- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Wordsworth Classics; 1 edition (August 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1853266906
- ISBN-13: 978-1853266904
- Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.6 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 399 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,452,571 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
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.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent,
This review is from: Military Experience in the Age of Reason (Paperback)
I've just recently discovered Duffy's works and I like them. Though he writes about a variety of military history topics his primary focus is the 16th - 18th centuries and the type of warfare they fought. It's always been an area that has interested me, but I never found much quality and in-depth material.Christopher Duffy has corrected that problem. This book takes every aspect of the military experience from 1715 - 1789 and looks at it in great depth. The officer, the common soldier, the general, campaigns, battles etc. It's very readable and beautifully researched. Each before mentioned topic has it's own chapter as do many others in the book and they all recieve equal attention. It works as both a survey book for the general reader and a in-depth study for the more knowledgable scholar. I reccommend it strongly. If one is wondering about any quibbles I may have, and there always are quibbles, it would be that the book could have used some illustrations, but that's a minor quibble indeed. If your interested in this subject or just military history in general you could do far worse than buying this book.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Linear Warfare,
This review is from: Military Experience in the Age of Reason (Paperback)
Christopher Duffy is a definite authority for this period of history and this volume is a must for all students of the period. Additionally, students of the Napoleonic period should read this book as it gives the background, both practical and thoeretical, that led to the Revolution in tactics and strategy that was Napoleonic warfare.Crisply written, thoroughly researched, this book is a great read, packed full of excellent material, and is an asset to every library. My only complaint is that I would have liked more material on the American Revolution. The age of 'limited warfare' as it is sometimes called is generally misunderstood. Its battles, however, were savage, bloody affairs and the author brings this point out, as well as painting an excellent picture of the age of which he writes. It is a benefit to all students of military history that Duffy's books are being reprinted and that he is still writing and producing excellent history. If you haven't read this book, you are missing out both on excelent history and an intellectual treat.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews) 9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent,
By Jeff Cordell - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Military Experience in the Age of Reason (Paperback)
I've just recently discovered Duffy's works and I like them. Though he writes about a variety of military history topics his primary focus is the 16th - 18th centuries and the type of warfare they fought. It's always been an area that has interested me, but I never found much quality and in-depth material.Christopher Duffy has corrected that problem. This book takes every aspect of the military experience from 1715 - 1789 and looks at it in great depth. The officer, the common soldier, the general, campaigns, battles etc. It's very readable and beautifully researched. Each before mentioned topic has it's own chapter as do many others in the book and they all recieve equal attention. It works as both a survey book for the general reader and a in-depth study for the more knowledgable scholar. I reccommend it strongly. If one is wondering about any quibbles I may have, and there always are quibbles, it would be that the book could have used some illustrations, but that's a minor quibble indeed. If your interested in this subject or just military history in general you could do far worse than buying this book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Following the Fife and Drum,
By Jason S. Taylor "Marco's Realto" - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This book is a contribution to what might be called the anthropological school of military history. It is about a time when the modern organized society was just beginning, and the timeless system of hierarchy and patronage was coming to an end. When Europe was ruled by theoretically absolute monarchs who practically had less power then a modern government because of the resistance of entrenched custom. When wars were simple power struggles, commanded by noble-born officers who came because that was what nobles did. And fought by soldiers who seem to have quite reasonably regarded the army as another form of workhouse.The military culture of the eighteenth century is described in detail. It was made by it's time and place and took it's characteristics from it. In some ways it was like the modern military, in others it was like the medieval. And in others perhaps it would not be recognizable to either. Above all it shows the eighteenth century soldiers as human figures with faults and virtues. Some officers were the sort that gave the Old Regime a bad name, being corrupt or cruel. Others were intelligent, cultured, and compassionate. Some men were pillagers and vandals. Others were honorable men who took pride in their calling. But whoever they were, the author gives a picture of their life as they marched with weary feet along the road of war. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the greatest books....,
By Adam S. Carriere - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
ever written on this subject I would encourage everyone interested in military life in the 1700's should own a copy.That said asking $100.00 for any digital book is just plain silly and offensive. Duffy gets 5 stars Amazon and/or the publisher gets 0. |
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