Although the Battle of Naseby (14 June 1645) is generally regarded as the decisive action of the First Civil War, dooming the Royalist cause to inevitable defeat, fierce fighting continued for over a year, including several pitched battles and numerous sieges. By the end of 1645, with his forces crumbling and his territory shrinking, King Charles' hopes were increasingly dependent on the Royalist heartland of the Welsh Marches and the tiny field army which Jacob Lord Astley was struggling to muster there. This book describes the often dramatic preliminaries to this and sets in context Astley's campaign which ended on 21 March 1646 with his defeat at Stow-on-the -Wold – the last pitched battle of the First Civil War, together with the last stand of the royalist garrisons in the Marches. This book, making comprehensive use of both Royalist and Parliamentarian sources, will be the first complete detailed study of these events which finally doomed Royalist hopes in the First Civil War. It will be of interest to military and local historians, the general reader, re-enactors, wargamers and modellers.

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Although the Battle of Naseby (14 June 1645) is generally regarded as the decisive action of the First Civil War, dooming the Royalist cause to inevitable defeat, fierce fighting… Развернуть 

The Battle of the White Mountain and the Bohemian Revolt, 1618-1622 looks not only at the battle of the White Mountain, but also the campaigns and events leading up to the battle, such as the Bohemian Army’s march on Vienna, the sieges of Pilsen and Bautzen and the battle of Zablat. These events are often described using the words of the protagonists themselves. It also examines the armies that took part in these campaigns, the soldiers from which came not only from Bohemia, but also Britain, the Dutch Republic, France, the Holy Roman Empire, Hungary, Poland, Spain, the Spanish Netherlands and Transylvania. However, even before the battle of the White Mountain the seeds had been sewn for the war to last 30 years and such was the Emperor Ferdinand’s Counter Reformation policy that when the sword which executed some Bohemian rebels when on display in the nineteenth century it had to be removed for fear of a public disturbance and has been compared with the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Nazi Germany in 1938. Therefore this book is essential reading to anyone interested in the wars of the early seventeenth century, not just the Thirty Years War.

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The Battle of the White Mountain and the Bohemian Revolt, 1618-1622 looks not only at the battle of the White Mountain, but also the campaigns and events leading up to the battle,… Развернуть 

The book describes the development of the Swedish Army during the Great Northern War, 1700-1721, when Sweden fought against a coalition of Russia, Denmark-Norway and Poland-Saxony. For parts of the War Prussia and Hanover also joined the enemy coalition. The book describes how the Army was reorganised in the year before the outbreak of the war, with its unique allotment system of recruitment. The book also includes a list of all Army units during the 21 years of war. The strategic situation in the Baltic Sea region in the last 1690s is given, and is then followed up by an analysis of the strategic situation in the early 1720s. A description of the Army as it was at the time of the outbreak of the war in 1700, as well as the system of fortresses around the Baltic Sea is provided. The equipment and tactics of the Army are presented, not the least how they developed during the long period of the war. The development of the 21 years of war are described and discussed to give the reader a good overview of the military (and partly the political) developments. The battlefield performance of the Swedish Army is studied through descriptions and analysis of six battles and one campaign. The book includes a list of suggestions for further reading, and is supported by a large number of illustrations including specially-commissioned colour uniform and flag plates.

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The book describes the development of the Swedish Army during the Great Northern War, 1700-1721, when Sweden fought against a coalition of Russia, Denmark-Norway and… Развернуть 

The book describes and analyses the emergence of the early modern Russian army, before the military reforms introduced by Tsar Peter the Great brought it in line with developments in Western Europe. It will be shown that Tsar Peter’s reforms, although decisive, rested on a legacy of previous reforms. Yet, the origin of the early modern Russian army can be found in the East, not the West. The close association during the Middle Ages with the Mongol Golden Horde had transformed the Muscovite military system into a Eurasian one. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, links with the Northern Caucasus and Siberia brought further Oriental influences into the Russian military system. While the Mongol legacy of the early Muscovite army has been described elsewhere, the real and continuous impact of Oriental influences in the early modern Russian army has not yet been detailed. Besides, the detailed information on the Russian army in 1673/1674 which can be found in the military handbook then produced by a Swedish intelligence officer has never been fully used in English-language works. This information shows that by the second half of the seventeenth century, Russia already had an army that although not up to date according to Western standards, still was able to hold its own against both Western and Eastern adversaries. The book ends with 1689, when Tsar Peter’s reign began and Russia’s border in the east with China was negotiated. "This is a great reminder that the Muscovite military system in its origins looked more to the East than to the West" Military History Monthly

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The book describes and analyses the emergence of the early modern Russian army, before the military reforms introduced by Tsar Peter the Great brought it in line with developments… Развернуть 

