The Man Who Broke Napoleon's Codes: The Story of George Scovell

Amusing, well written story of a fairly unknown person…good illustrations…

The subject of this book, George Scovell, whas Wellington's Code Breaker. This is an easy read, and it focuses not only on Scovell's remarkable career, but it gives you very good context of all of Wellington's campaigns in the Peninsular Wars, if you're interested in a general introduction.My only gripe with this is that actually, there's a lot of context because I think the author struggled to make Scovell's particular career into an entire book. Maybe it was just me, but it felt like he was scrabbling a wee bit for material at times.But, it delivered what it promised, and it was perfect for me. And if you're interested in that rare thing, a man who rose up the ranks in Wellington's army, then Scovell is your man.

I'm not an expert on the subject, but have probably read well over eighty to a hundred books on the Napoleonic Wars, and I have been on two tours of the Peninsular War battlefields..(with the excellent Ian Fletcher Battlefield Tours). So, you could say that I have a good general knowledge of this theme.I am getting to the point where it is hard to find a new book which tackles the theme from a fresh angle, and so it was a tremendous pleasure to find this little volume. It brings a totally fresh and fascinating angle to Wellington's Peninsular Campaign.I suspect there are some small inaccuracies, (I found 2), but I forgot to stop and write them down, since I was enjoying the book so much!!All in all, it was a great read and I hope you buy it--for your own sake, and to encourage this author who has obviously put in a lot of hard work. May he have great success from it, and may you enjoy it as much as I did.

The most enjoyable and informative book I have read on the peninsular war. It was some time before I read it as frankly I thought the story of Scovell would not excite. Personally the wide range of views Mark Urban took in presenting the subject produced insights new to me. Superb

I have enjoyed several of Urbans books so got this on the strength of his reputation. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to others interested in cyphers and in the Napoleonic era. Unusually in Mark Urbans writing, I felt a little bit of bias - he always seemed to take the "hero's" side when discussing some controversial points about his career - but I suppose thats only natural after researching what almost amounts to a biography!This book fits in well with my library, and am sure to read it again.

It is a far better behind the scenes account of the strategy and tactics of the Peninsular War than an account of deciphering or code breaking. It seems from a read that Scovell uses more guess work that actual decryption skills, nevertheless, as an historical account of how Wellington conducted the campaign, it is a first class read. It gets into the mindset of both Wellington and the French generals in a way that I have rarely read previously and has given me an excellent insight into their military thinking and the political considerations that overshadowed the campaign as a whole. A must for the serious student of military history.

I had no idea that the French had used coded messages during the Napoleonic Wars, and particularly in the Iberian Peninsular. This well-written book explains how those codes were broken by an amateur cryptographer, and how this enabled Wellington to anticipate what his opponents were likely to do. It has added an entirely new dimension to my understanding of the conduct of the Peninsular War.

I first read this fifteen years ago and was captivated by the detailed account of code breaking and intelligence in the peninsula war.The second reading was just as enthralling.