From Waterloo to Balaclava: Tactics, Technology, and the British Army 1815-1854

Cover
CUP Archive, 21.11.1985 - 188 Seiten
In 1815 the British army stood at a peak in its history: under Wellington it had taken part in the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. Yet in 1854, when next engaged in war against a European enemy, its performance was at best mediocre and at worst disastrous. For the press at the time, as for historians since, the Crimean War revealed an incompetent, antiquated army, rusty after forty years of complacent neglect. From Waterloo to Balaclava shows such oversimplification to be false. In addition to absorbing the lessons of the Napoleonic Wars, the army had to contend with recurrent campaigns throughout the Empire, and its tactics and doctrine were the subject of constant debate. Under the impact of industrialisation, the evolution of military technology proceeded apace, and the range and accuracy of infantry fire (and, potentially, artillery) increased at least fourfold. These three influences - the Napoleonic Wars, colonial campaigning, and new weaponry - all contributed to an evolution of tactics which pointed forwards to 1914 as much as backwards to 1815.
 

Inhalt

The theory and the conduct of war
1
the rulers of the field
16
A Line Changing Front to the Rear on the Centre
17
A Battalion from Line Forming Square on a Central Company
19
Attack of the Kaffirs on the 74th Highlanders
21
4a A Close Column Deploying into Line on a Central Company
25
Battle of Chillianwallah
27
The battle of Moodkee
30
13th Light Dragoons in Pursuit of the Enemy
82
Fighting in the Bush
86
the arm of the future
92
Fire
98
Royal Artillery Repository Exercises 1844
108
Types of artillery round
115
10 Inch Howitzer 18 Pounder
124
56pounder gun
127

Thouvenins pillar and Delvignes bullet
39
Pillar and bullet of the Lancaster rifle
45
the blighted flower
55
The battle of Aliwal
58
IO The battle of Ferozshuhur
60
Ira The Military Seat as it is
67
12a The Regiment in Close Column of Squadrons
71
Royal Horse GuardsBlue
76
68 Pounder in a Casemate
128
Vaubans system of fortification under siege
130
The Rocket Troop 1835
137
Conclusion
142
Bibliography
163
Index
181
Urheberrecht

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Beliebte Passagen

Seite 170 - States cavalry,) [sic] one of the officers sent to the seat of war in Europe, in 1855 and 1856.
Seite 167 - AN ESSAY ON A PROPOSED NEW SYSTEM OF FORTIFICATION, with Hints for its Application to our National Defences.
Seite 170 - Remarks on Military Law and the Punishment of Flogging (1837) ; A Dialogue on the Poor Laws (1838?) ; A Letter on the Defence of England by Corps of Volunteers and Militia...

Autoren-Profil (1985)

Hew Strachan was born in in Edinburgh, Scotland on September 1, 1949. He is a historian who specializes in the British military and in World War I. He has written numerous books including The First World War, The First World War in Africa, The Politics of the British Army, and Carl von Clausewitz's On War. He received the Westminster Medal for The Politics of the British Army. He received the Pritzker Military Museum and Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing in 2016.

Bibliografische Informationen