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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Neither Up Nor Down: The British Army and the Flanders Campaign 1793-1795 Philip Ball Helion and Company Limited (2020) ISBN: 9781913118907 Paperback Pages: 432 Images: 51 black and white illustrations, 32 black and white maps A most gratifying trend within the recent historiography of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic period is the broadening of the […]

Wellington’s Light Division in the Peninsular War: The formation, campaigns & battles of Wellington’s famous fighting force 1810 Robert Burnham Frontline Books (2020) Hardback ISBN 9781526758903 429 Printed pages with 15 original maps and 32 illustrations, half in colour Following rapidly on the heels of Rob Yuill and Tim Saunder’s two volume history of the […]

The Great Waterloo Controversy: The Story of the 52nd Foot at History’s Greatest Battle Gareth Glover Pen and Sword (2020), Hardback ISBN: 9781526788856 Pages: 320 Illustrations: 16 black and white illustrations I will confess to picking up this work with some trepidation: the title smacked a little of a sales pitch, when previous Waterloo-related books have […]

Napoleonic War Veterans Buried at St. Saviour’s Church, Jersey: Biographical Notes and Pointers for Future Information William Mahon (Editor) Privately published (2020), available from St. Saviour’s Church or on Amazon ISBN 9781839521607 Paperback, 360 pages, illustrated Sir William Mahon (and the St. Saviour’s Memorial Research Team) has researched the large number of veterans of the […]

The Light Division in the Peninsular War 1811-1814 Tim Saunders and Rob Yuill Pen & Sword, 2020 ISBN 9781526770134 346 pages with over 100 B & W illustrations and maps (The second volume of the story of the Light Division continues where Volume 1 leaves off) Following a chapter on the basic history of the Peninsular […]

Revenge in the Name of Honour: The Royal Navy’s Quest for Vengeance in the Single Ship Actions of the War of 1812 Nicholas James Kaizer Helion & Company (From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815 No. 46), 2020 ISBN 9781912866724 Paperback, 217 pages, maps, colour, and black & white illustrations By the end of 1812 three British […]

Fashioning Regulation, Regulating Fashion. The Uniforms and Dress of the British Army 1800-1815, Volume I Ben Townsend Helion & Company (2019) ISBN 9781911628095 Hardback, 420 pages, 21 colour plates, 47 black and white illustrations                     Fashioning Regulation, Regulating Fashion. The Uniforms and Dress of the British […]

The Secret Expedition: The Anglo-Russian Invasion of Holland 1799 Geert van Uythoven Helion & Company (2018) ISBN 9781912390205 Hardback, 447 pages, 46 illustrations, 16 maps   The 1799 Anglo-Russian campaign in Holland has not received much attention from English-speaking historians. When they do deign to notice it is usually cast as a second-rate misadventure involving […]

The French at Waterloo: Eyewitness Accounts Volume 1 – Napoleon, Imperial Headquarters, and 1st Corps Andrew Field Pen & Sword (2020) ISBN 9781526768469 Hardback,154pp, 8 pages of B&W illustrations and 3 small diagrams for explanation Andrew Field has rightly become renowned as an expert in the French sources from the 1815 campaign and has previously […]

They Fought with Extraordinary Bravery: The III German (Saxon) Army Corps in the Southern Netherlands, 1814. van Uythoven, Geert. Helion and Company Limited (2020) (From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815 Number 47) ISBN 9781912866656 Paperback, 152 pages, 8pp colour plates, 4 b/w maps, 6 b/w ills This study by Geert van Uythoven provides one of the […]

The Light Division in the Peninsular War 1808-1811 Tim Saunders and Rob Yuill Pen & Sword, 2020 ISBN 9781526757326 302 pages with over 100 B & W illustrations and maps This incredibly, is the first of two Histories of the Light Division in the Peninsula due out this year. It is unfortunate that Pen & […]