I Wrote A Book

I have been a devoted reader of historical fiction for a long time. At some point, it became clear that it was time to put a new perspective on paper.

When it comes to the Napoleonic Wars, a few names dominate the genre. Bernard Cornwell’s Richard Sharpe and C. S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower have defined how generations of readers experience that era. Their focus is largely British – and rightly so – but one crucial perspective has long been missing: Prussia.

Admittedly, Prussia was not the dominant military power of the age. By 1806, its once-feared army had grown rigid and outdated. Napoleon shattered it in a matter of weeks, forcing Prussia into a humiliating peace. Yet defeat did not mean surrender. Beneath the surface, there was a growing realization that survival required fundamental change.

Reformers such as Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Boyen, and Clausewitz, supported by King Frederick William III, set out to transform the Prussian army from a relic of Frederick the Great’s era into a modern, flexible fighting force. Their efforts would eventually allow Prussia to rise again, expel the French, and reclaim its lost territories. At the same time, the state was undergoing a broader intellectual and social transformation: pioneering compulsory public education and creating the Humboldtian model of the research university, still foundational to higher learning today.

My book series explores this extraordinary period of change through the eyes of Friedrich von Berg, a young noble who enters the Prussian army steeped in rigid discipline and mechanical precision. Fresh from the Académie Militaire, Friedrich finds himself drawn into the quiet circle of reformers – men who understand that Prussia must adapt or perish. Through his journey, my story examines not only battles and uniforms, but ideas, values, and the painful reinvention of a state struggling to survive in a rapidly changing world.

More here … https://www.jaegervonberg.com/