The Man Who Broke Napoleon's Codes: The Story of George Scovell (2001)

by Mark Urban

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367	3	70,657	(3.61)	5
This work gives a compelling account of the officer who waged the intelligence battle against Napoleon's army, a forerunner to the great code-breakers of the 20th century. The French army, during the Peninsular War, used a code of unrivalled complexity - the Great Paris Cipher. Major George Scovell used a network of Spanish guerillas to capture coded French messages, and then set to work decrypting them.… (more)

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As Codes often enter into adventure fiction I read this sort of thing. Mr. Urban has researched the period and the techniques well, and the result is entertaining and informative, though a little flat to fans of Richard Sharpe. (

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DinadansFriend | Apr 7, 2014 |

Good insight into the workings/political/mindset of the British Army of the time. (

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lassen57 | Aug 7, 2010 |

History of George Scovell, military officer who served under Wellington in Iberian campaign of Napoleonic War. Not as heavy a 'codebreaker' emphasis as indicated by the title, although the author makes the case that Wellington's successes were dependent upon Scovell's having broken the codes--a feat he performed virtually single handedly.

jaygheiser | Jul 29, 2008 |

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Canonical title

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

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2001

People/Characters

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Napoleon Bonaparte

George Scovell

Important places

Important events

Peninsular War

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

for my beloved Madeleine

First words

George Scovell brought the glass to his eye and searched the horizon for sight of sail.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

English UK

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

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Wikipedia in English (3)

Mark Urban

Victor de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg

Wikipedia:School and university projects/LING1100-WritingSystems/Completed assignments 09

▾Book descriptions

This work gives a compelling account of the officer who waged the intelligence battle against Napoleon's army, a forerunner to the great code-breakers of the 20th century. The French army, during the Peninsular War, used a code of unrivalled complexity - the Great Paris Cipher. Major George Scovell used a network of Spanish guerillas to capture coded French messages, and then set to work decrypting them.

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