Bull Run to Boer War

Bull Run to Boer War
Author: Michael Somerville
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2019-12-19
Genre:
ISBN: 9781912866250

The American Civil War is often said to have predicted the way in which later wars such as the Boer War and the First World War would be fought. As a result the British Army has been criticised for not heeding its lessons, a view that can be traced back to the 1930s.This book challenges that long-held view, and demonstrates that the responses to the lessons of the war in the British Army were more complex, better informed, and of higher quality, than normally depicted.Key to this new interpretation is that it takes a nineteenth century perspective rather than pre-supposing what the British should have seen based upon hindsight from the South African veldt or the Western Front trenches. It demonstrates that strategists and policy-makers reacted to the changes in the nature of warfare suggested by American experience, looks at how officers in the cavalry, infantry, artillery and engineers applied their observations in America to the technical and tactical issues of the day, and even examines the war's influence on the development of aeronautics.In studying how the Civil War changed the Late Victorian British Army, the book provides insight into its learning process, and concludes that although sometimes flawed, its study of the American Civil War meant that it was better prepared for the wars of the twentieth century than previously acknowledged.

Cavalry: A Global History

Cavalry: A Global History
Author: Jeremy Black
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2023-08-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1399060910

An original and unique work that will fill a huge gap in the field of military history, and be of interest to both scholars and general readers. It is a picture of the universal role of cavalry in warfare from earliest times to the present - and future. This book covers the role of horses and essential mobility in 'shock action', in warfare in the classical world, in the major civilizations of China and India, Steppe cavalry, in the middle ages with Islamic and European conflict, the 'social politics' in Christendom with knightly valor, and war with non-Christian forces including the Muslim invasion of Europe, Islamic Spain, and conflict with the Mongols. The early modern period covers the Asia and North Africa and the Ottomans - a major field of warfare continuing up to the modern period - and the time is notable for the introduction of horses in the Americas - a new phase in cavalry history. The modern period from Napoleon to the First World War is the history of the mobility of cavalry in European warfare and in imperial expansion and empire-building, but the concept of cavalry 'redundancy' arises in the maelstrom of 1914-1918 with artillery bombardment, trench warfare, and the role of infantry. The long 'transition' period leading up the present and future is fascinating for both cavalry and infantry, with the development of tanks and armor. And here is a fascinating and original concept of cavalry 'transformation' and not cavalry 'survivalism', with modern and post-modern development of drone warfare - from horses to drones - as a 'new cavalry' for reconnaissance and combat.

The New Century Book of Facts

The New Century Book of Facts
Author: Carroll Davidson Wright
Publisher:
Total Pages: 1162
Release: 1909
Genre: Encyclopedias and dictionaries
ISBN:

Includes music.

Decisions of the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign

Decisions of the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign
Author: Robert Tanner
Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2023
Genre: History
ISBN: 1621907694

"The Shenandoah Valley Campaign, often referred to as Jackson's Valley Campaign, saw Gen. Stonewall Jackson lead more than seventeen thousand Confederate soldiers on a 464-mile march that would engage three separate Federal armies. Jackson's men fought several small skirmishes and lesser battles throughout the campaign with the ultimate objective of keeping US reinforcements from shoring up the Federal assault on Richmond, the Confederacy's capital. Jackson's immense success during the campaign contributed greatly to his legend among Confederate soldiers and brass. Intended for the Command Decisions in America's Civil War series, Robert Tanner's book focuses on the critical decisions that determined the outcome of the Shenandoah Valley Campaign for both Federal and Confederate forces"--

Memoirs of the Boer War

Memoirs of the Boer War
Author: Jan Christiaan Smuts
Publisher:
Total Pages: 252
Release: 1994
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

On the afternoon of Monday 4 June 1900, the young State Attorney of the South African Republic bade a sad farewell to his wife and child whom he was never to see again and left Pretoria to join the Boer commandos. He had braved shot and shell to put the government's sole source of finance for the continuing war - less than half a million pounds sterling in gold and coins - on a special train to President Kruger in the Eastern Transvaal. The next day, Lord Robert's army entered the capital. Jan Smuts came to play an important role in the South African war of 1899-1902. His memoirs are recorded here, and they present an account of the critical events from the fall of Pretoria to the reorganization of the commandos in December that year.