In the early 5th century, Germanic Angles, Saxons and Jutes crossed the North Sea in increasing numbers and began settling among the ruins of the former Roman province of Britannia. This led to centuries of warfare as these 'Anglo-Saxons' carved new, independent kingdoms at the point of the sword, fighting the native Britons and each other. From the late eighth century they also had to face the threat of the Vikings, at first as opportunistic raiders but increasingly bent on conquest. The last Viking invasion was defeated by Harold Godwinson at Stamford Bridge but he was defeated by the Normans in that same fatal year of 1066, ending the Anglo-Saxon Age. Gabriele Esposito gives an overview of Anglo-Saxon military history, narrating the great campaigns, such as those of Alfred the Great of Wessex and Harold Godwinson. He discusses in detail the composition of Anglo-Saxon forces, their tactics, weapons and equipment, detailing developments across the period. The informative, accessible text is supported by dozens of colour images showing replica Saxon war gear in use.

This volume covers the infantry units of Napoleon's Imperial Army, during the crucial years 1800-1815. When the future Emperor assumed control of France, the infantry of his army was disorganized and poorly equipped; it lacked discipline and was trained in a quite old-fashioned way. Napoleon acted very rapidly to resolve the major problems of his foot troops, by giving them a new structure and by teaching them new tactics. By 1805, the French infantry was without a doubt the best in the world in terms of combat capabilities. The book will cover all the categories of units that were part of Napoleon's infantry: line regiments, light regiments, foreign corps and special corps. It is not always realized that the French infantry of 1800-1815 included large numbers of foreign soldiers and even an Irish Legion; all these little-known corps are taken into consideration, together with several special corps like Corsican light infantry and mountain infantry. Gabriele Esposito provides a complete guide to the French infantry of Napoleon, illustrated with rare contemporary uniform plates that have never been published before.

The Carthaginians were undoubtedly the most formidable enemies of the ever-expanding Roman Republic, due to their sophisticated and often well-led military forces. Although the citizens of Carthage itself, a seafaring, mercantile state by tradition, may not have had the same military ethos as the Romans, they compensated by fielding varied multinational armies consisting of subject, allied and mercenary contingents, many of them recruited from the most famous warrior peoples of the Mediterranean. These included the incomparable Numidian light cavalry, the famed slingers of the Balearic islands, fierce Celts and skilled Spanish swordsmen, not forgetting the famous war elephants. During the first of the three conflicts that they fought against the Roman Republic - the famous Punic Wars - the Carthaginians completely reformed their land forces along Hellenistic lines and invited an experienced Spartan officer to command it. During the Second Punic War, they obtained a series of stunning victories over the Romans under the brilliant leadership of their own Hannibal Barca, marauding through Italy for some fifteen years. Gabriele Esposito reconstructs the history, organization and weapons of the Carthaginian military forces across the Punic Wars (264-146 BC). The weapons, armour and tactics of each of the various ethnic components is analyzed and the accessible text is supported by dozens of excellent colour photographs, showing replica equipment in use.

The period covered in this book is one of the most famed and glorious for the British Army and the infantry were its backbone. Gabriele Esposito examines how the foot regiments were reformed and evolved to absorb the lessons of defeat in America and setbacks elsewhere to become the efficient and dependable bedrock of victory in the Napoleonic Wars. He details the uniforms, equipment and weapons of the infantry, along with their organization and tactics. Chapters are devoted to the Guards, the line regiments of foot, the Light Infantry and Rifles as well as Highland and Lowland Scots regiments. The author considers not only those units serving with Wellington in the Peninsular War and Waterloo Campaign, but all British infantry units, including those in Canada, the West Indies, India and elsewhere, not forgetting even the home defence Fencibles. Foreign units serving with the British army, most notably the King's German Legion, are also included. The work is lavishly illustrated with colour artwork.

Gabriele Esposito presents an overview of the military history of the Germanic peoples of this period and describes in detail the weapons and tactics they employed on the battlefield. He starts by showing how, from very early on, the Germanic communities were heavily influenced by Celtic culture. He then moves on to describe the major military events, starting with the first major encounter between the Germanic tribes and the Romans: the invasion by the Cimbri and Teutones. Julius Caesar's campaigns against German groups seeking to enter Gaul are described in detail as is the pivotal Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, which effectively halted Roman expansion into Germany and for centuries fixed the Rhine as the border between the Roman and Germanic civilizations. Escalating pressure of Germanic raids and invasions was a major factor in the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. The author's analysis explains how Germanic warriors were able to crush the Roman military forces on several occasions, gradually transformed the Roman Army itself from the inside and, after the fall of the Empire, created new Romano-Germanic Kingdoms across Europe. The evolution of Germanic weapons, equipment and tactics is examined and brought to life through dozens of colour photos of replica equipment in use.

