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This book is based on published correspondence. Thus it stands in debt to the scores of persons who have edited and selected the material referred to in the notes as well as to the authors of the letters themselves. Literal translation from the French has been this writer's responsibility. The research was done in library collections at the University of Wisconsin, Yale University, and Harvard University. Personal thanks are due to Professor Emeritus Chester Penn Higby at Wisconsin who encouraged my early interest in the Crimean War and to Professor Chester V. Easum, also of Wisconsin, for under- standing and assistance at a time when both were sorely needed. The typing of various stages of the manuscript was done by the secretarial staff of the Humanities Department at the Massa- chusetts Institute of Technology, and also by my wife, Dorothy, whose patient efforts in this project have been considerable. While this book has something to say to the professional historian, I hope that the general reader may also find interest in these ambitious officers and their emperor.