Military History from Primary Sources

This remarkable work features the Crimean War as depicted by the late Victorian military writer James Grant. The material here was first published in 1894, only 40 years after the end of the Crimean War, at a time when many of the participants were still in their sixties. Grant therefore had access to the primary source interviews which are now lost forever. Originally published as part of the Cassell's series British Battles on Land and Sea, it presents the reader with an intriguing insight into how contemporary writers addressed their subject. They say the past is another country and that is certainly true in this instance. The contrast between the contemporary Victorian view and the modern view reveals the huge gulf in attitudes. Mr. Grant's work is clearly 'of its time' and reflects the attitudes of the day which were unashamedly xenophobic, jingoistic and militaristic. It nonetheless repays the reader as it provides us with a unique window on the past and brings the long lost world of Victorian Imperialism into focus.

More has probably been written about the Waterloo campaign than almost any other in history. It was the climax of the Napoleonic Wars and forms a watershed in both European and world history. However, the lethal combination of national bias, wilful distortion and simple error has unfortunately led to the constantly regurgitated traditional 'accepted' version being significantly wrong regarding many episodes in the campaign. Oft-repeated claims have morphed into established fact and, with the bicentenary of this famous battle soon to be commemorated, it is high time that these are challenged and finally dismissed. Gareth Glover has spent a decade uncovering hundreds of previously unpublished eyewitness accounts of the battle and campaign, which have highlighted many of these myths and errors. In this ground-breaking history, based on extensive primary research of all the nations involved, he provides a very readable and beautifully balanced account of the entire campaign while challenging these distorted claims and myths, and he provides clear evidence to back his version of events. His thoughtful reassessment of this decisive episode in world history will be stimulating reading for those already familiar with the Napoleonic period and it will form a fascinating introduction for readers who are discovering this extraordinary event for the first time.