Wellington's Two-Front War

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Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 0806186100
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis Wellington's Two-Front War by : Joshua Moon

Download or read book Wellington's Two-Front War written by Joshua Moon and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2012-09-13 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sir Arthur Wellesley's 1808–1814 campaigns against Napoleon's forces in the Iberian Peninsula have drawn the attention of scholars and soldiers for two centuries. Yet, until now, no study has focused on the problems that Wellesley, later known as the Duke of Wellington, encountered on the home front before his eventual triumph beyond the Pyrenees. In Wellington's Two-Front War, Joshua Moon not only surveys Wellington's command of British forces against the French but also describes the battles Wellington fought in England—with an archaic military command structure, bureaucracy, and fickle public opinion. In this detailed and accessible account, Moon traces Wellington's command of British forces during the six years of warfare against the French. Almost immediately upon landing in Portugal in 1808, Wellington was hampered by his government's struggle to plan a strategy for victory. From that point on, Moon argues, the military's outdated promotion system, political maneuvering, and bureaucratic inertia—all subject to public opinion and a hostile press—thwarted Wellington's efforts, almost costing him the victory. Drawing on archival sources in the United Kingdom and at the United States Military Academy, Moon goes well beyond detailing military operations to delve into the larger effects of domestic policies, bureaucracy, and coalition building on strategy. Ultimately, Moon shows, the second front of Wellington's "two-front war" was as difficult as the better-known struggle against Napoleon's troops and harsh conditions abroad. As this book demonstrates, it was only through strategic vision and relentless determination that Wellington attained the hard-fought victory. Moon's multifaceted examination of the commander and his frustrations offers valuable insight into the complexities of fighting faraway battles under the scrutiny at home of government agencies and the press—issues still relevant today.

Wellington's Eastern Front

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Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 147385072X
Total Pages : 213 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (738 download)

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Book Synopsis Wellington's Eastern Front by : Nick Lipscombe

Download or read book Wellington's Eastern Front written by Nick Lipscombe and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2016-11-30 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At last, in this absorbing and authoritative study, the story of the epic struggle on Spains eastern front during the Peninsular War has been told. Often overlooked as not integral to the Duke of Wellingtons main army and their campaigns in Portugal and western Spain, they were, in point of fact, intrinsically linked. Nick Lipscombe, a leading historian of the Napoleonic Wars and an expert on the fighting in the Iberian peninsula, describes in graphic detail the battles fought by the French army of General Suchet against the Spanish regulars and guerrillas and subsequently the Anglo-Sicilian force sent by the British government to stabilize the region. Despite Suchet's initial successes and repeated setbacks for the allied armies, by late 1813 the east coast of Spain held a key to Wellington's invasion of France and the ultimate defeat of Napoleon's armies in the Peninsula. At a tactical level the allies were undeniably successful and made an important contribution to the eventual French defeat.

Thoughts on War

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Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813178924
Total Pages : 299 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

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Book Synopsis Thoughts on War by : Phillip S. Meilinger

Download or read book Thoughts on War written by Phillip S. Meilinger and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A remarkable work that challenges the received wisdom of Clausewitz’s On War . . . [a] paradigm as to how to wage combat in our modern global environment.” —John A. English, author of Monty and the Canadian Army War is changing. Unlike when modern military doctrine was forged, the United States no longer mobilizes massive land forces for direct political gain. Instead, the US fights small, overseas wars by global mandate to overthrow dictators, destroy terrorist groups, and broker regional peace. These conflicts hardly resemble the total wars fought and expected by foundational military theorists such as Carl von Clausewitz, yet their paradigms are ingrained in modern thinking. The twenty-first-century’s new geopolitical situation demands new principles for warfare—deemphasizing decisive land victory in favor of airpower, intelligence systems, and indigenous ground forces. In Thoughts on War, Phillip S.Meilinger confronts the shortcomings of US military dogma in search of a new strategic doctrine. Inter-service rivalries and conventional theories failed the US in lengthy Korea, Vietnam, and Middle East conflicts. Jettisoning traditional perspectives and their focus on decisive battles, Meilinger revisits historical campaigns looking for answers to more persistent challenges—how to coordinate forces, manipulate time, and fight on two fronts. This provocative collection of new and expanded essays offers a fresh, if controversial, perspective on time-honored military values, one which encourages a critical revision of US military strategy. “Meilinger presents a new strategic and operational paradigm for how to fight and win tomorrow’s wars with reduced risk and cost. This book will appeal not only to military professionals, but to scholars and civilian policymakers as well.” —Colonel John Andreas Olsen, Royal Norwegian Air Force, author of Airpower Pioneers

