Synopsis

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the British Army's victories over the French at battles such as Blenheim in 1704, Minden and Quebec in 1759, and over the Jacobites at Culloden in 1746, were largely credited to its infantry's particularly effective and deadly firepower. For the first time, David Blackmore has gone back to original drill manuals and other contemporary sources to discover the reasons behind this.

The book begins by considering the procedures and practices of soldiers in a given period and analyses exactly how things were done and, in turn, why events unfolded as they did. What is revealed is a specifically British set of tactics which explain how that superiority was achieved and then maintained over such a long period.

The findings correct many of the misconceptions about British infantry firepower in the age of the musket and linear warfare. This is a major new contribution to our understanding of an important period of British military history.
 

ISBN
978-1-84832-768-9