Well worth a read: "'DESTRUCTIVE AND FORMIDABLE': British infantry firepower, 1642 – 1765"
http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/86/1/212395_David.Blackmore-2012.pdf
Also available as book from Helion.
Nice
Interesting topics at Nottingham Trent. Who supervised and who were the externals ?
Interesting reading, just read up to the platoon firing chapter so far but enjoying it. Really tempted to finally get my ECW units on the table now.
Added to my reading list
Quote from: Sunray on 18 September 2019, 10:04:33 PM
Interesting topics at Nottingham Trent. Who supervised and who were the externals ?
From the Acknowledgements in the thesis
In the first place I must express my gratitude to the late Professor Richard Holmes, who encouraged me to undertake this work.
...
Individuals who have helped along the way, sometimes with relevant material, sometimes with simple, but sound advice include; Jan Piet Puype, formerly of the Dutch Army Museum; Dave Ryan of Caliver Books; Dr Christopher Scott; Dr. Eric Gruber von Arni; Dr Lesley Prince; Dr Hannah Hunt; Dr John Houlding; Dr Olaf van Nimwegen; Dr John M Stapleton Jr;
Of course,a great deal of thanks goes to my supervisory team at Nottingham Trent University; Professor Martyn Bennett, who rescued the whole thing from a premature end, Dr Kevin Gould and Dr Nicholas Morton.The greatest thanks go to Janet McKay, with whom this all started over a bottle of wine and who never, ever wants to hear about platoon firing again.
Looks like an interesting read, thanks for posting.
Very interesting paper, thanks for the link
It is generally a good look at the tactics and development of British firing tactics over the period but suffers from putting that into context or information on what other armies are doing at the time.
It does make for a really interesting read, especially the development of Platoon fire during the Nine Years War and the War of the Spanish Succession
It does get a bit confusing in places, and it's available on the kindle
Quote from: WFGamer on 19 September 2019, 08:56:38 AM
It is generally a good look at the tactics and development of British firing tactics over the period but suffers from putting that into context or information on what other armies are doing at the time.
That's what Post-Doc research grants are for :-B ;)
I read David Blackmore's book about three years ago and my recollection of it, is that the author seemed to have decided that British infantry firepower was 'destructive and formidable', and then set out to substantiate it. At the time I thought it was a bit overly focused on the premise and tended to overlook occasions when the British infantry was neither effective nor deadly, and the influence on armies of 18th Century Prussian innovations.
A couple of titles that are worth reading in conjunction with this book are JA Houlding's 'Fit for Service - The Training of the British Army 1715-1795', which describes something rather different, essentially an army increasingly decline after the end of The War of the Spanish Succession , and Richard Glover's 'Peninsular Preparation - The Reform of the British Army 1795-1809' which recounts the Duke of York's reforms, which turned a decrepit army, neglected for years, into a war-winning force.