When Byron met Stendhal, and learnt that the great French writer had been with Napoleon in the invasion of Russia, he wanted only to know about the retreat from Moscow and every detail of the comportment of the Emperor. Byron's intense interest in both the 1812 campaign and Napoleon is mirrored down the ages.

Now the accomplished historian Adam Zamoyski has written a a magnificent and detailed account of the fatal encounter between France and Russia, Napoleon and Alexander, drawing on the latest research and fascinating first-hand accounts in French, Russian, Polish and Italian.

The invasion was also the first campaign in history to be recorded by artists accompanying the troops, and many of their graphically detailed works are reproduced in the book, the majority for the first time.

The two great set-pieces of this titanic clash of armies are the battle of Borodino and, of course, the Grande Armee's retreat from Moscow. At Borodino, more than 70,000 troops fell in one day -- a number that would not be equalled until the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1917.

Zamoyski's long and detailed account of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow makes heart-rending and terrible reading. It's a tale of heroism and brutality, as soldiers and camp followers are caught in the icy grip of the Russian winter, starving and under constant sniping from cossacks.

Death is normal, cannibalism not uncommon.

But 1812 is more than a gripping epic. It's a timely reminder that the invasion of Russia was the climax of a long duel between France and Russia over which of them would dominate central Europe.

The results were far-reaching. 1812 is crucial to the understanding of modern Russia, whose national consciousness was first formed on the battlefields of this war. The campaign also ignited a national spirit in Germany, and gave Prussia the dominant role in shaping that nation's future identity. And France was never so feared nor powerful again.

Consequences indeed.