The Men of Wellington’s Light Division Gareth Glover and Robert Burnham Pen & Sword Books (2022) Hardback ISBN: 9781399099080 Pages: 240 Illustrations: 8 colour pages I once questioned, tongue firmly in cheek, ‘how the Light Division ever managed to find time to fight the French, when so many of its members were apparently engaged in note-taking […]
The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars: Strategies for a World War Jeremy Black Rowman & Littlefield (2022) Hardback ISBN: 978 1 5381 6369 6 234 pages Jeremy Black’s latest work offers an overview and reinterpretation of the strategic decision making of the key players – including the Great Powers of Europe – during the French […]
The Army of the Kingdom of Italy 1805-1814: Uniforms, Organisation, Campaigns Stephen Ede-Borrett Helion & Company (2022) Paperback ISBN: 9781804512753 Pages: 246 Images: 40 b/w, 12 b/w photos, 16 colour ills, 16pp colour plates, 1 map In this comprehensive study, Stephen Ede-Borrett examines the army of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, focusing on the individual […]
Fighting Terror After Napoleon: How Europe Became Secure after 1815 Beatrice De Graaf Cambridge University Press (2020) Hardback ISBN: 9781108895873 In this book Beatrice de Graaf focuses on the closing days of the Napoleonic wars and how the states of Europe, in particular the great powers including Great Britain, the Austrian, Prussian, and Russian Empires, […]
The Campaign of 1815, Volume 2: 15th June 1815 Pierre de Wit Published by Glimpse Editions (2022) ISBN 9789464509182 Hardback, 235 pp., 114 pages of learned notes, 16 pages of bibliography and 20-page index. I have now read Pierre’s second volume, dealing purely with the 15th June 1815 (and early hours of the 16th) in […]
Blood, Guts and Gore: Assistant Surgeon John Gordon Smith at Waterloo Edited by Gareth Glover Pen & Sword Military (2022) Hardcover Pages: 264 Illustrations: 17 colour ISBN: 9781399097215 This book is a condensed version of part of Dr Gordon Smith’s life, commencing with the account of his role during the Waterloo Campaign and life after the […]
The Campaign of 1815, Volume I ‘Preambles’ Pierre de Wit Published by Glimpse Editions (2022) https://www.waterloo-campaign.nl/volumes/ Hardback, 555 pp. Any one who has delved into the waterloo-campaign.nl website over the last decade or more, will know of the wealth of material accumulated from all armies, by the renowned historian Pierre de Wit. Pierre has now decided […]
Peninsular and Waterloo General: Sir Denis Pack and the War Against Napoleon Marcus de la Poer Beresford, foreword by Rory Muir Pen & Sword (2022), hardback ISBN 9781399083201 213 pp, 18 maps and 29 colour photos Sir Denis Pack is perhaps most famous for being the most decorated officer in the Peninsular War apart from […]
Wellington’s Waterloo Allies: How Soldiers from Brunswick, Hanover, Nassau and the Netherlands Contributed to the Victory of 1815 Andrew W. Field Pen and Sword Military (2022), hardback ISBN: 9781399090377 Pages: 296 Illustrations: Integrated maps As the author of this work points out, the last few decades have seen an increasing number of non-English accounts of the […]
Secrets & Scandals in Regency Britain: Sex, Drugs & Proxy Rule Violet Fenn Pen & Sword Books (2022) ISBN: 9781399004268 Pages: 216 Illustrations: 40 black and white illustrations An entertaining compendium of some of the eras’ most scandalous events. From the unorthodox lifestyles of Lord Byron, the Shelley’s and the Ladies of Llangollen to public events […]
Scharnhorst: The Formative Years, 1755-1801 Charles Edward White Helion & Company (2020), paperback ISBN: 9781913118990 Pages: 436 Images: 12 b/w maps Gerhard von Scharnhorst (1755-1813) is recognised for his tireless efforts rebuilding the shattered remnants of the Prussian army after the crushing defeat of Jena-Auerstedt (1806) and his mentorship of Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) and […]
For God and King: A History of the Damas Legion (1793-1798): A Case Study of the Military Emigration during the French Revolution Hughes de Bazouges and Alistair Nichols Helion & Company (2021), paperback ISBN: 9781913336608 Pages: 348 Images: 4 b/w illustrations, 17 colour illustrations, 11 b/w maps, 19 tables Helion & Company have published another […]
