Saddlestring A History of the Hf Bar Ranch Book

David Chandler's modern military biography of the Duke of Marlborough makes it clear why Winston Churchill was so fond of his distant relative: a master of alliances; a shunner of normal party politics; a brilliant startegist that deployed modern tactics to win battles and campaigns - all make Marlborough perhaps the greatest soldier in Britain's history.

Chandler romps through Churchill's early life, picking up the narrative in more detail with Churchill's campaigns in Ireland and the opening salvoes of the War of Spanish Succession. The book is laden with military facts, battle formations, and minute details of each of Marlborough's sterling victories, from Blenheim to Malplaquet. However, Chandler also delivers an illuminating overview of early 18th Century warfare and a helpful guide to the players involved in the War of Spanish Succession (a war whose commanders and campaigns seem particularly alien to a generation that feels World War II slipping into the surly bonds of history).

For military history readers, "Marlborough as Military Commander" is a fine introduction to the Duke's mastery. While not a full biographical portrait, the book excavates the Duke's military genius, particularly in the context of alliance-building and maintenance. In a 21st Century world where even superpowers cannot wage unilateral wars without troubles (and quagmires at worst), the story of the Duke serves as a perpetually-timely lesson in how to win a war with friends, and sometimes-friends, in tow.