A collection of essays written during the Great War that turns to earlier history for instruction and solace, examining Napoleonic-era military and diplomatic campaigns in Italy around 1813–14. The author reconstructs battlefield movements and strategic geography from the Alps to the Adriatic, evaluates commanders' decisions, shifting loyalties, desertions and staff deficiencies, and assesses how diplomacy and internal dissidence shaped outcomes. Drawing on soldiers' and diplomats' memoirs and a major contemporary account, the essays connect detailed campaign narration to reflections on national defense, unity, and the causes of military success and failure.