Search results for ""Author Digby Smith""

This work contains an unprecedented wealth of over 550 full-colour illustrations, including specially commissioned uniforms, battle plans and campaign maps. It is an expert guide to the weapons, equipment, deployment, tactics and motivation of the national forces of the day, as well as fascinating detail of the day-to-day life of a Napoleonic soldier. It is an unrivalled reference to the insignia, appearance and experience of the fighting men of the period. The book's main focus is the soldiers who fought the historic battles of the day, and the uniforms they wore. It was in this age of war that military uniforms flourished, with an astonishing array of flamboyance, colour and intricate detail. The cut and colour of uniforms were used for identification from afar by the generals directing battles from strategic viewpoints, but at this point in time were also given an extraordinary level of detail in facings, laces and buttons, which carried never-ending intricate differences to denote regiment, rank or division. With over 550 specially commissioned and expert colour artworks, each regiment is vividly portrayed here in all their glory.All the major nations involved in the conflict, France, Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia, are covered in detail, and there is a section on the uniforms and contributions of the smaller forces, including those from America, Spain, Italy and Saxony.

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The period of turmoil that preceded and marked the Napoleonic era caused an expansion in the navies of Europe and the United States. Naval tactics were evolving too, as the old system of individual ships and captains was replaced by true navies, governed by a hierarchy and working together as a force. The book falls into three parts: Part One: The Ships and the Men describes ship construction, rigging, sail plans and rating system, life at sea, naval tactics and the balance of naval forces from the outbreak of war in 1792. Part Two: The Engagements describes in detail, in chronological order, the individual actions divided into the three major wars – The War of the First Coalition 1792-1797, The War of the Second Coalition 1798-1802 and The Napoleonic Wars 1803-1815. Part Three: The National Navies gives the strength of fleets at various times, the organization and training of individual navies, and also detailed descriptions of the uniforms worn at different periods. Appendices give precise details of ship losses by the major navies in the periods 1793-1802 and 1803-1815, a glossary of British naval terminology and a bibliography. Detailed battle plans of major engagements, line drawings of construction details and sixty photographs complement this authoritative work that will appeal to all those interested in maritime and military history.

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Armies of the Napoleonic Era provides a complete overview of the tactics, organisation, uniforms, equipment, weapons and actions fought during those dynamic years 1792-1815, when revolutionary France reshaped Europe before being forced back into a more conventional pattern of life. Digby Smith has studied first class source data from many European museums, archives, numerous regimental histories, contemporary official handbooks and private diaries, and has distilled this mass of information into a work covering all the standing armies of the Napoleonic era. Technical data on the artillery of the various states include the chemical make-up of gunpowders, fuzes and incendiary bombs; the dimensions, performances and effects of cannon, howitzers and mortars, shot, shell and canister; and the dimensions, calibre and performance of muskets, carbines, rifles and pistols. The tactics of artillery, cavalry and infantry-are explained and each nation has its own section in which uniform development and regimental history are described. A brief summary of the campaigns and actions in which that nation was involved is also included. An appendix gives an overall summary of all battles and major clashes between 1792-1815. A wide selection of illustrations and diagrams complements this unique work, which will be of incalculable value as a reference work to serious students of the period, modelers and wargamers.

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This book is a comprehensive study of the Prussian army from its inception in the first standing troops, raised as his personal guards by the Elector Johann Georg of Brandenburg in 1571, to the dramatic defeat of the Emperor Napoleon I at Waterloo in 1815. It was an army whose character and capabilities were formed by the Prussian kings Frederick William I and, crucially, by Frederick the Great. The history of each regiment is presented with details of the uniforms worn, down to the regimental lace decorations and the many grenadier cap plates, the various colonels in chief who owned the regiment and the battles and clashes in which each took part. Not only uniform and saddlery details are to be found here; there is also comprehensive information on the colours and standards carried by each regiment, and their fate if lost in battle. The book is copiously illustrated with over a hundred colour and black and white plates, the majority now published for the first time since they were first executed over two hundred years ago. Photographs of contemporary items have been included, many of them from the Military Museum in Rastatt, Germany. Only the best and most reliable German language sources have been used in putting this work together.

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