The Battle of Znaim: Napoleon, The Habsburgs and the end of the 1809 War John H. Gill Greenhill Books (Pen & Sword), 2020 Hardback ISBN: 9781784384500 Pages: 512 Illustrations: 80 black and white illustrations and 10 maps In 1809 a resurgent Austria, encouraged by French reverses in Spain, decided to renew its struggle against Napoleon. The […]
In The Wake of the Emperor: Memoirs and Letters of French Soldiers in Napoleon’s Armies 1805-1814 Jonas de Neef Self-published (Imprint: Lulu.com), 2021 ISBN: 9781667131795 Hardback, 289 pages Historians of the Napoleonic period will have many publications by Gareth Glover in their library, based upon the letters and diaries of British soldiers. In The Wake […]
Marching, Fighting and Dying: Experiences of Soldiers in the Peninsular War Gareth Glover Pen & Sword Military, 2021 ISBN 9781526760227 Hardback, 299 pages, 16 illustrations Gareth Glover knows his way around the memoirs of British soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars. Many were written long after the event and often embellished for their potential audience, […]
Vilnius 1812: Ghosts of Napoleon’s Grande Armée through their Artifacts Paul Richardson and Stephen Summerfield Ken Trotman Publishing, 2021 Hardback, 160 pages Illustrations: 500 In 2001 a mass grave of at least 3,269 skeletons was unearthed at Vilnius in Lithuania, identified as belonging to Napoleon’s Grande Armée that invaded Russia in 1812. The authors […]
The Gentlemen Danes: The untold story of Danish and Norwegian Prisoners of war on parole in Reading between 1807-1814 John A. Nixon Soaring Kite Publications (self-published), 2021 ISBN 9781838266400 Hardback, 231 pages Between 1793 and 1815 over 200,000 prisoners of war of many nationalities, not just French, were brought to Britain to reside in […]
Massena at Bay 1811 Tim Saunders Pen & Sword Books (2021), hardcover ISBN 9781399001328 264 pp, 178 B&W images As the reader would expect of a Tim Saunders book, the subject is handled with some depth and by somebody who thoroughly understands troop movements of the period and has covered every inch of the terrain […]
French Light Infantry 1784-1815. From the Chasseurs of Louis XVI to Napoleon’s Grande Armée Terry Crowdy Helion & Company (2021), softcover ISBN: 9781914059780 Pages:198 Images: 66 b/w illustrations, 24 pages of colour plates, 23 tables Terry Crowdy has set himself the task of describing the history, organization, growth, and tactics of the French army’s light […]
Napoleonic French Uniforms 1798-1814: As Depicted by Horace and Carl Vernet and Eugene Lami Guy Dempsey (Editor) Helion & Company (2021), soft cover ISBN: 9781914059872 Pages: 184 Images: 103 colour illustrations This is a delightful book. Guy Dempsey has rendered all students of the French army of Napoleon a great service by preparing a new […]
In the Words of Wellington’s Fighting Cocks: The After-Action Reports of the Portuguese Army During the Peninsular War 1812-14 Moises Gaudencio and Robert Burnham (foreword by Rory Muir) Pen & Sword Books (2021) ISBN 9781526761682 Hardback, 338 pages & 16 pages of B&W illustrations, no maps. All historians of the Peninsular War are painfully aware […]
The Wives of George IV: The Secret Bride & The Scorned Princess Catherine Curzon Pen & Sword History (2021) ISBN 9781473897496 Hardback, 216 pages, 32 black and white illustrations Author Catherine Curzon once again reaches back into Georgian history to present her readers with a fresh and witty take on two of the era’s most […]
Securing Europe After Napoleon: 1815 and the New European Security Culture Edited by Beatrice de Graaf, Ido de Haan and Brian Vick Cambridge University Press (2019) Hardback, 325 pages ISBN 9781108428224 Those interested in the Napoleonic Era will be familiar with the terms Allied Machine or Holy Alliance, each referring to the ongoing cooperative […]
Sir James McGrigor, the Adventurous Life of Wellington’s Chief Medical Officer Tom Scotland Helion & Company (2021) ISBN 9781914059216 Paperback, 178 pages Images: 22 figures, 5 maps, 4 tables Created by Helion Publishing, in their excellent ‘From Reason to Revolution’ series (no. 65), this is an account of a charismatic, energetic, and brilliant medical […]
Egypt 1801: The End of Napoleon’s Eastern Empire Stuart Reid Pen and Sword (Frontline, 2021) ISBN: 9781526758460 Hardback, 248 pages Illustrations: 16 colour plates It is a brave historian who tackles the subject of Britain’s campaign in Egypt in the closing months of the French Revolutionary Wars. Although first published nearly four decades ago, Piers Mackesy’s […]
