Product Description

This is the first history of the Jacobite battle fought on 21st September 1745 between the forces of the Hanoverian regime and Prince Charles Edward Stuart, better known as 'Bonnie Prince Charles'. Lieutenant-General Sir John Cope, the leader of the English army, has been ridiculed, in song and in history books, for losing the Battle of Prestonpans - the first major battle of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. His defeat led to the invasion of England, in which the Jacobites almost drove King George II from the throne. But was Cope really to blame? The Jacobite Risings occurred after Parliament ousted King James Stuart in 1688 and installed a new dynasty. Stuart loyalists, many of them based in Scotland, took up arms repeatedly in futile attempts to restore James' descendants. The 1745 Rising, led by Bonnie Prince Charlie, was the last. Martin Margulies traces Scottish history up to 'the '45', describes the sharply contrasting weapons and tactics of the opposing armies, and follows the Prestonpans campaign from the time Charlie landed, almost alone, on the remote Isle of Eriskay through the moment his tiny force destroyed Cope's regulars in an early morning highland charge.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #766510 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Customer Reviews

Cold Steel
This is a modern account of the famous battle which took place in September 1745 just a few miles east of Edinburgh resulting in a convincing victory for Charles Stuart and his Highland followers. Martin Margulies has tackled a subject which has previously had very little attention paid to it in terms of detailed writing and understanding, especially in explaining the conduct of the much maligned General Cope, who is given a much fairer assessment.

The author gives a solid explanation of the background to the situation which the contending armies found themselves in and a reasonably detailed description of the British army and their (mainly) Highland opponents. Margulies emphasises the sharply contrasting characteristics of the armies and how each would best capitalise on their assets to gain an advantage over the opponent. Margulies argues that the 'fear factor' and 'ethnic biases of Englishmen and Lowlanders against the dreaded Highland Other' played a massive part in the Jacobite victory but points out that veteran troops present in Cumberland's army at Culloden could handle such a situation infinitely better.What he fails to explain is why these regular troops were defeated at Falkirk and Clifton Moor.

Much of the text concentrates on General John Cope and Margulies goes a long way to expelling the absurd myths of cowardice and incompetence which history has saddled the unfortunate general with. The author looks at the various options which were open to Cope before the battle- staying South of the Forth in an 'Argyll-like' poise during the '15, staying put at Dalwhinnie to deny the Jacobites access to the Lowlands, choosing a different battle-ground -and carefully examines what was a plausible course of action to take. Each he discounts with clever analysis and points out the fact that Cope was under positive orders which somewhat limited his options further.

The author clearly conveys the idea that Cope's preparation for the battle in the choice of ground and posting of his troops was done with extreme care and professionalism, using Jacobite correspondences to strengthen this point. The battle itself is unsurprisingly a short but concise decription-there is afterall only so much that can be written about a battle which lasted less than ten minutes!

Margulies draws on modern works from creditable authorities such as Duffy and McLynn to draw his own conclusions of events and the book has an impressive bibliography. The major weaknesses in this book for me were the detached style of writing the author uses, some of the oversimplified opinions he uses (one of which i previously mentioned) and the fact that he seems to attach credibility to the writings of Stuart Reid who's works I would tell anybody to avoid at all costs.

Most of the sources used however, stengthen this piece and there is a good balance of quotation from both armies and eye-witness accounts from the private soldiers right up to the overall commanders. The author is clearly hostile to Charles Stuart and expresses his opinion of the Prince in no uncertain terms whilst Lord George Murray's weaknesses are pointed out. There is a slight hint of a hostile attitude towards the Jacobites in general but not sufficient whereby it would ruin the enjoyment of an otherwise good book.Definetly worth purchasing.