Sickness, Suffering, and the Sword

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Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 0806189320
Total Pages : 316 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis Sickness, Suffering, and the Sword by : Andrew Bamford

Download or read book Sickness, Suffering, and the Sword written by Andrew Bamford and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2013-05-01 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although an army’s success is often measured in battle outcomes, its victories depend on strengths that may be less obvious on the field. In Sickness, Suffering, and the Sword, military historian Andrew Bamford assesses the effectiveness of the British Army in sustained campaigning during the Napoleonic Wars. In the process, he offers a fresh and controversial look at Britain’s military system, showing that success or failure on campaign rested on the day-to-day experiences of regimental units rather than the army as a whole. Bamford draws his title from the words of Captain Moyle Sherer, who during the winter of 1816–1817 wrote an account of his service during the Peninsular War: “My regiment has never been very roughly handled in the field. . . But, alas! What between sickness, suffering, and the sword, few, very few of those men are now in existence.” Bamford argues that those daily scourges of such often-ignored factors as noncombat deaths and equine strength and losses determined outcomes on the battlefield. In the nineteenth century, the British Army was a collection of regiments rather than a single unified body, and the regimental system bore the responsibility of supplying manpower on that field. Between 1808 and 1815, when Britain was fighting a global conflict far greater than its military capabilities, the system nearly collapsed. Only a few advantages narrowly outweighed the army’s increasing inability to meet manpower requirements. This book examines those critical dynamics in Britain’s major early-nineteenth-century campaigns: the Peninsular War (1808–1814), the Walcheren Expedition (1809), the American War (1812–1815), and the growing commitments in northern Europe from 1813 on. Drawn from primary documents, Bamford’s statistical analysis compares the vast disparities between regiments and different theatres of war and complements recent studies of health and sickness in the British Army.

Wellington's Wars

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Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300165404
Total Pages : 429 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (1 download)

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Book Synopsis Wellington's Wars by : Huw J. Davies

Download or read book Wellington's Wars written by Huw J. Davies and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-26 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, lives on in popular memory as the "Invincible General," loved by his men, admired by his peers, formidable to his opponents. This incisive book revises such a portrait, offering an accurate--and controversial--new analysis of Wellington's remarkable military career. Unlike his nemesis Napoleon, Wellington was by no means a man of innate military talent, Huw J. Davies argues. Instead, the key to Wellington's military success was an exceptionally keen understanding of the relationship between politics and war.Drawing on extensive primary research, Davies discusses Wellington's military apprenticeship in India, where he learned through mistakes as well as successes how to plan campaigns, organize and use intelligence, and negotiate with allies. In India Wellington encountered the constant political machinations of indigenous powers, and it was there that he apprenticed in the crucial skill of balancing conflicting political priorities. In later campaigns and battles, including the Peninsular War and Waterloo, Wellington's genius for strategy, operations, and tactics emerged. For his success in the art of war, he came to rely on his art as a politician and tactician. This strikingly original book shows how Wellington made even unlikely victories possible--with a well-honed political brilliance that underpinned all of his military achievements.

Storm and Sack

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108836143
Total Pages : 327 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (88 download)

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Book Synopsis Storm and Sack by : Gavin Daly

Download or read book Storm and Sack written by Gavin Daly and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-10-06 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores British soldiers' violence and restraint towards enemy combatants and civilians in sieges during the Napoleonic era.

