Armies of Bismarck's Wars: Prussia, 1860–67 Hardcover – Illustrated, July 19, 2013

This is a fascinating volume! Some major pluses and some puzzling choices. The end result is a less than cohesive volume,The book began with the goal of examining uniforms of the Prussian Army in the mid 19th century. It ended up as an amalgam of major conflicts between Prussia and some of its neighbors, highlighting the role of Bismarck and von Moltke in building up Prussia as a power AND a study of uniforms. It is almost as if two books were forced togather, without a clear linkage between them. In that sense, the volume was not very cohesive.However, I still find this book worthwhile. First, the discussion of the development of the Prussian Army after the debacle of the Jena campaign at the hands of Napoleon is well done. Lessons were learned, and the Prussians began working to improve how their armed forces were developed and led, how strategy was to be developed. The book also describes the slow evolution of the Prussian Army (and the fits and starts of a Prussian Navy--never fully satisfactory up to the time of the Austrian and Prussian conflict in 1866). Included here are the debates over the structure of the army, the role of the "needle gun," the acquisition of steel barreled cannons from Krupp. Also well done is the description of the politics of Prussia and how this affected the developing Prussian military.The description of the actual war, which Prussia eagerly tried to bring on, outlines the complexities of the engagement--from Prussia's alliance with a dubious partner--Italy--to Austria's inability early on to develop tactics to respond to the devastation of the needle gun, the poorer generalship of the Austrian forces, and so on. There is an order of battle at the end of the volume that is useful. There are illustrations that provide some nice graphics.Then, there are the uniforms! It is as if we are leaving one book and going into another. There are very fine plates showing the various uniforms, by rank, by arm of the military, and so on. I skimmed over this pretty quickly as this is not a major interest of mine. However, for this with an interest in such matters, this would be a useful item to examine.All in all, a useful volume--albeit one with something of a split personality.

Very detailed uniform info

A summary of the review on StrategyPage.Com'Bassett-Powell, well known for several works on military history and uniformology, wisely opens this book with a concise look at European and German history from fall of Napoleon to the outbreak of the 1866 Austro-Prussian War and a brief account of that war, together taking up a third of the book. He then goes back to 1806, to examine in increasing detail the evolution of the Prussian armed forces from the disaster of Jena-Auerstadt to the fine instrument that gave Prussia primacy in Germany, leading to the defeat of France in 1870 and the creation of the German Empire. Bassett-Powell covers the 1859 military reform, the rise of the General Staff system, changes in the military obligation, training, and service of Prussian soldiers, improvements in technology, and the development of innovative tactical and strategic concepts, and the formation of the Prussian Navy. There is much material on the organization and strength of the armed forces on the eve of the 1866 war, as well as on uniforms, and considerable commentary and detail on orders of battle. This comprehensive approach, provides an excellent introduction to the Prussian military system, and is also a useful adjunct to various accounts of the 1866 war and as a primer for events that followed in 1870.'For the full review, see StrategyPage.Com

An excellent balance of uniform plates, organisation, orders of battle,and campaigns fought. The battle paintings are new in my experience.

First class every thing I had hoped it would be and more. the colour plate are well presented and the book is full of very useful info on the make up of Bismarck's army. would recommend it.ian

Aún así es muy interesante y no me arrepiento de nada