Wellington and the Vitoria Campaign 1813: ‘Never a Finer Army’ Carole Divall Pen and Sword Military (2021) ISBN: 9781526774026 Hardback, 256 pages Illustrations: 30 black and white Five years ago, I was asked by the Society for Army Historical Research to contribute to their annual list of book recommendations, which required me to pick my five […]
Britain’s Rise to Global Superpower in the Age of Napoleon William Nester Frontline Books (2020) ISBN: 9781526775436 Hardcover Pages: 376 Illustrations: Central eight-page mono plate section In Britain’s Rise to Global Superpower in the Age of Napoleon, Dr William Nester attempts to chart the rise of Britain, through the many false starts and setbacks in the […]
Their Infantry And Guns Will Astonish You The Army of Hindustan and European Mercenaries in Maratha Service (1780-1803) Andy Copestake Helion and Company. 2021 ISBN: 978-1-914059-77-3 Softcover Pages: 218 Illustrations: 21 black and white images, 8 maps, 13 colour images Contents: Preface, Introduction, Chronology […]
Napoleon’s Peninsular War: The French Experience of the War in Spain from Vimeiro to Corunna 1808-1809 Paul L. Dawson Frontline Books (2020) ISBN: 9781526754097 Hardcover Pages: 336 Illustrations: 32 black and white In his latest book historian Paul L. Dawson offers us an insight into the French experience of the first year of the Peninsular War […]
Nelson’s Navy in 100 Objects Gareth Glover Frontline Books (2021) ISBN 978 1 52673 132 6 Hardback, 301 pages, colour, and black & white illustrations I do think that examining a subject in 100 objects is a unique and original way of presenting a story. Gareth’s previous books in this genre, looking at Napoleon and […]
Wellington and the Lines of Torres Vedras, The Defence of Portugal during the Peninsular War 1807-14
Wellington and the Lines of Torres Vedras, The Defence of Portugal during the Peninsular War 1807-14 Mark S Thompson Helion & Company (Book No. 75 in the ‘From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815 Series’) Softback Pages: 224 Images: 28 colour and 50 b/w illustrations, maps and diagrams Sitting down to review a book on […]
Waterloo Archive: Atlas Gareth Glover and Stephen Summerfield Ken Trotman Publishing (2021) 220 pages, illustrated throughout with colour maps & contemporary sketches, portraits etc. With today’s ability to access satellite imagery, GPS, and digital maps, it is hard to imagine how soldiers in the past were able to operate over unfamiliar terrain or in a […]
Napoleon’s Stolen Army: How the Royal Navy Rescued a Spanish Army in the Baltic John Marsden Helion and Company (2021) ISBN: 978-1-913118-98-3 Paperback Pages: 200 Images: 6 b/w illustrations, 8 colour plates, 9 b/w maps, 8 tables Contents: Chapter 1: Napoleon Demands the Assistance of Spanish troops in the Baltic Region. Chapter 2: The Story […]
The Sea is my Element, the Eventful Life of Admiral Sir Pulteney Malcolm 1768-1838 Paul Martinovich Helion & Company (Book No. 69 in the From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815 Series) ISBN: 9781913336578 Hardback, 367 pp including 33 B&W Illustrations, 21 Colour plates and 8 maps. This is a beautifully produced book which uses extensive […]
Coastal Defences of the British Empire in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Eras Daniel MacCannell Pen and Sword Military (2021), hardback ISBN: 9781526753458 Pages: 240 Illustrations: 70 colour In this book the author looks at the various methods Britain used to defend itself and its empire. It covers of course the Martello Towers, not just in […]
Favourite of Fortune: Captain Thomas Quilliam, Trafalgar Hero Andrew Bond, Frank Cowin, Andrew Lambert Seaforth Publishing (2021), hardback ISBN: 9781399012706 Pages: 224 Many people will only have come across John Quilliam because he was the First Lieutenant onboard the Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Biographies of some of Nelson’s captains have been published […]
Dead Men Telling Tales, Napoleonic War Veterans and the Military Memoir industry, 1808-1914 Matilda Greig Oxford University Press (2021), hardback ISBN 9780192896025 Pages: 250 Illustrations: 6 B&W illustrations The book, which is based on the author’s doctoral research, explores the production of military memoirs in the wake of the Napoleonic wars and the quite different […]