Limiting Risk in America's Wars

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Publisher : Naval Institute Press
ISBN 13 : 1682472515
Total Pages : 174 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (824 download)

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Book Synopsis Limiting Risk in America's Wars by : Phillip S Meilinger

Download or read book Limiting Risk in America's Wars written by Phillip S Meilinger and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2017-11-15 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States has the most expensive and seemingly unstoppable military in the world. Yet, since World War II the nation’s military success rate has been meager. The Korean War was a draw, while Vietnam, Mogadishu, Afghanistan, and Iraq were clear losses. Successes include Iraq in 1991, the Balkans (Croatia and Kosovo), Panama, the initial takedowns of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, and Libya. What differentiates the failures from the successes? Failures have been marked by the introduction of large numbers of conventional American ground troops, while successes have been characterized by the use of airpower, special operations forces, robust intelligence and sensor platforms, and the use of indigenous ground troops. Phillip S. Meilinger’s new book advocates strategies that limit risks in war as well as achieve measurable goals. Instead of large numbers of conventional ground troops, the author argues in favor of a focus on asymmetric capabilities—a combination of airpower, special operation forces, intelligence, and indigenous ground troops—to achieve the desired political outcomes.

Wellington

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Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300198604
Total Pages : 693 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (1 download)

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Book Synopsis Wellington by : Rory Muir

Download or read book Wellington written by Rory Muir and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2013-12-03 with total page 693 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The leading Wellington historian’s fascinating reassessment of the Iron Duke’s most famous victory and his role in the turbulent politics after Waterloo. For Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington, his momentous victory over Napoleon was the culminating point of a brilliant military career. Yet Wellington’s achievements were far from over: he commanded the allied army of occupation in France to the end of 1818, returned home to a seat in Lord Liverpool’s cabinet, and became prime minister in 1828. He later served as a senior minister in Peel’s government and remained commander-in-chief of the army for a decade until his death in 1852. In this richly detailed work, the second and concluding volume of Rory Muir’s definitive biography, the author offers a substantial reassessment of Wellington’s significance as a politician and a nuanced view of the private man behind the legend of the selfless hero. Muir presents new insights into Wellington’s determination to keep peace at home and abroad, achieved by maintaining good relations with the Continental powers and resisting radical agitation while granting political equality to the Catholics in Ireland rather than risk civil war. And countering one-dimensional pictures of Wellington as a national hero, Muir paints a portrait of a well-rounded man whose austere demeanor on the public stage belied his entertaining, gossipy, generous, and unpretentious private self. “[An] authoritative and enjoyable conclusion to a two-part biography.” —Lawrence James, Times (London) “Muir conveys the military, political, social and personal sides of Wellington’s career with equal brilliance. This will be the leading work on the subject for decades.” —Andrew Roberts, author of Napoleon and Wellington: The Long Duel

A Guide to British Military History

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Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 1473856655
Total Pages : 202 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (738 download)

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Book Synopsis A Guide to British Military History by : Ian F. W. Beckett

Download or read book A Guide to British Military History written by Ian F. W. Beckett and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2016-06-30 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What exactly is military history? Forty years ago it meant battles, campaigns, great commanders, drums and trumpets. It was largely the preserve of military professionals and was used to support national history and nationalism. Now, though, the study of war has been transformed by the war and society approach, by the examination of identity, memory and gender, and a less Euro-centric and more global perspective. Generally it is recognised that war and conflict must be integrated into the wider narrative of historical development, and this is why Ian Becketts research guide is such a useful tool for anyone working in this growing field. It introduces students to all the key debates, issues and resources. While European and global perspectives are not neglected, there is an emphasis on the British experience of war since 1500. This survey of British military history will be essential reading and reference for anyone who has a professional or amateur interest in the subject, and it will be a valuable introduction for newcomers to it.

Wellington's Command

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Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 1526733544
Total Pages : 229 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (267 download)

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Book Synopsis Wellington's Command by : George E. Jaycock

Download or read book Wellington's Command written by George E. Jaycock and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2020-01-19 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A military historian assesses the leadership style of the man who defeated Napoleon. The Duke of Wellington’s victory at the Battle of Waterloo cemented his reputation as a great general, and much subsequent writing on his career has taken an uncritical, sometimes chauvinistic view of his talents. Little has been published that fully pins down the reality of Wellington’s leadership, clearly identifying his weaknesses as well as his strengths. George E. Jaycock, in this perceptive and thought-provoking reassessment, does not aim to undermine Wellington’s achievements, but to provide a more nuanced perspective. He clarifies some simple but fundamental truths regarding his leadership and his performance as a commander. Through an in-depth study of his actions over the war years of 1808 to 1815, the author reassesses Wellington’s effectiveness as a commander, the competence of his subordinates, and the qualities of the troops he led. His study gives a fascinating insight into Wellington’s career and abilities. Wellington’s Command is absorbing reading for both military historians and those with an interest in the Napoleonic period.