A complete illustrated study of the varied range of Italian colonial units who served in East and North Africa. Italy only unified as a nation in 1870 and was late, and therefore impatient, in the 'scramble' for Africa. An initial foothold in Eritrea/Somalia, north-east Africa, led to a disastrous defeat in Ethiopia in 1896 at the Battle of Adwa, but Italian Somaliland was later consolidated on the west coast of the Red Sea. During 1911, Italy also invaded Libya, securing the coast, however fighting continued throughout World War I and only ended in the early 1930s. A number of native colonial regiments were raised in both Italian East Africa and Libya (in the latter, even a pioneering paratroop unit), of which most fought sturdily for Italy against the Allies in 1940-43. These units had particularly colourful uniforms and insignia. Another small guard unit also served in the Italian concession at Tientsin, China in 1902-1943. After World War II, a remnant unit served on in Somalia under a UN mandate until 1960. This intriguing volume describes and illustrates the dress and equipment used by these forces and details how they were deployed to maintain a colonial empire for over half a century.

This book provides a complete and detailed analysis of the organization and equipment of the Macedonian army built by Philip II and later employed to world-changing effect by his son, Alexander III (the Great). This work explains how Philip took the traditional forces of Macedon and reformed them into the most modern and sophisticated combined-arms force in the Mediterranean world. Not only the formidable pike phalanx and the hard-charging Companion cavalry, but also the less famous components, such as light and cavalry types, are described in detail. The tactics employed in the great battles that won the largest empire the world had seen are analysed. With numerous colour photos showing replica weapons and equipment in use, this is a vivid, detailed and accessible study of the army that made Alexander great.

Describes how newly modernized Japan waged war against China in its first overseas campaign, marking its rapid transition into Asia's leading military power only 30 years after emerging from centuries of feudalism. After the Meiji restoration of the Japanese imperial regime in 1868-77, modernization along Western lines of Japan's industry, communications and land and naval forces advanced with remarkable speed and, by the 1890s, the rejuvenated nation was ready to flex its muscles overseas. The obvious opponent was the huge but medieval Chinese Empire, and the obvious arena for war was Korea, a nearby Chinese protectorate that Japan had long coveted. (A secondary campaign would be fought on Formosa/Taiwan, an autonomous Chinese island protectorate.) In this study, author Gabriele Esposito describes the bloodthirsty course of the Japanese campaign in China, using colour illustrations and photos to showcase the organization, equipment and appearance of the various Chinese forces (China had no true national army), the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy, and, for the first time in English, the Korean and Formosan participants. Japan's victory left it confident enough to challenge Imperial Russia and, nine years later, it defeated it at the Battle of Tsushima where two-thirds of the Russian fleet was destroyed by the Japanese Navy. This victory confirmed Japan's place as Asia's leading military power, soon to become a realistic rival to the West.

The period covered in this book saw the Roman Republic face its greatest military challenges. In 264 the Romans were pitted against the might of Carthage in the first of the three Punic Wars, which would push Rome to the brink but end with the destruction of this great rival city. In the following two centuries they would clash repeatedly with the Gauls, this recurrent threat finally overcome by Caesar's campaigns in Gaul. In this period they defeated the Hellenistic Successor states, proud heirs to the military legacy of Alexander the Great, a process completed by the annexation of Egypt in 30 BC. These wars, and others, made the Romans masters of all Western Europe and the whole Mediterranean basin, though failure against the Parthians limited their ambitions in the East. The Roman armies of this era were also employed against each other in the vicious civil wars that marked the end of the Republican period. Gabriele Esposito describes the tactics, organization, weapons and equipment of the Roman forces involved in these wars. He shows how the lessons of defeats and victories against such varied opponents in far-flung theatres, as well as social changes, forced a process of evolution and reforms that transformed Roman armies across this turbulent period. As usual, his clear, accessible text is supported by dozens of colour images of replica weapons and equipment in use.

The ascent of the Plantagenets to the English throne in 1154 led to the beginning of a new historical phase in the British Isles, which was marked by numerous wars that were fought between the Kingdom of England and the 'Celtic nations' of Wales, Scotland and Ireland. During the rule of the Norman kings, the English armies had not completed the conquest of Wales and had established only some footholds in Ireland; Scotland was still independent and was ready to contest the Plantagenets' possession of northern England. As a result of this situation, the two centuries between the rise of the new dynasty and the beginning of the Hundred Years' War were characterized by a series of wars that ravaged feudal England. Gabriele Esposito covers all these conflicts, following the campaigns of Richard the Lionheart as well as those of his younger brother who was defeated on the continent at the large Battle of Bouvines; the conquest of Wales is analysed in detail, as well as the First Scottish War of Independence that saw William Wallace playing a prominent role. The organization and equipment of all the troop types taken into account is described in full detail and lavishly illustrated with colour images of reenactors, bringing these forces to life.

