In this ambitious  and far-ranging work, Alexander Mikaberidze argues that the Napoleonic  Wars can only be fully understood in an international perspective.  France struggled for dominance not only on the plains of Europe but also  in the Americas, West and South Africa, Ottoman Empire, Iran, India,  Indonesia, the Philippines, Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic and  Indian Oceans. Taking specific regions in turn, Mikaberidze discusses  major political-military events around the world and situates  geopolitical decision-making within its long- and short-term contexts.  From the British expeditions to Argentina and South Africa to the  Franco-Russian maneuvering in the Ottoman Empire, the effects of the  French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars would shape international affairs  well into the next century. In Egypt, the wars led to the rise of Mehmed  Ali and the emergence of a powerful state; in North America, the period  transformed and enlarged the newly established United States; and in  South America, the Spanish colonial empire witnessed the start of  national-liberation movements that ultimately ended imperial control.

Skillfully  narrated and deeply researched, here at last is the global history of  the period, one that expands our view of the Napoleonic Wars and their  role in laying the foundations of the modern world.