Wellington: pocket GIANTS

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Publisher : The History Press
ISBN 13 : 0750963387
Total Pages : 104 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (59 download)

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Book Synopsis Wellington: pocket GIANTS by : Gary Sheffield

Download or read book Wellington: pocket GIANTS written by Gary Sheffield and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2017-07-17 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wellington is a giant because he was one of the greatest military commanders in British history, an important figure in the emergence of Britain as a great imperial power, a man who dominated British society and politics for 35 years. He was the only one of Napoleon's contemporaries who can be mentioned in the same breath as a general - a master of logistics, politics and coalition warfare as well as strategy, operations and tactics. The book's focus is on Wellington's military career, and it looks at all of these aspects, placing them in the context of the military and political developments of the time. It explores Wellington's personality – a key to understanding his success - and briefly examines his post-Waterloo career as a politician. It concludes that Wellington was not only a military genius, but an icon whose fame endures to our own time.

War, Strategy and the Modern State, 1792–1914

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Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1315391376
Total Pages : 268 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (153 download)

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Book Synopsis War, Strategy and the Modern State, 1792–1914 by : Carl Cavanagh Hodge

Download or read book War, Strategy and the Modern State, 1792–1914 written by Carl Cavanagh Hodge and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2016-11-25 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a comparative study of military operations conducted my modern states between the French Revolution and World War I. It examines the complex relationship between political purpose and strategy on the one hand, and the challenge of realizing strategic goals through military operations on the other. It argues further that following the experience of the Napoleonic Wars military strength was awarded a primary status in determining the comparative modernity of all the Great Powers; that military goals came progressively to distort a sober understanding of the national interest; that a genuinely political and diplomatic understanding of national strategy was lost; and that these developments collectively rendered the military and political catastrophe of 1914 not inevitable yet probable.

Napoleon and the Operational Art of War

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Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004310037
Total Pages : 569 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (43 download)

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Book Synopsis Napoleon and the Operational Art of War by :

Download or read book Napoleon and the Operational Art of War written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2016-02-02 with total page 569 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Napoleon and the Operational Art of War, the leading scholars of Napoleonic military history provide the most authoritative analysis of Napoleon’s battlefield success and ultimate failure in a work that features the very best of campaign military history.

How the Army Made Britain a Global Power, 1688–1815

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Author :
Publisher : Casemate Academic
ISBN 13 : 1952715091
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (527 download)

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Book Synopsis How the Army Made Britain a Global Power, 1688–1815 by : Jeremy Black

Download or read book How the Army Made Britain a Global Power, 1688–1815 written by Jeremy Black and published by Casemate Academic. This book was released on 2021-07-31 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A majestic study of the British Army’s evolution” from the acclaimed historian, commentator, and author of Britain’s Naval Route to Greatness (Stanley D.M. Carpenter, Emeritus Professor of Strategy, U.S. Naval War College). Between 1760 and 1815, British troops campaigned from Manila to Montreal, Cape Town to Copenhagen, Washington to Waterloo. The naval dimension of Britain’s expansion has been superbly covered by a number of excellent studies, but there has not been a single volume that does the same for the army and, in particular, looks at how and why it became a world-operating force, one capable of beating the Marathas as well as the French. This book will both offer a new perspective, one that concentrates on the global role of the army and its central part in imperial expansion and preservation, and as such will be a major book for military history and world history. There will be a focus on what the army brought to power equations and how this made it a world-level force. “Black was one of the first military historians to recognize the requirement for truly global analysis . . . [His] central argument is of great importance to serving soldiers today; senior officers should take note.” —Wavell Room “Challenges hoary impressions of the British military while encouraging readers to dig more deeply into the origins, meanings, and consequences of Britain’s increasingly hybrid army.” —Michigan War Studies Review “A brief but insightful survey of the broad historical processes that, by transforming the British Army into a versatile instrument of global reach and global power, allowed it to shape the world.” —The NYMAS Review