The experience of war is never confined to those who participate militarily: the consequences of warfare ripple out across their immediate families and communities, and the lives of countless civilians the combatants will never meet. The wives and children of soldiers could become destitute in the absence of their menfolk, and in the seventeenth century many sought refuge far from their homes or followed the army on its travels. Feeding and clothing an army, and supplying it with ammunition and other materiel, was a critical business; many women, and also many civilian men, provided services to the army baggage train and effectively became a critical part of its supply chain. The speakers at Helion’s third English Civil War conference focussed on a variety of aspects relating to both the personal experiences of warfare and the herculean efforts required to keep a conflict going. Keynote speaker Professor Peter Gaunt, focusing on the English Civil Wars of the 1640s, explores what is arguably the most gruelling and uncertain aspect of warfare, besides battle itself: the necessity of travel, often for great distances and to unfamiliar or even hostile places. Using case studies focusing on different parts of the country, Professor Gaunt draws upon surviving letters and printed or archival first person accounts to recount and analyse the experience of moving around during the wars, whether to pursue their objectives or to flee from their effects. The Lostwithiel campaign in Cornwall in 1644 took both King Charles’s and the Parliament’s armies on a lengthy trek to the furthest extent of England: Simon Marsh examines the disastrous consequences of the campaign on the Earl of Essex’s army, nearly destroyed as a fighting force, and yet how within two months it was able to recover and fight with distinction against the King’s forces at the Second Battle of Newbury. Mr Marsh also examines how effective the Parliamentarian supply system had become by 1644; logistics are critical to the survival of any army or any body of people in a defensive situation, and Rachael Abbiss takes us forward to the Indian War of 1688, to remind us that whilst the British Isles only underwent short periods of internal warfare, its colonies in North America permanently required armed defence and the vast cross-ocean administration that entailed. Given the comparatively small European populations in the colonies at the time, and the continual threat from both hostile locals and European colonial rivals such as France, warfare was no distant event but a daily issue of personal survival; back in England, however, the necessity of soldiering for your country was perhaps not felt as keenly, and many men avoided it: Stephen Ede-Borrett’s paper examines deserters’ notices in the London Gazette in the 1660s–1690s, published by the authorities in an attempt to retrieve missing recruits. These advertisements give us an extraordinary amount of information about the men who made up the rank and file of the British Army at the time. Where men did see out their service, however, their families had to decide whether to follow the army or remain at home: using archival evidence, Laurence Spring looks at the experience of soldiers’ wives in Britain and Europe during the first half of the seventeenth century, both those who stayed, and those who took to the road. War affected great households as much as the small: Basing House, a substantial house belonging to the Royalist Marquess of Winchester, was extensively besieged and eventually destroyed. Alan Turton, who lives adjacent to the house’s remains, brings together a range of sources including recent archaeological investigations, to offer a fresh picture of wartime events at this magnificent but doomed location. While Basing’s defenders fought to save it, the London authorities encircled the City and suburbs with fortifications: these works, and many others in England and abroad, were recorded in details for posterity thanks to the extraordinary talent of occasional London resident Wenceslaus Hollar. David Flintham explores the life and works of this prodigious Czech sketcher and engraver. Defending entire regions was not as simple as building walls, however, and Jon Day takes us to Ireland with an account of how the lawyer,politician and Parliamentarian soldier Michael Jones ruthlessly helped put down the remnants of the Royalist cause in Ireland in 1647–1649.

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The experience of war is never confined to those who participate militarily: the consequences of warfare ripple out across their immediate families and communities, and the lives… Развернуть 

England and the Dutch Republic fought three naval wars in the middle of the 17th century, arising principally from a clash of mercantile interests. In the first of these, under the Commonwealth, England had much the better, due largely to the outstanding leadership of Robert Blake. The second war was more even. By now Charles II had been restored to the throne. There were a number of fierce battles which went either way, but the war ended with the humiliation of the Dutch burning a large part of the English fleet in the Medway. After reviewing the earlier wars, this book goes on to describe the third Anglo Dutch war, fought between 1672 and 1674. This war of shameless aggression was provoked by England, or rather by King Charles and his court, mainly as a matter of commercial greed. It began, before any declaration of war, with an attack on a Dutch merchant convoy proceeding up-Channel. In this war, for the first time, England fought in alliance with France, and the French fleet was an important, if ultimately ineffective, part of the fleet which under the leadership first of the Earl of Sandwich, then by James, Duke of York, and finally by Prince Rupert, took on the Dutch fleet led by the brilliant Admiral Michiel de Ruyter. At Solebay on the Suffolk coast, de Ruyter surprised the English fleet on the morning of 28 May 1672; in the intense fighting Sandwich’s flagship, the Royal James was blown up and he was killed. Overall, the Dutch could claim it as a victory. There later followed in 1673 two battles off Schooneveld and then the battle of the Texel. In this fight the French treacherously hung back. De Ruyter’s tactical skill in these battles ensured that a planned attempt at invasion was prevented. The war ended with the Allies by no means in unison, and Charles II, obliged by lack of funds to make peace, had nothing to show for a war that should never have been fought.

