Historic one Editions French Revolution books

  Historic'one Editions has a serie called "Les Batailles oubliées" in which three French Revolution titles has appeared some time back.

      

Although in French, imho they are very good and give information about battles of 1793/1794 period.
For those, who like the Napoleon campaign in the east, there are two titles.

  

Historic'one has also other titles in eg Medieval, Renaissance, Napoleonic and 1870 period; take a look. 

Revolutionary books- series Les Batailles Oubliées

Mont-St Jean 6-7 juillet 1794
A new (the fifth) revolutionary book in the series Les Batailles Oublies by Historic'one Editions just appeared.
A battle which took place at the same region where almost 21 years later the battle of Waterloo was fought.
As the other four, this book is also in French but although my French isn't my strongest language I will manage to wade through.What I have seen up to now of the content I like it.

For some who like the Egyptian campaign of 1799/1800, there are two books of earlier date about this campaign.

 

Books

I have added a new page regarding books about the French Revolutionary period.
Will add all the books I know about this period.

Book about the Dutch Army 1793-1810

Already some time ago, a book appeared on the market called "Dutch troops of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars 1793-1810" by George Street and Karim van Overmeire.

Long overdue as Dutch troops fought from 1793 up to 1795 against French troops; from 1795 onwards were allied to the French (even becomming part of the French Empire in 1810) and after 1813 were fighting again against France.
Is there new material in the book? Well yes, when you haven't acces to (mostly) Dutch books of this period and for these, imho the book is a good addition to any library about this period.

For me was it a surprise that a lot of material of the earlier period (1793-1795) was taken from our "Alde Garde" website; as is is free information this is fine, a simple mail that they intend to do that I had appreciated more.

But, as I said before, get the book

Het Staatse Leger part IX; at last

As some of you maybe know, it was intended that the historie of the Dutch army (or better The army of the Republic of the United Provinces) from its beginning up to 1795 was put in writing in a collection of books called "Het Staatse Leger".
Started in 1910, up to 1950 8 parts were ready (of which nr VIII consisted of 3 books) but the last period, 1713 up to 1795,  was never finished.
But this last part, of course titled "Het Staatse Leger nr IX" was indeed and at last,  finished  in 2012.

No catchy frontcover, is it?

Following the historie of the Dutch army from 1713 up to 1795, it covers the War of the Austrian Succession, auxiliary corps to help the British in the mid 18th century, the end of the Scottish regiments  in the Dutch army and of course the French Revolutionary War up to 1795.

It's a pity, that for this last part the book leans heavely on the 2 part book of F.H.A Sabron, "De oorlog van 1794-95 op het grondgebied van de Republiek der Vereenigde Nederlanden".
But, al in all, a great book which covers the last part of the army of the Republic  so ending a period.

By the way, the 2 books of Sabron are downloadable from the web.

1794 Battle of Boxtel

A book, published at the beginning of this year about an obscure battle, or maybe better a large skirmish, in the 1794 campaign in the Netherlands.
Nothing spectacular happened at this battle but it only happened to be the first battle in which the future Duke of Wellington performed. But it was only a small role.

I like the book because it is about an obscure battle in this period and there are not many books in English about this period.
It is also written with enthousiasme for the events and the FR period, it gives a good description of the battle with various OOB's of the campaign and gives clues how to wargame the battle ( for Black Powder and Volly and Bayonet).
Also mr Wills has given all the references and an extensive bibliography of works and websites he  consulted so if you disagree with all that is written, you can look it up where it came from.

A lot of photos of 15mm French and British troops (Minifigs) are also incorporated. I just wondered how good it would be if 25mm figures would have been in the photos but alas there aren't that many 25mm British FR figures around.
Recommended.

Histoire & Collections books

When talking about the uniforms of the light cavalry of the French revolutionary army you need to look at the H&C books about the Hussars and Chasseurs a cheval. The first one is the first of a series of three books on the hussar arm of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic armies. The book about the chasseurs is the first one of a new serie and just out.
Both are great in my opninion and give good short description of the light cavalry but the best part are the pictures of the uniforms of these dashing cavalrymen.



Also a new book, but only partly about French Revolutionary troops, is the H&C book about the various Guides and Guards. When you want to paint ADC's to various marshals or generals from 1792 onwards, this little book should be on the wishlist
.

Last but not least, an older book but if you are into flags of the French armies from 1791 to 1815, this is the book. It gives plates of a lot of flags of the foot regiments of the FR and Napoleonic armies. Have not yet totalled all the flags in it and don't know (yet) if they are complete,  but the wealth of information in it, is great.

Sorry and new book

It has been a half year when I posted for the last time, sorry for that, but work and other commitments were very time consuming.
So before the end of 2011, I wanted to let you know that a new book about the Dutch army before and in the early part of the French revolutionary period has been published.

