Even a moderniser like Alexander II – who emancipated the serfs in 1861 – had no intention of devolving real power. Saul David Read Quote
From 1801, Napoleon began an ambitious programme of civil reform to standardise law and justice, centralise education, introduce uniform weights and measures and a fully functioning internal market. That achievement alone makes him one of the giants of history. Saul David Read Quote
No campaign of the First World War better justifies the poets’ view of the conflict as futile and pitiless than Gallipoli. Saul David Read Quote
If I’m at a book signing, and someone decides to take me to task, it can make for quite a sticky moment. Saul David Read Quote
Those who read the fiction assume that, because I’m also a historian, I know what I’m talking about. Saul David Read Quote
When I was six or seven, we went to the nearest English primary school, St Weonards, about seven miles away. The teaching was good, and this was the start of my beginning to shine as a student. Saul David Read Quote
History tells us that a general can move and feed an army as efficiently as he likes, but the real litmus test is the battlefield. Saul David Read Quote
Winter horseshoes are equipped with little spikes that give a horse traction on snow and ice and prevent it from slipping. Saul David Read Quote
Historians turning their hands to fiction are all the rage. Since Alison Weir led the way in 2006, an ever-growing number of established non-fiction writers – Giles Milton, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Harry Sidebottom, Patrick Bishop, Ian Mortimer and myself included – have written historical novels. Saul David Read Quote
It is surely no coincidence that Napoleon’s two greatest heroes were Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. In certain respects, he would outdo them both. Saul David Read Quote