Military Dispatches

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin UK
ISBN 13 : 0141394323
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (413 download)

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Book Synopsis Military Dispatches by : The Duke of Wellington

Download or read book Military Dispatches written by The Duke of Wellington and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2014-07-03 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The vivid and exciting accounts written from the front line, taking the story of the British war with Napoleon from its desperate beginnings in Portugal to the final triumph at Waterloo The Duke of Wellington was not only an incomparable battle commander but a remarkably expressive, fluent and powerful writer. His dispatches have long been viewed as classics of military literature and have been pillaged by all writers on the Peninsular War and the final campaigns in France and Belgium ever since they were published. This new selection allows the reader to follow the extraordinary epic in Wellington's own words - from the tentative beginnings in 1808, clinging to a small area of Portugal in the face of overwhelming French power across the whole of the rest of Europe, to the campaigns that over six years devastated opponent after opponent. The book ends with Wellington's invasion of France and the coda of 'the 100 days' that ended with Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo.

The Man Who Captured Washington

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Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 0806155310
Total Pages : 313 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis The Man Who Captured Washington by : John McCavitt

Download or read book The Man Who Captured Washington written by John McCavitt and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2016-02-29 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Irish officer in the British Army, Major General Robert Ross (1766–1814) was a charismatic leader widely admired for his bravery in battle. Despite a military career that included distinguished service in Europe and North Africa, Ross is better known for his actions than his name: his 1814 campaign in the Chesapeake Bay resulted in the burning of the White House and Capitol and the unsuccessful assault on Baltimore, immortalized in “The Star Spangled Banner.” The Man Who Captured Washington is the first in-depth biography of this important but largely forgotten historical figure. Drawing from a broad range of sources, both British and American, military historians John McCavitt and Christopher T. George provide new insight into Ross’s career prior to his famous exploits at Washington, D.C. Educated in Dublin, Ross joined the British Army in 1789, earning steady promotion as he gained combat experience. The authors portray him as an ambitious but humane commanding officer who fought bravely against Napoleon’s forces on battlefields in Holland, southern Italy, Egypt, and the Iberian Peninsula. Following the end of the war in Europe, while still recovering from a near-fatal wound, Ross was designated to lead an “enterprise” to America, and in August 1814 he led a small army to victory in the Battle of Bladensburg. From there his forces moved to the city of Washington, where they burned public buildings. In detailing this campaign, McCavitt and George clear up a number of misconceptions, including the claim that the British burned the entire city of Washington. Finally, the authors shed new light on the long-debated circumstances surrounding Ross’s death on the eve of the Battle of North Point at Baltimore. Ross’s campaign on the shores of the Chesapeake lasted less than a month, but its military and political impact was enormous. Considered an officer and a gentleman by many on both sides of the Atlantic, the general who captured Washington would in time fade in public memory. Yet, as McCavitt and George show, Ross’s strategies and achievements during the final days of his career would shape American defense policy for decades to come.

Experiences of War in Europe and the Americas, 1792–1815

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000412083
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (4 download)

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Book Synopsis Experiences of War in Europe and the Americas, 1792–1815 by : Mark Lawrence

Download or read book Experiences of War in Europe and the Americas, 1792–1815 written by Mark Lawrence and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-07-21 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work seeks to offer a new way of viewing the French Wars of 1792–1815. Most studies of this period offer international, political, and military analyses using the French Revolution and Napoleon as the prime mover. But this book focuses on military and civilian responses to French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, throughout the rest of Europe and the Americas. It shows how the unprecedented mobilization of this era forged a generation of soldiers and civilians sharing a common experience of suffering, bequeathing the West with a new veteran sensibility. Using a range of sources, especially memoirs, this book reveals the adventure and suffering confronting ordinary soldiers campaigning in Europe and the Americas, and the burdens imposed on civilians enduring rising and falling empires across the West. It also reveals how the wars liberated slaves, serfs, and common people through revolutions and insurgencies.