It is not only published in Dutch but also in English and German although the price, afaik, is much higher then. I already saw it advertised in the catalogues of Caliver and Berliner Zinnfiguren so it can be bought abroad.
I can only speak about the Dutch edition but think that the other language books will be the same.

The book is a production of the Netherlands institute of Military History (NIMH) and the Dutch Army Museum and put together by J.van Hoof of the NIMH.
Imho the book is beautifull produced, hardbacked, almost 320 pages, large format and very good prints; it would grace any coffee table.

That's its appearance but what is inside:
Well, in fact for the most part, it's a reproduction of the famous "Jassenboekje" (coats-booklet) in which were detailed drawings of almost all the uniforms (infantry, cavalry, artillery and other services plus some rented troops) worn by the United Provinces' army in the 1750 to 1795 period plus the uniforms of the Batavian Republic up to 1800.
These drawings of which there are 92 for the period up to 1795 and 24 of the later period look like:

Some pages, where the regiment kept the same uniform or was disbanded or raised, there can be only one uniform per page. On some pages there are only drawings without colour and one regiment is totally missing, probably because the "Jassenboekje" was not ready.

Added to these "Jassenboekje" drawings are 52 water-dolour paintings by Duncan Macalester Loup dated around 1772 who look like:

These are also about infantry, cavalry and other services.
Besides the drawings and paintings,  the book starts with some information about the Dutch army (but eg no OOB's) , the history of the drawings and it's makers (in total some 20 pages) and ends with a list of collections and books which were consulted.

My conclusion about the book: it is wonderfull produced and the information is very much sought after by those who are interested in the Ducth army of this period. Recommended  and a big applause to the NIMH and Mr van Hoof for this production.

For the organisation of the Dutch army in this period go to www.aldegarde.nl -> historical information where I am busy to complete the information.

Cossack 1799 information by Eureka

Eureka miniatures has some information published on their website regarding the 1799 Cossacks. This of course because they just had the first outings of their Russian 1799 range in the form of the cossacks. See: http://www.eurekamin.com.au/ideas/EurekaGuides_1799Cossacks.pdf 

Although the figures are for the 1799 Italian/Swiss Campaign of Kutusov, these can of course be used for the Anglo-Russian landings in the Netherland against the Batavian Republic which also took place in 1799.

Only a small group of cossacks took part in the landings. According to Geert van Uythovens' great book "Voorwaarts Bataven"(or "forward Batavian" for those no-Dutch speaking readers) the cossack contingent consisted on september 18th 1799 of:

- one squadron of Lifeguard cossacks (45 men)

- one squadron of Ural cossack (62men)

- one squadron of Don Cossacks  (25men)  

Books (4) About German armies

Some books about the participating German countries in the French Revolution. Most of these fought in the 1792-1795 period as part of the Coalition armies.  Colourful uniforms reminding of the Seven Years War. Starting with the Hanoverian army. Both books together gives a good overview  of the army.

The Hessen were also part of the Armies of the Coalition.



The Mecklenburger were a kind of subsidy troops for the Dutch Republic. I have two books, one Dutch and one German about this small corps.

 Of the Baden troops I have sadly only one of two books. Still searching for the second in which the infantry is described.

Books (3) Tactics/organisation

Starting with Paddy Griffith book about the Art of War of Revolutionary France. Folowed by the Ospreys about French infantry

The French royal emigré were formed into various corps in British or Dutch pay. Two ospreys have this theme. I like the two volumes.

Books (2) Vendee and landings in France

I have the following books about the 1795 landings in France. Banners of the king shows the first inside page.

Books (1)

After looking at figures (although figures will be added when available) let's take a look at some books for the French Revolution. The following books are the ones I have.

Starting with Funcken, Les Soldats de la revolution Francaise. I don't know if there is an English version, but even in French it is great. And You can see this also on line:  goto
http://www.darnault-mil.com/Galerie/N1_Revolution/N1_Revolution.html
The 18th century Funcken (2 volumes, I have them in French) only has some plates of revolutionary troops esp the early 1790 ones.
The Blandford: Uniforms of the French Revolutionary Wars by Philip Haythornthwaite was the first real FR book I owned; I loved the period immidiately. Sadly the cover is gone missing, so the first, title page, is shown.

                       

Some books which describes the French Revolution are:

Some books about the early campaigns (some in French). I myself like the Corporal's Brown book as it shows how many marching and counter marching was done in this period. Also it describes how the troops experienced very strong winter conditions as if it happens in Russia but it is in the eastern part of the Netherlands.  

Some other readily available books about early campaings in Germany and Southern France