A dedicated career soldier and excellent division and corps commander, Dominique Vandamme was a thorn in the side of practically every officer he served. Outspoken to a fault, he even criticized Napoleon, whom he never forgave for not appointing him marshal. His military prowess so impressed the emperor, however, that he returned Vandamme to command time and again.

In this first book-length study of Vandamme in English, John G. Gallaher traces the career of one of Napoleon s most successful midrank officers. He describes Vandamme s rise from a provincial youth with neither fortune nor...