Product Description

War in the 18th century was a bloody business. A line of infantry would slowly march, to the beat of a drum, into a hail of enemy fire. Whole ranks would be wiped out by cannon fire and musketry. Christopher Duffy's investigates the brutalities of the battlefield and also traces the lives of the officer to the soldier from the formative conditions of their earliest years to their violent deaths or retirement, and shows that, below their well-ordered exteriors, the armies of the Age of Reason underwent a revolutionary change from medieval to modern structures and ways of thinking.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43131 in Books
• Published on: 1998-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Customer Reviews

Excellent....as ever
Christopher Duffy is probably the foremost writer on the eighteenth century military, and his works on the armies of Frederick the Great and Maria Theresa are justifiably regarded as classics. This work is a gem, providing an insightful, yet highly readable account of the soldiers' experience during this period. Drawing on examples from all the European powers, it is (inevitably) a more cosmoploitan work than those dealing with specific armies. Perhaps one of the most interesting elements is his discussion of how different nationalities were regarded as displaying different characters in military service, and the effect this had on those commanding them - whether it be exploiting the natural elan of the "hot" nations, or the precision of the "cold". (The English, of course, were believed to display elements of both - at least until the beer, ran out!)
Great book by a great author.