Napoleon Series Archive 2017

Helion's napoleonic titles january-june 2019

found, amazon.co.uk a grillé la politesse to Helion and ~ From Reason to Revolution serie ~ ;)

Riflemen: The History of the 5th Battalion, 60th (Royal American) Regiment - 1797-1818
Robert Griffith 368 pages (15th january 2019)

The 5th Battalion of the 60th (Royal American) Regiment was the first rifle battalion in the regular British Army. Raised in 1797, it marked a significant step in the development of British light infantry and rifle corps. Lieutenant Colonel Francis de Rottenburg, the battalion’s commander for almost 10 years, formulated the first British Army light infantry manual.

After serving in Ireland during the 1798 rebellion, in the West Indies, and in the Americas, the battalion rose to fame during the Peninsular War. It was one of only three battalions to be present from the initial landings in Portugal through to the invasion of France, and victory six years later. Divided between the brigades of Wellington’s army to provide specialist rifle and skirmishing capability, the riflemen often formed advance or rear guards, patrols and outposts. Frequently praised by Wellington and his divisional commanders, the battalion won 16 battle honours.

Drawing on official records, memoirs, court martial transcripts, inspection reports, and unpublished letters, Riflemen recounts not only the campaigns in which the battalion fought, but also many personal stories of the soldiers who served with it. Riflemen includes tales of murder, promotion from the ranks, desertion, prisoners of war, and small actions that are often overlooked. As the first history of the battalion written in almost 100 years, it sheds new light on a vital component of Wellington’s army and its important place in the history of the British Army.

The Key to Lisbon: The Third French Invasion of Portugal, 1810-11
Kenton White 240 pages (15th january 2019)
This study details the preparation, planning and execution of the invasion of Portugal in 1810 by the French Armée de Portugal under Marshal Massena, and the defensive measures taken by the British and their Portuguese and Spanish allies. It also covers the practice of all armies involved during this campaign, working from original sources. These sources provide a different interpretation of some key aspects of the campaign to those which are generally accepted. The work focusses on the strategic, operational, and tactical planning undertaken by both sides in preparation for the invasion, and the actual progress of the campaign. A narrative of the battles and sieges, with analysis at the tactical-level, also brings out the differences in planning and intelligence gathering.

This particular campaign is important as it has attracted little attention from historians, and was crucial as a turning point in the Peninsular War. This was the last time that Portugal was invaded by the French during the Peninsular War, and the allies’ handling of the campaign contrasted sharply with that of the French. Its success also gave Wellington political security against the ‘croakers’ back in England. The research demonstrates the difficulties both armies had in prosecuting their plans during the campaign, and highlights the stark differences in the approach taken by each commander.

Waterloo - After the Glory: Hospital Sketches and Reports on the Wounded after the Battle
Michael Crumplin Gareth Glover 264 pages (15th february 2019)

The Battle of Waterloo was one of the most horrific actions fought during the Napoleonic Wars. There have been several studies of battlefield injuries and the field care that casualties received during the campaign of June 1815. However, what happened to the many thousands of injured men left behind as the armies marched away is rarely discussed.

In June 1815, around 62,000 Allied and French wounded flooded into Brussels, Antwerp, and other towns and cities of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and swamped the medical services. These casualties were eventually cared for by a wide mix of medical personnel including hundreds of ‘Belgian’ surgeons, most of whom had trained in the French Service de Santé and who assisted in the dispersal, treatment, and rehabilitation of thousands of casualties after the battle.

New data concerning the fate of the thousands of Allied and some French casualties has emerged from the library of the University of Edinburgh. This has revealed a collection of over 170 wound sketches, detailed case reports, and the surgical results from five Brussels Hospitals. The sketches were carried out by Professor John Thomson, who held the first Regius Chair in Military Surgery appointed by the University of Edinburgh. Most accounts are of Allied wounded, but certainly not all. The accounts, drawings and surgical results dramatically alter our understanding of the management of military wounded in the Georgian army.

The Army of the Kingdom of Italy, 1805-1814: Uniforms, Organization, Campaigns
Stephen Ede-Borrett 112 pages (15th february 2019)

Often overlooked is the fact that, in addition to being Emperor of the French, Napoleon was also King of Italy. As such he was the first man to hold such a title since antiquity, albeit that the Kingdom was ruled by Eugene de Beauharnais as Viceroy. There seems little doubt that had Napoleon remained in power for a few more years then the Kingdom’s Army would have been the cornerstone of a unified Italian State a half-century before Garibaldi.

The Kingdom may only have comprised about a third of the Italian peninsula, but it was inevitably a major contributor of manpower to the Grande Armée. Despite this, and the continuing popularity of the study of Napoleonic armies and uniforms, there has not previously been a full-length study of the appearance of this Army nor any comparable synopsis of its service.

The uniforms of the Kingdom’s Army were heavily influenced by those of Napoleonic France but there was, in addition, enough ‘Italian flair’ to make them distinctive and the Army’s service record was the equal to that of any of France’s allies and satellites, and considerably better than most.

Wellington's Dandies: Uniforms and Dress of the British Army 1809-1815
Ben Towsend 296 pages (15th june 2019)

The second part* of an investigation into the clothing orders of the late-Georgian British Army, combined and contrasted with an analysis of fashion in the same army - comparing the regulated dress with the 'modes of the army' as revealed by contemporary writing and illustrations.

The first quarter of the nineteenth century witnessed a refinement of fashionable masculine dress that has not since been surpassed. Military tailoring inspired a flowering of uniform splendour that continued into the 1830s and sparked an enduring fascination with military costume that still rages today.

The army that operated in these cumbersome uniforms managed to achieve fame as one of the most effective British fighting forces ever recognised, and is still remembered and honoured for its achievements.

These three strands: the flowering of late Georgian civilian tailoring; of its martial equivalent; and of military excellence on campaign, have gripped the interest and the imagination of the public, and are endlessly revived and recycled through popular culture, on television, film, through books and all of the other new media.

The reader then might properly ask why another book on uniforms of this period is necessary. Quite simply, it is because the amount of material available to the researcher has increased exponentially since the advent of the internet, especially in regard to the now widely available digital archive files of institutional collections. The huge amount of accessible material makes the task of assembling accurate information much longer and much harder, but the results are consequentially more satisfying and accurate than hitherto.

This, the second of two books on the topic, pays particular attention to the ’Prince’s Regulations,’ of 1812, which exhibit the full extent of the Prince Regent’s excursions into military taste.

*the first part is Fashioning Regulation, Regulating Fashion: Uniforms and Dress of the British Army 1800-1808 expected for november 2018

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