John's Military History Tour of Britain
	The Seven Years War  a.k.a.  The French and Indian War
	Revolutionary War Virtual Battlefield Tours
	Civil War Virtual Battlefield Tours
	Armored Fighting Vehicles Page
	Return to Korea
	Military History Bookstore

Miscellaneous Virtual Tours    

Castillo de San Marcos   St. Augustine, Florida

Michilimackinac  An early fort in Michigan

Mackinac  A War of 1812 era fort in Michigan

Fort McHenry   September 13, 1814    NEW!

New Orleans  January 8, 1815

Fort Washington    NEW!

Fetterman Fight  December 21, 1866 - with photos by Chris Marks    

Little Big Horn  June 25, 1876

Essays

1066: The Year of the Conquest  a book review.   

The Armada  Difficulties and Blunders.

Stormtrooper Tactics of World War I  

Aircraft Carrier Tactics of World War II  

The Falklands War  an essay about the 1982 naval and air war.

Yoshida Shoin: The Archetype of Japanese Revolutionaries 

Sakamoto Ryoma: The Indispensable "Nobody"      

Katsu Kaishu: The Man Who Saved Early Modern Japan  

Links to Excellent Military History Sites

 

Military History Bookstore - including:
 

The Guns of Independence  ****1/2  by Jerome A. Greene.  Based on a bicentennial era Park Service publication intended for park employees, this updated version gives us the most complete account yet of the decisive siege.  In the first scholarly treatment of the siege in decades, the author uses numerous sources neglected in other studies, including archeological studies from the 1930s and 40s, and accounts by participants, foreign and domestic.  Unmatched in detail and scholarship, and chocked full of insight and information not found anywhere else, this book is a valuable addition to any Revolutionary War enthusiast's library.  After a brief overview of the events leading up to the campaign, Greene gives a detailed view of the thinking of the commanders and the decisions they faced, the methods of 18th century siegecraft, the progress of the siege, and little known events that had an important impact.  The reader will see the campaign in a whole new light, and understand it like never before.  Indeed, you cannot fully understand Yorktown until reading this book.  The book's excellent maps and battlefields photos not only help explain the siege, they beg the reader to pack his bags and go for a visit.  Only some minor flaws and lack of a map of the initial Allied approach keep the book from a five star rating.  Please see an excerpt from the book concerning Abercrombie's Sortie as an example of the scholarship and detail.

 

The Guns of Independence: The Siege of Yorktown, 1781, signed by the author.   When ordering your signed copy direct from the publisher, please use the coupon code "John020530S" so that this website will receive a portion of the proceeds, helping defray expenses.  Thank you!

 

The Battle: A New History of Waterloo  *****  by Alessandro Barbero, translated by John Cullen.  Written by an Italian historian of the medieval era who is also a novelist, "The Battle" is engagingly written and well translated, using many first-hand accounts from all major participating nations.  Because the author is Italian, his book isn't Anglo-centric, Franco-centric, or Germano-centric; all participants are objectively covered without losing the drama of the battle and without the booster-ism and cheerleading of other books.  Like many military history books, however, there are few useful maps, but the terrain and deployments are well described and easy to understand - at least if you have some knowledge of the battle.  Despite this flaw, the author gives a genuinely new and different account of the battle with many insights; the examples are many.  For instance, the Allied infantry deployed in four ranks instead of two in order to facilitate forming square, a clear break from usual practice.  D'Erlon's early afternoon attack was not made in massive columns, as has been thought, but largely in successive lines - probably in reaction to experience in the Peninsula War.  Lobau's corps was initially sent to support D'Erlon after his failed attack, and not to oppose the Prussians as stated in earlier accounts.  In fact, the author shows that Napoleon had not even done the simple reasoning to deduce that the troops approaching him couldn't possibly have been French and could only have been Prussian.  The British cavalry counterattack which reached the Grand Battery had little effect on French artillery, despite claims to the contrary, and in effect destroyed the Allied cavalry.  So when the massive French cavalry attacks occurred, there was little the Allied cavalry could do.  Allied infantry casualties piled up, and had the attacks lasted much longer, the squares would have broken.  So French cavalry dominance and skirmisher superiority, neither of which had been the case in Spain, along with artillery superiority, nearly won the battle for Napoleon despite French errors.  Finally, partly in the hope that their mere appearance would put the Allies to flight, the Imperial Guard was brought forward.  Not of their former quality, the Guard advanced in squares, not columns as has been thought.  It was touch and go for some time, but the Allies held firm, and the French fled in panic.  Throughout the book, the psychological state of the men in the ranks is key to understanding the battle.  In short, this book presents the latest findings on the battle, is well researched, well reasoned, well written, and well worth reading.

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