During the first half of the 19th century, the newly-formed countries of South America lived in a state of great political turmoil, since they fought against each other for defining the extension of their national territories. Four of them in particular were involved in a series of large-scale conflicts that shaped the history of South America forever: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. In this book, we will analyze the armies of the latter countries for the period 1825-1870, paying particular attention to the years of the bloody Paraguayan War (1864-1870). For the first time in English and outside South America, a single book will provide many details on four major non-European armies and will provide dozens of uniform plates showing all the incredible variety of the South American armies’ military dress. Regular and irregular contingents will be all covered, together with militia units and volunteer corps in a fantastic “military parade�.

This book describes and illustrates the armies of the embattled Ottoman Turkish Empire involved in 19th-century wars during the Empire’s long spiral of decline. During the so called ‘long 19th century’, between the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the difficulties faced by the Ottoman Turkish Empire were a recurrent factor in international geopolitics. Against a background of Russian–Ottoman rivalry, France and Britain supported the Empire during the Crimean War (1854–56), but not in the Russo–Turkish War (1877–78). Portraying the uniforms, arms and appearance of Ottoman troops during this period, this book traces the history of the Ottoman Empire throughout this period, when no fewer than ten wars of regional insurgency and foreign expansion against the Empire were fought in territories in south-eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Using rare photos and illustrations from Turkish, Balkan and other sources, author, Gabriele Esposito details the history of the multi-ethnic Ottoman armies periodic attempts to modernize which enabled them to win some victories at a tactical level. But the Empire – ‘the sick man of Europe’ – lacked a coherent strategy or sufficient resources, and failed attempts to crush regional uprisings and to defend borders, saw the steady loss of territories. Due to misgovernment and economic failure, unrest finally boiled over in 1908–09, reducing the sultan’s court to a largely ceremonial role, and installing a military government by the ‘Young Turks’ led by the general Enver Pasha. This book is a vivid description of the organization, operations, uniforms and equipment of one of the most active and varied armies of the ‘long 19th century’ and paints a detailed picture of the Ottoman Empire's struggle to maintain control of its territories.

The Italian Renaissance marked a period of political and military turmoil. Many regional wars were fought between the states ruled by Milan, Venice, Genoa, Florence, the Papacy, Siena and Naples. For more than 50 years starting in 1494, major foreign powers also exploited these divisions to invade Italy; both France and Spain made temporary alliances with city states to further their ambitions, and early in the 16th century the Emperor Charles V sent armies from his German realms to support the Spanish. These wars coincided with the growth of disciplined infantry - carrying not only polearms and crossbows but also hand guns - which proved capable of challenging the previously dominant armoured knights. The widespread use of mercenaries ushered in the early development of the 'pike and shot' era that succeeded the 'High Middle Ages'. During this period costumes, armour and weapons varied greatly due to their national origins and to the evolution of tactics and technology. This masterfully illustrated study offers a fascinating insight into the many armies which fought in Italy during this turbulent period, explaining not only their arms and equipment, but also their structure and successes and failures on the battlefield.

King Philip's War was the result of over 50 years' tension between the native inhabitants of New England and its colonial settlers as the two parties competed for land and resources. A coalition of Native American tribes fought against a force of over 1,000 men raised by the New England Confederation of Plymouth, Connecticut, New Haven and Massachusetts Bay, alongside their Indian allies the Mohegans and Mohawks. The resultant fighting in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and later Maine and New Hampshire, resulted in the destruction of 12 towns, the death of between 600-800 colonists and 3,000 Indians, making it the deadliest war in the history of American colonization Although war resulted in victory for the colonists, the scale of death and destruction led to significant economic hardship. This new study reveals the full story of this influential conflict as it raged across New England. Packed with maps, battle scenes, and bird's-eye-views, this is a comprehensive guide to the war which determined the future of colonial America.

