Napoleon, as a young artilleryman, was trained with the Gribeauval system, created to standardise the French field artillery. He remained faithful to this system throughout the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, only introducing a few minor changes. The consistency of the Gribeauval system, along with Napoleon's personal preference for artillery ensured that the French artillery had a strong advantage over their opponents, possessing considerably more guns than any other army.

This volume will deal with 4-, 8- and 12-pdr guns, light 1-pdr guns and later innovations such as the 6-pdr gun, which were used with great success by Napoleon in Italy, Germany and Austria.