The concept and notes for the book originally came from noted French author Honoré de Balzac.
•
Patrick Rambaud, a French author, wrote a fictionalized account of the conflict entitled "The Battle" using many first-hand sources.
General Boudet assisted in the captured of Vienna then distinguished himself in the fierce defence of the village of Essling (21–22 May 1809), turning a granary into an impregnable bunker.
At Essling his repeated and desperate charges checked the Austrians in the full tide of their success.
The Lobau was the site of the Battle of Aspern-Essling in 1809, the first major defeat suffered by Napoléon, which was inflicted on him by an Austrian army led by Archduke Charles, and of the Battle of Wagram, a victory for Napoleon that followed two months later.
Rapp stayed in the line of fire: at Essling, he led the front of his fusiliers of the Garde impériale and carried the day; during the signing of the Treaty of Schönbrunn, he averted a planned attempt on Napoleon by the young Friedrich Staps; in Russia, he was wounded by four bullets at the battle of Moscow on 5–7 September 1812.