The Thracians are mentioned as early as in the epic poems by Homer and were fundamental in the evolution of the Greek military systems across the ages. They fought in the Persian Wars, were part of Alexander the Great's army, were used as mercenaries in many Hellenistic armies and resisted Roman conquest for a long time. In addition, they used some iconic weapons and had a distincitve panoply. The Dacians were a mix of different cultures and were extremely influenced by some steppe peoples like the Sarmatians. They had a lot in common with the Thracians but had a different history. They formed one of the largest and most powerful kingdoms of Antiquity, a sort of super-power that dominated over the Balkans. Their wars against Trajan and the Roman Army were absolutely epic, the last campaigns of conquest in the history of the Western Roman Empire. The book contains a rich collection of photos specifically made for it by some excellent groups of reenactors.

In the early 1900s, the decaying Ottoman Turkish Empire had lost some of its Balkan territories, but still nominally ruled all of North Africa between British Egypt in the east and French Algeria in the west. Libya had fertile coastal territory, and was the last North African (almost, the last African) region not yet conquered by a European colonialist power. Italy was a young country, ambitious for colonies, but had been defeated in Ethiopia in the 1890s. The Italian government of Giovanni Giolitti was keen to overwrite the memory of that failure, and to gain a strategic grip over the central Mediterranean by seizing Libya, just across the narrows from Sicily. The Italian expeditionary force that landed in October 1911 easily defeated the Ottoman division based in the coastal cities, incurring few losses. However, the Libyan inland tribes reacted furiously to the Italian conquest, and their insurgency cost the Italians thousands of casualties, locking them into the coastal enclaves during a winter stalemate which diminished Italian public enthusiasm for the war. To retrieve Italian prestige the government launched a naval campaign in the Dardanelles and the Dodecanese - the last Turkish held archipelago in the Aegean - in April-May 1912, and landed troops to capture Rhodes. The army finally pushed inland in Libya in July- October (using systematic air reconnaissance, for the first time), and after brutal fighting the war ended in a treaty that brought Italy all it wanted, although though the Libyan tribes would not finally be quelled until after World War I. Containing accurate full-colour artwork and unrivalled detail, Armies of the Italian-Turkish War offers a vivid insight into the troops involved in this pivotal campaign, including the tribal insurgents and the navies of both sides.

The French Army of Napoleon could count on a brilliant mounted arm, consisting of three main types of cavalry: heavy, medium and light. The first, consisting of carabiniers and cuirassiers, was tasked with conducting frontal charges; the second, consisting of dragoons and lancers, could perform a variety of different duties; the third, consisting of hussars and mounted chasseurs, was tasked with scouting and skirmishing. The various regiments were all dressed in flamboyant uniforms and distinctive equipment. Perhaps more than any other troops they encapsulated the dash and glamour of Napoleonic warfare. Napoleon started his military career as an artillery officer and thus always paid great attention to the quality of his army's artillery, which consisted of both foot and horse units. Several of Bonaparte's greatest victories were achieved thanks to the superiority of his artillery, which was with undoubtedly the best in Europe during the period 1799-1815\. In addition to cavalry and artillery, the author also covers the minor technical corps' of Napoleon's army, such as the engineers and supply train. All are beautifully illustrated by the many colour plates in this book, and their organization, equipment and tactics described.

This title explores and illustrates the armies of France, and six countries allied against Louis XIV, in a wide-ranging Continental conflict that ushered in more than a century of European warfare. Formed in 1689, the 'Grand Alliance' or League of Augsburg was a military coalition of the Holy Roman Empire, the Dutch Republic, Britain, Spain and the Duchy of Savoy, to resist Louis XIV's rich, powerful and expansionist France. The first stage of the nine year conflict that followed also coincided with the so-called 'Glorious Revolution' in Britain (1688-91), when the throne passed to the Dutch Protestant leader, William of Orange, the head of a multi-national Dutch, Danish and English army, which finally expelled James II's Jacobite and French forces from Ireland. The long war on the continent was notable for the first widespread use of regimental uniforms and flintlock muskets with bayonets, plus the sophisticated use of siege warfare under the great French engineer, Vauban. The final Treaties of Ryswyck (1697) brought the war to an end and marked Louis XIV's political zenith, and also the ascendancy of both the Dutch and British as first-rate global powers. This fully illustrated title explores the armies which fought the War of the Grand Alliance, examining their strength, organization, uniforms and weapons, and explaining their campaigns and major battles.

