Books in the Century of the Soldier series

An investigation into the organisation, strength, and military action of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1683 - both at Vienna and other theatres of war.

A detailed account of the 'Swedish Deluge' of 1655 - 1660, the devastating wars fought in the reign of Swedish King Charles X Gustavus.

A newly revised edition on the construction of one of the first standing armies in the 17th century.French Armies of the Thirty Years' War presents the development of the French Army, one of the first standing armies in Europe, from 1617 to 1648. It shows how Louis XIII and Richelieu exploited the complex legacy of the Wars of Religion to the benefit of both the Crown and the Country.The Three Musketeers, Cyrano de Bergerac, Louis XIII, Richelieu, Condé, Turenne, La Rochelle, Rocroi...these few words sum up the literary and historical representations most people will associate with the tumultuous events in France during the first half of the seventeenth century.French Armies of the Thirty Years' War begins in 1617, the year that Louis XIII really took power, by distancing the Queen Mother and ordering the assassination of Concini, and ends in 1648 - five years after the death of Louis XIII, and the year of the Peace Treaty of Westphalia. This period in France was almost completely dominated by the personality and activities of Richelieu, who entered the King's council in April 1624. He gave the King an ambition: 'to procure the ruin of the Huguenot party, humble the pride of the great, reduce all subjects to their duty, and elevate your majesty's name among foreign nations to its rightful reputation.' By Richelieu's death, on 4 December 1642, this program had been accomplished.The first military action of this period, in August 1620, known as the Drôlerie des Ponts de Cé, was an uprising of the nobility who supported the Queen Mother against the King. The rebels were roundly defeated by the King's armies, but very few units actually fought. In his memoirs, Richelieu, who was on the Queen's side at the time, gives a detailed analysis of this defeat. In particular, he drew from it the principles that he was to follow throughout his life, and he realized: 'that which is held only by a precarious authority does not last long; that those who fight against a legitimate power are already half-defeated by their own imagination.' These political beliefs gave Louis XIII and Richelieu a powerful instrument that was to emerge transformed from the Thirty Years' War.The Army that Marie de Medici left to Henri IV's heir was small and inexperienced, but the Wars of Religion at the beginning of Louis XIII's reign, combined with Richelieu's actions, gave the French Crown an increasingly efficient army. Commanded by great captains such as the Duc de Rohan, the Viscomte de Turenne and the Prince of Condé, the army was highly successful, as shown by the long list of French victories, from the Île de Ré (1626) to Lens (1648) amply demonstrate.

Between 1639 and 1660, more than 1,000 places across England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales were fortified. These included towns and villages, castles and manor houses, as well as new places of strength. They ranged in complexity from the simple strengthening of existing medieval walls to the sophisticated re-fortification of major towns. Often overlooked in the context of European military engineering, and in terms of the so-called 'military revolution' of the period, the design and construction of the Civil War fortress progressed during the period, evolving from the basic ditch and rampart of the early years of the fighting to the massive stone-built citadels of the Protectorate. Over half of these so-called 'fortified places' witnessed some sort of military action, although it is wrong to conclude that the fortress warfare of the period was purely about sieges. The Town Well Fortified is a brand-new study which looks at the strategic and tactical importance of fortifications, and their influence on the respective war effort of all sides, particularly in terms of logistics, and the concept of 'protected corridors' which connected key locations and dominated campaigns. The book also places the fortress in its geographical context, and considers how the local topography influenced placement and design. Given the years of peace enjoyed by much of the Three Kingdoms prior to the Civil Wars, it is no surprise that fortress construction was heavily influenced by European practice, although the fortified landscape prior to 1639, including a heritage stretching back as far as Roman times (and beyond), was also important.The design and construction of the fortifications is also considered, both in terms of the theory, especially from the military manuals of the time, and then the practice, including several contemporary and eyewitness accounts. The book also examines actual numbers, locations, and types of fortresses, including an assessment of the type of fort known as a 'sconce'.Secondary sources have been re-examined, and brought together with ongoing research, including recent archaeological investigations (which, among other things, consider just how earthworks were built), in this ground breaking-study which offers a fresh interpretation of the subject of fortresses during the Civil Wars. The use of up-to-date research is reflected in the book's spotlight on the current and yet largely unpublished investigations at King's Lynn, London, and the Isle of Man. But the inclusion of findings from the Civil War Fortifications Register project ensures this book genuinely encompasses the whole of Britain and Ireland.This is the result of more than thirty years of research, including the author's thorough and ongoing study of London's fortifications, the King's Lynn under Siege archaeological project, and the results from the development of a register identifying every place fortified during the Civil Wars across the entire British Isles.

John Hampden and the Battle of Chalgrove challenges the traditional accounts of Hampden's fatal wounding on 18 June 1643 and subsequent death.

This narrative of the war in Ireland from October 1641 to September 1643 critically evaluates the performance of the Irish or Catholic armies and reveals the underlying shape of what would otherwise seem to be a shapeless sprawl of battles, sieges, skirmishes, massacres, and cattle raids.

In 1643 two powerful armies clashed: the French and the Spanish fought on the plain of Rocroi. It was not the first time. But this battle has gone down in History as the symbol of a change in European military hegemony: the Spanish Tercios were defeated by the French Regiments. But was that battle so decisive?

A major gap in the body of work available in print to researchers into the military history of the English Civil War is army lists of the New Model Army. Reconstructing the New Model Army, of which this is the second volume, presents for the first time listings by regiment of the commissioned officers who fought in the New Model Army from the invasion of Ireland in August 1649 to the disbandment of many of its units in 1660 and the embedding of the remainder into the new royal army in the years that followed. In Parts II and III of the volume snapshots are provided of the army in June 1650, October 1651, Autumn 1656, April 1659, September 1659 and April 1660, and for the army in Ireland in 1649-50, 1651-3, 1653-5, 1656-9, and 1659-60. What happened to the officer corps in between the snapshots is provided by extensive notes all of which are fully referenced. This division into two armies is largely because they were very largely distinct from one another. Regiments stationed in Ireland stayed there and there was very little movement of officers between the Irish army and the army in England and Scotland. Part I of the volume contains a number of short essays reflecting on aspects of the army on which the snapshots shed new light or cause earlier historians' work to be questioned. They include reflections on changes in the officer corps over time, on whether or not the New Model could be described as a meritocracy, on its new Imperial role post 1650, and on the survival of New Model Army units beyond the winter of 1660, which was more extensive than has been supposed. At the end of the volume there are a number of appendices the most extensive of which contains listings of the regiments raised for or during the Scottish campaign of 1650-51 and disbanded immediately afterwards.

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.