Some reading matter

Lockdown has at least given many of us the chance to either catch up on some of the books we have always meant to get around to reading, or to discover new ones.  Back in April, the Naval and Military Press had a sale and I took the opportunity to purchase several titles at a very reasonable price.  Volumes in the "Napoleonic Library" series were on offer at just over £3 each in hardback and it was impossible to resist getting copies of "Davout, The Iron Marshal" and the memoirs of Baron von Muffling.  One title I hadn't heard of before, but decided to take a chance on was Robert Goetz's "1805 Austerlitz".

 

It was a good choice.  The book covers the campaign up to the battle itself and gives an insight into the strategies followed by each side.  Significant events in the battle are covered in detail and accompanied by detailed maps which allow the reader to follow the fortunes of individual regiments or even their constituent battalions/squadrons.  The appendices include biographies of major figures,  a detailed order of battle and an assessment of the strength of the Allied army.  A thoroughly good read.

Helion titles were also available and I chose one volume in particular which had been on my reading list, John Barratt's "A Rabble of Gentility; the Royalist Northern Horse, 1644-45".  

Formed  in the aftermath of Marston Moor from the remains of the cavalry of Newcastle's Northern Army, the Northern Horse led a nomadic existence for the following 15 months.  They fought in Cheshire, the Welsh borders, the East Midlands and at Naseby, before their disintegration when cornered near Carlisle.  Their unruly behaviour and the desire to return to fight for the king's cause in the North, rather than close to Oxford, caused problems for the Royalist High Command.  Suggesting ways that rules could be tweaked to make some units more difficult to control than others perhaps?

One book that wasn't in the sale, but I had been awaiting the publication of was Bruno Mugnai's  volume on the Ottoman army.

At over 350 pages it is a substantial volume and contains masses of information on the troops, their organisation, clothing, weapons and battles.  There are copious contemporary illustrations, supplemented by the author's own line drawings.  I found the section on the Ottoman art of war particularly interesting, discussing the development of musket armed units to counter the armies of powers becoming more 'western' in their organisation and also the increasing influence of provincial troops over that of the sipahi and janissaries.  One thing that did let the book down was a lack of an index which would tie together the sections dealing with, say sipahi, in the separate chapters on organisation, equipment and dress.