Mutiny on the Spanish Main, HMS Hermione and the Royal Navy’s Revenge Angus Konstam Osprey Publishing (2020), hardback ISBN: 9781472833792 Pages: 320 In 1963 the late Dudley Pope, author of the fictional Lord Ramage novels set during the wars against France, wrote The Black Ship about the true events of 1797 in which a mutiny […]
The Sword and the Spirit: Proceedings of the first ‘War & Peace in the Age of Napoleon’ Conference Zack White (Editor): Helion & Company (2021), paperback Pages: 178 Images: 1 b/w illustration, 5 tables, 1 diagram The origins of this book lie in a two-day international conference ‘War and Peace in the Age of Napoleon’ […]
At the Point of the Bayonet: The Peninsular War Battles of Arroyomolinos and Almaraz 1811-1812 Robert Griffith Helion & Company (2021), paperback Pages: 204 Images: 58 b/w photos & illustrations, 8pp colour plates, 9 b/w maps Robert Griffith is of course well known as the author of the deservedly highly praised book Riflemen: The History […]
Nouveau Dictionnaire de la Grande Armée Alain Pigeard (Editor) Heimdal (2019) ISBN 978-2-84048-542-1 Hardcover, 614 pp., illustrations. French text This beautifully designed book is the second edition of a work first published in 2002. The editor, Alain Pigeard, an expert about the First Empire (4 dictionaries, 66 publications and 400 articles) felt that the […]
Wellington’s Favourite Engineer John Fox Burgoyne: Operations, Engineering, and the Making of a Field Marshal Mark S. Thompson Helion and Company (2020) (No. 56 in the From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815 Series) ISBN 9781913118938 Pages: 336 Images: 14 b/w illustrations, 50 b/w maps, 7 b/w diagrams Mark Thompson is a renowned expert on the Engineers […]
Napoleon’s Women Camp Followers Terry Crowdy, illustrated by Christa Hook Osprey Publishing (Men-at-Arms No.538), 2021 ISBN 9781472841957 Paperback, 48 pages Osprey Publishing produce a wide range of titles covering all periods of history that provide us with slim but often detailed histories, and I am sure that most of us have a few of their […]
Marshal William Carr Beresford Marcus De La Poer Beresford Irish Academic Press (2019) ISBN 9781788550321 Hardback, 450 pages Written by a distant relative of William Carr Beresford, this author has produced a well-researched and detailed study of the man’s military career from his early life through the Napoleonic Wars to his involvement with Portugal and […]
Wellington’s Infantry, British Foot Regiments 1800-1815 Gabrielle Esposito Pen & Sword Books (2021) ISBN 9781526786678 Pages: 137 Illustrations: 50 colour Frustratingly, both the title and subtitle of this book unfortunately do not do this book real justice, Wellington’s Infantry suggesting a study of the specific regiments fighting with Wellington, which has already been ably covered […]
US Soldier Versus British Soldier Gregg Adams Osprey (Combat Series No.54), 2021 ISBN 9781472841674 Paperback Pages: 80 This slim paperback (80 pages, including front- and end-matter and index) takes a format that will be familiar to those who have read other titles in Osprey’s Combat series. We are introduced in the first third of the […]
Glory is Fleeting: New Scholarship on the Napoleonic Wars (From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815 No. 44) Andrew Bamford (Ed.) Helion and Company (2021) ISBN 978 1 912866 69 4 Paperback, 277 pages, 31 plates, 14 maps Napoleon reputedly said that ‘glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever’, and this collection of studies revisits both […]
The Danish Army of the Napoleonic Wars 1807-14 Volume 2 Organization Uniforms & Equipment Cavalry and Artillery David A. Wilson Helion Books (From Reason to Revolution Series No. 61), 2021 ISBN 9781913336592 Pages: 153 Illustrations: 59 colour Hardback I previously reviewed Volume 1 last year and had eagerly anticipated this second volume and I […]
The French at Waterloo Eyewitness Accounts: 2nd & 6th Corps, Cavalry, Artillery, Imperial Guard and Medical Services Andrew Field Pen and Sword Military (2020) ISBN: 9781526768506 Pages: 192 Illustrations: 20 black and white illustrations We have often seen the immortal struggle at Waterloo, vividly presented for us in the descriptions passed down through the letters and […]
The title belies the actual theme of this book which is a guide to researching American merchant seamen who were caught up in the conflicts of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when such men were often captured by both the British and French. It is privately published but available on Amazon.