Philip Haythornthwaite

British Light Infantry & Rifle Tactics of the Napoleonic Wars (eBook, ePUB)

Illustrator: Hook, Adam

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

In an age when infantry units manoeuvred and fought in rigid blocks, the idea of encouraging initiative and allowing a unit to 'skirmish' was regarded as revolutionary and fell out of favour in the years following the French-Indian and American Revolutionary wars. It was revived by far-sighted British and foreign-mercenary officers, who observed the way in which French Revolutionary armies deployed skirmishers to prepare the way for their assault columns. Offering a detailed analysis of the tactics, this book is studded with period 'battle descriptions' quoted from eye-witness accounts, creating a comprehensive guide to the Light and Rifles units of Wellington's Light Division. As the result of the first tentative experiments in skirmishing the units achieved an unsurpassed peak of efficiency - they marched faster, were versatile in any sort of tactical situation and could shoot more accurately than either friend or foe. No other national army, either allied or enemy, achieved these standards.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury eBooks UK
• Seitenzahl: 64
• Erscheinungstermin: 20. Oktober 2016
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781472816085
• Artikelnr.: 45962443

Autorenporträt

Philip Haythornthwaite is an internationally respected author and historical consultant specializing in the military history, uniforms and equipment of the 18th and 19th centuries. His main area of research covers the Napoleonic Wars. He has written some 40 books, including more than 20 Osprey titles, and numerous articles and papers on military history - but still finds time to indulge in his other great passion, cricket.

Inhaltsangabe

Introduction - development of Light Infantry tactics in the 18th century
American wars - neglect after 1783
The challenge - development of tirailleur tactics by the French
Revolutionary and Napoleonic armies
Creation of the Rifle units (Experimental Corps of Riflemen; 60th Royal
Americans; 95th Rifle Brigade) - creation of the Light Infantry companies
within Line battalions - creation of Light Infantry regiments: 43rd, 51st,
52nd, 68th, 71st, 85th & 90th
Doctrine and training: de Rottenberg, Manningham, and Sir John Moore - the
Shorncliffe method
Integration of Rifles into infantry formations
Campaign history, from Toulon (1793) to Waterloo (1815), with quoted
examples: the Light Division in the Peninsula - evolution of tactics
through battlefield experience