate, although there are a number of minor errors, some of which could have been avoided by a careful use of the magnificent reference books on French warships compiled by Alain Demerliac. There is also a six-page introduction, comparing the ages of flag officers promoted at various periods and comparing the ages of British and French fleet commanders at different battles of the Seven Years’ War, the War of American Independence, and the wars of 1793–1815. A longer introduction would have been useful, particularly a discussion of the enormous disadvantages the French navy faced in terms of the number of its warships and trained sailors, as well as its inferior government financing, support, and leadership. Also useful would have been a discussion of the differences between ‘blue’ (non-noble) and ‘red’ (mostly noble) officers, who not only had different colored uniforms, but also different ranks (the topic of Jacques Aman’s Les Officers bleus. . . [Geneva, 1976]).
Although Humble’s book is not as brilliant as its British counterpart, Peter Le Fevre and Richard Harding (eds), British Admirals of the Napoleonic Wars: The Contemporaries of Nelson (London, 2005), it nevertheless is informative, balanced, and perceptive. There is nothing comparable in English, so it fills a major gap in this largely neglected period in French naval history.