Reviews for Trafalgar

The average rating for Trafalgar based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-10-01 00:00:00 James Posey I recently discovered this author’s excellent “source book” on World War I, which was published two years after this one, so this is obviously the model for the series. (Or it would be a “series” if he would do any more of them -- which I wish he would.) While my knowledge of the history of the Great War was rather thin, however, I know a good deal about the war between France and the Allies between 1792 and 1815, so I feel better able to judge in this case. And I’m pleased to say the author has again brought together a huge amount of information on a very large subject, and in which he is an acknowledged authority -- though he tends to run the details of military uniform into the ground. As with the World War I book, there are seven major sections. “The Campaigns” is a straightforward chronological survey of events, principal players, diplomacy, and changing grand strategy. The section on weapons and “minor tactics” (familiar to officers in the field from every participating nation) is an excellent survey of the musket, carbine, saber, lance, and the many forms of artillery in use, as well as the principal functions of the main military branches -- infantry, cavalry, artillery, and commissariat. The next section (the longest of the book) considers each nation and state that took part, from France, Britain, and Russia -- which, naturally, have the longest articles -- to minor players like Anhalt, Berg, Norway, Venice, and the United States. This includes artificial constructs like the Ligurian and Cisalpine Republics. A section of forty-odd biographical sketches covers both the great leaders (like Wellington) and the disastrous ones (like Murat). Finally, the author surveys the most important sources on the period, both memoires by participants and standard histories of later date. A section of “Miscellanea” sorts out the various conflicting calendars and systems of measurement, as well as outlining the British and French military budgets. The emphasis throughout is on land warfare, with the war at sea getting only a brief mention -- but this is okay because there are a great many other sources available on the Royal Navy’s virtual control of the seas. This is a great book for browsing and the numerous anecdotes and quotes from soldiers’ accounts liven things up considerably.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-11-18 00:00:00 Matt Rifley The best single source on the military history of the Napoleonic wars I have found. It’s focus is on the armies and navies of the combatants, their composition and details of their uniforms, structure and fighting formations etc. Over 50 pages is devoted to the campaigns, the same for weapons and practice, over 40 for biographies of major players, and the rest for armies and natives of combatants. Especially useful to those who do military modeling. There are many other books that deal with individual campaigns, battles, countries and personages. This fills a niche as described above.