The Crimean War was the first major European war since the end of the Napoleonic Wars and Britain's only war on that continent in the century between Waterloo and WW1\. When Russia invaded provinces of the Ottoman Empire, the British and French, later joined by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, intervened to limit Russian expansion towards the Black Sea. Each of the armies contained an eclectic mix of units. The regular European regiments still displayed much of the bright colour and finery associated with the Napoleonic era (the British infantry in their scarlet tunics forming the famous �thin red line' at Balaklava for instance), while each also contained a mix of exotic units drawn from across their respective empires. The French fielded Zouaves and Spahis from North and West Africa, not to mention the legendary Foreign Legion; the Ottomans had Tunisians and Egyptians alongside Balkan mountaineers and the infamous Bashi-bazouks; the Russians of course had their Cossacks and the British fielded little-known German, Swiss and Italian mercenaries. Gabriele Esposito details the composition, organization, uniforms and weaponry of each force and illustrates many of them with early black and white photos (this being the first major war for which photography was available), as well as numerous colour artworks.

After the Norman conquest of 1066, the English lands gradually lost their Saxon character and became much more similar to continental Europe than previously; feudalism was brought to the British Isles by the Normans, together with a new model of centralized monarchy, thus changing the administrative and social structures of England forever. After a few decades, however, the new royal family initiated by William the Conqueror disappeared due to the lack of direct heirs and thus the Kingdom of England entered a chaotic phase characterised by civil conflicts, as well as by the search for a new royal house that could assume control over the turbulent English lands. This historical period, known as 'The Anarchy', began in 1135 and ended only in 1154, when the first Plantagenet was crowned as monarch of the English realm. The new royal family would have kept power over its kingdom for more than three centuries, until the outbreak of the War of the Roses. During this long period, the Plantagenet kings fought a series of conflicts, which can be grouped into three main categories: wars fought against the French monarchy in continental Europe, wars fought in the British Isles against the 'Celtic nations' (Wales, Scotland and Ireland) and civil conflicts fought in England against rebel aristocrats. This book pays special attention to the wars fought by England against Wales, Scotland and Ireland; at the same time, it provides a detailed overview of the 'minor' conflicts that saw the Plantagenet monarchs campaigning in France. This book will cover the history, organization and equipment of the English armies that fought the many wars of the early Plantagenet period.

The great powers of medieval Europe fought continuously in the Italian peninsula between the 12th and 14th centuries as they sought to expand their territory. Invading armies from Germany – the Holy Roman Empire – saw the creation of the defensive Lombard League of northern Italian city-states. These struggles resulted in conflicts between rival confederacies, which in turn proved to be the catalysts for developments in organisation and tactics. Italian urban militias became better organised and equipped, the Imperial armies went from being mostly German to multi-national forces, and both sides became reliant on mercenary forces to prosecute their wars.

After the 1260s, France, relying mainly on armoured cavalry, and Spain, with their innovative light infantry, vied for control of southern Italy. On the seas, the great naval powers of Genoa, Pisa and Venice became fierce rivals, as they created great trading empires, bringing the treasures of the east into feudal Europe. Using detailed colour plates, this beautifully illustrated book describes the myriad of armies and navies that fought for control of Italy in the Middle Ages.

Although comprised of many distinct tribes and groupings, the Celts shared a distinctive culture that dominated much of Europe for centuries. They enjoyed a formidable reputation as fierce and brave warriors, skilled horsemen and fine metalworkers. In 390 BC an alliance of Celtic tribes defeated a Roman army at the River Allia and went on to sack Rome and thenceforth the Romans lived under their threat. In the early third century BC a Celtic army swept into Macedonia and Greece, won a major victory at Thermopylai and ransacked the sacred sanctuary at Delphi. Such was their warlike prowess that, when not fighting their own wars, they were sought after as mercenaries by many armies, serving as far afield as southern Egypt. When the Romans invaded Gaul (France and Belgium) and the British Isles, Celtic armies resisted them fiercely. Gabriele Esposito studies this fascinating warrior culture, their armies, strategy, tactics and equipment (they invented the horned saddle and chainmail, and British armies were the last in Europe to use chariots on the battlefield). Dozens of colour photographs of reenactors help bring these magnificent warriors back to life.

Conflict was rife among the Greeks of the Classical period, including some of the most famous wars and battles of the whole ancient period, such as the defeat of the Persians at Marathon, the Spartans' heroic last stand at Thermopylae, the gruelling Pelopponesian War and the epic March of the Ten Thousand. The Greek heavy infantry spearmen, or hoplites, are one of the most recognizable types of ancient warrior and their tighly-packed phalanx formation dominated the battlefield. Covering the period from the Persian Wars to the Macedonian victory at the Battle of Chaeronea, Gabriele Esposito examines not only the hoplites but also the other troops that featured in Greek armies with growing importance as time went on, such as light infantry skirmishers and cavalry. He details their arms, armour and equipment, organization and tactics. His clear, informative text is beautifully illustrated with dozens of colour photographs showing how the equipment was worn and used.