Product Description

The New Model Army was one of the best-known and most effective armies ever raised in England. Oliver Cromwell was both its greatest battlefield commander and the political leader whose position depended on its support. In this meticulously researched and accessible new study, Keith Roberts describes how Cromwell's army was recruited, inspired, organized, trained and equipped. He also sets its strategic and tactical operation in the context of the theory and practice of warfare in seventeenth-century Europe.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #404252 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-20
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Customer Reviews

The mechanics of English Civil War battle revealed.
Although the title relates directly to the New Model Army, and includes a very well written summary of the creation and campaigns of that army; the meat of this book is an examination of exactly how British armies of the period were recruited, trained and manoeuvred - together with the actual mechanics of how these armies fought. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, this rather crucial element of understanding how armies were put into the field in Civil War England has until now been largely ignored by historians.

Using his extensive knowledge of contemporary drill books and accounts of the period, Keith Roberts puts the theory and practice of campaigning in Britain into a European context and examines how contemporary events in Europe were reflected in the attitudes and strategic/tactical doctrine of English Civil War commanders. In particular the development of an increasingly aggressive fighting style by the Parliamentarian armies, backed by the professionalism and discipline that emerged with the foundation of the New Model Army under Fairfax and Cromwell is well presented.

So, whether you are a general reader interested in the period or a military buff who has wondered what it was about the New Model Army that enabled it to decisively beat the King and take its place amongst the most respected European armies of the period; this is a book you simply must have.

A broad look
Religion and politics make muderous bedfellows as history and this book about the 17th cetury makes clear. The British Isles militarised by people who held strong righteous belief caused possibly more deaths than these islands suffered during The Great War.