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England and the Dutch Republic fought three naval wars in the middle of the 17th century, arising principally from a clash of mercantile interests. In the first of these, under… Развернуть 

There has not been an account of the first attempt made in Scotland to restore the exiled Stuarts at the end of the seventeenth century for three decades; most accounts stop with the death of the movement’s first leader, ‘Bonnie Dundee’. This book is the first full length account of the military struggle between forces loyal to the newly established Scottish government and the Jacobite cause. It does this by first considering the political and religious situation in Scotland, and to a lesser extent its southern neighbour, from the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 to the revolution of 1688-1689, which was far more radical in Scotland than it was in England, and which produced a constituency with a grievance which a new restoration might solve. The book then turns to the initial campaigning by both armies, led by Dundee and for the government, General Hugh Mackay, a fellow Scot. With marches and counter marches being inconclusive, the possession of Blair Castle focussed attentions and led to confrontation. But before examining the ensuing battle, the book turns to the officers and men of each army, exploring who they were, their tactics, arms, equipment and organisation. The most substantial chapter is a blow by blow account of the battle of Killiecrankie, beginning with the march to conflict on the day itself, discussions over whether to fight, deployment and initial exchanges of fire. Then the crux of the battle is described, the rush of the Highlanders, the musketry of their opponents, melee and the flight and pursuit. Some of Mackay’s army stood and repelled their enemy, but by the day’s end were obliged to retreat. There is an examination of the numbers of men who fought and the casualties and other losses taken by both sides; including that of the Jacobite commander. A discussion of the battle’s aftermath and its importance then occurs. The conflict was far from over, for the Jacobite army reached its numerical high point after Dundee’s death. There was another battle to be fought that season, at Dunkeld, which was unusual for it was fought in a town. As with the previous battle, this chapter looks at the combatants involved as well as the fighting and its aftermath. The chapter also reviews the campaigning before and after the battle to take the reader until the end of the year. The penultimate chapter covers the final major military engagement of the conflict, at Cromdale, as well as numerous other lesser encounters, skirmishes and sieges, and other developments in the government’s strategy to bring peace to the Highlands. Finally, there is a chapter covering the campaign’s end; which ended with a peace treaty and then the tragedy of Glencoe, and a commentary about the ending of hostilities and the careers of a number of prominent men who fought in the campaign. The book is largely based on primary sources, both published and manuscript from record offices and libraries in London and Edinburgh. These include letters, memoirs, poems, army listings and contemporary newspapers. Recourse has also been made to studies of the battlefield archaeology and the author having walked the battlefields, one with a local expert. There is also a brief description of the battlefields as they are today. "The Battle of Killiecrankie is a useful addition to the literature of the first Jacobite campaign, which has received less attention than the Forty-Five." Army Rumour Service

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There has not been an account of the first attempt made in Scotland to restore the exiled Stuarts at the end of the seventeenth century for three decades; most accounts stop with… Развернуть 

Sir William Waller called his defeat at the Battle of Roundway Down, the most heavy stroke that ever befell him. He also said it turned victory into mourning and glory into shame. Indeed his loss in July 1643 was both dramatic and unexpected but what exactly happened has posed questions to historians for many generations. For years the same old solutions as to why Waller's combined-arms army was overcome by a cavalry force of less than half its numbers have been discussed, but with little variation. They all appear to hail the experience of the vaunted Oxford Horse, the idea that the parliamentarian Horse began their fights stationary, the personal skills of Wilmot and Byron over those of Haselrig and Hungerford, and the cowardice of the parliamentarian Western Horse. These factors are probably correct in some measure, but this volume says there are two more, perhaps even greater reasons for the collapse of Waller's mounted troops. The text describes how the tactics of the day put Waller's cavalry at a decided disadvantage and that Wilmot having understood the lessons of Edgehill was able to make full use of what he saw. The book also argues a case that perhaps the ostlers and grooms of Oxfordshire contributed more to the royalist victory than has hitherto been acknowledged. The Most Heavy Stroke is full of new information and new ideas, and offers a new interpretation of what occurred and why. Not only how it happened, but where the fighting actually took place has also over the years brought several interpretations to the fore. However, many previous writers seem to ignore several witnesses whose testimonies render their own basic deployment premise somewhat flawed. The Most Heavy Stroke combines what accounts say of movements and eye-witness terrain descriptions with knowledge of period practice in a deeper study of both battle and battlefield than has been hitherto undertaken, turning agreed previous positions of both armies on their head. The Most Heavy Stroke combines new thinking on the battle with recent research on which units took part in the fighting, and what they wore and the flags they carried, even though it acknowledges the paucity of current information.

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Sir William Waller called his defeat at the Battle of Roundway Down, the most heavy stroke that ever befell him. He also said it turned victory into mourning and glory into shame.… Развернуть