Beyond Nightingale is the first book to explore the inception of modern nursing from a transnational perspective, studying the development of the new military nursing in the five Crimean War armies. The story is told within the broader context of the different political, social and economic cultures from which modern nursing arose. Although the Russians were battling industrialised armies with their pre-industrial, agrarian economy it was they who developed the most innovative system of nursing. The book illustrates the barriers, some of which still exist today, which nurses had to overcome to gain recognition of the crucial role they played in the war. The significant contributions allied and Russian nurses made working directly under fire during the Russians' brilliant defence of Sevastopol make a wonderfully exciting story during which these mid-nineteenth century nurses proved their extraordinary competencies. -- .

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.

The Battle of Waterloo has been studied and dissected so extensively that one might assume little more on the subject could be discovered. Now historian Peter HofschrOEer brings forward a long-repressed commentary written by Carl von Clausewitz, the author of On War.Clausewitz, the Western world's most renowned military theorist, participated in the Waterloo campaign as a senior staff officer in the Prussian army. His appraisal, offered here in an up-to-date and readable translation, criticized the Duke of Wellington's actions. Lord Liverpool sent his translation of the manuscript to Wellington, who pronounced it a "lying work." The translated commentary was quickly buried in Wellington's private papers, where it languished for a century and a half. Now published for the first time in English, HofschrOEer brings Clausewitz's critique back into view with thorough annotation and contextual explanation. Peter HofschrOEer, long recognized as a leading scholar of the Napoleonic Wars, shows how the Duke prevented the account's publication during his lifetime-a manipulation of history so successful that almost two centuries passed before Clausewitz's work reemerged, finally permitting a reappraisal of key events in the campaign. In addition to translating and annotating Clausewitz's critique, HofschrOEer also includes an order of battle and an extensive bibliography.

Intelligence is often the critical factor in a successful military campaign. This was certainly the case for Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, in the Peninsular War. In this book, author Huw J. Davies offers the first full account of the scope, complexity, and importance of Wellington's intelligence department, describing a highly organized, multifaceted series of networks of agents and spies throughout Spain and Portugal - an organization that was at once a microcosm of British intelligence at the time and a sophisticated forebear to intelligence developments in the twentieth century. Spying for Wellington shows us an organization that was, in effect, two parallel networks: one made up of Foreign Office agents 'run' by British ambassadors in Spain and Portugal, the other comprising military spies controlled by Wellington himself. The network of agents supplied strategic intelligence, giving the British army advance warning of the arrival, destinations, and likely intentions of French reinforcements. The military network supplied operational intelligence, which confirmed the accuracy of the strategic intelligence and provided greater detail on the strengths, arms, and morale of the French forces. Davies reveals how, by integrating these two forms of intelligence, Wellington was able to develop an extremely accurate and reliable estimate of French movements and intentions not only in his own theater of operations but also in other theaters across the Iberian Peninsula. The reliability and accuracy of this intelligence, as Davies demonstrates, was central to Wellington's decision-making and, ultimately, to his overall success against the French. Correcting past, incomplete accounts, this is the definitive book on Wellington's use of intelligence. As such, it contributes to a clearer, more comprehensive understanding of Wellington at war and of his place in the history of British military intelligence.

The Peninsular War (1807a1814) was a military conflict for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic War, where the French were opposed by British, Spanish, and Portuguese forces. The war began when the French and Spanish armies invaded and occupied Portugal in 1807 and lasted until the Napoleon's defeat in 1814.

The Peninsular War (1807a1814) was a military conflict for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic War, where the French were opposed by British, Spanish, and Portuguese forces. The war began when the French and Spanish armies invaded and occupied Portugal in 1807 and lasted until the Napoleon's defeat in 1814.

The flintlock or firelock musket is one of the most iconic weapons in history: used on the battlefields of the English Civil War, it was then carried by both sides at Blenheim, Bunker Hill, Waterloo and the Alamo, and dominated warfare for more than 150 years, with military service as late as the American Civil War in the 1860s. Featuring specially commissioned full-colour artwork, this engaging study examines the role that the flintlock played in close-order combat on European and other battlefields around the world. Employing first-hand accounts to show how tactical doctrines were successfully developed to overcome the weapon's inherent limitations, Stuart Reid offers a comprehensive analysis of the flintlock's lasting impact as the first truly universal soldier's weapon.

In this book, leading historians of the French, Batavian, Helvetic, Cisalpine, and Neapolitan revolutions bridge the gap between the historiographies of the so-called Sister Republics and explore political culture as a set of discourses or political practices. Parliamentary practices, the comparability of "universal" political concepts, late-eighteenth-century Republicanism, the relationship between press and politics, and the interaction between the Sister Republics and France are all examined from a comparative, transnational perspective.