Although soundly defeated in the War of Austrian Succession by the brilliance of Frederick the Great and his Prussian Army, the army of Austria was the most significant of his opponents. Their campaign history has been expertly documented in recent times, but very little has been written on their uniforms. This new volume is a companion to the author’s AUSTRIAN SEVEN YEARS WAR INFANTRY AND ENGINEERS. It documents the campaign history, uniforms, flags, horse furniture as well as a complete record of its Inhaber [colonel-in-chief] for each Austrian cavalry regiment, whether Cuirassier, Chevauleger, Dragoons, Grenz Hussars or Hussars. The work draws upon most of the major sources on Austrian uniforms of the Seven Years War including the contemporary works of Albertini, the Bautzen Manuscript and Raspe which influenced all later artists. The 340+ colour illustrations include 191 of uniforms after Albertini, Brauer, Donath, Knötel, Neucetz and Teuber-Wekersdorf plus 43 flags / standards, 102 uniform / equipment details, 10 line drawings from Die Österreichische Armee 1700-1867 by Ottenfeld & Teuber and 10 Tables. In addition this new volume provides a detailed study of Austrian artillery pieces and organization for the period. The chapter is illustrated with 15 photos of extent guns tubes, 9 plans and 6 Tables. In addition there are 46 short biographies of generals and designers of the Liechtenstein artillery system with 12 portraits."

This volume is related to the Russian Army during the zar Paul I era, and are about infantry: fusiliers, grenadiers and muskeeter regiments. Compiled at Saint Petersburg during the year from 1837 and 1851, the Historical Description of the Clothing and Arms of the Russian Army has had an enormous impact and great importance for the study on the history of Russian costume and uniformology development over the past centuries .There are various ancient editions of the work but Mark Conrad’s translation is the first one and the best, remaining true to the original structure and essential style of the text. Conrad’s comprehensive translation is an indispensable resource for today’s historian, strategists, and scholars. The Viskovatov’s enormous work is based on a great quantity of archival documents and contains four thousand colored and b/w illustrations. It is composed by 30 or 34 volumes (1st edition 1-30, St. Petersburg, 1841-62, and 2nd edition Vols. 1-34, St. Petersburg - Novosibirsk - Leningrad, 1899-1948). The topics discussed start from the early czars until the late nineteenth century. Our new edition has enriched the book with the plates: we revised and colored many of the images so far available just in black and white, as well we found some rare color plates with the collaboration of private collectors. These, together with the first ever English translation, make our collection exclusive and of great value.

An Informal But Extremely Informative Discussion of the Manual of Discipline Used by Continental Army Light Dragoons Courtesy of Daniel Murphy, 3d Continental Light Dragoons (posted in an online forum) I'm a member of a unit that portrays the 3d Continental Light Dragoons (CLD). At living histories we often do mounted drill demonstrations. For years it has bugged me whether I was using the correct drill during these public demos. To date I've found no rock solid evidence as to exactly what drill the CLDs used during the war. However, I believe the field has narrowed considerably, particularly in regard to the 3dCLD, and now offers us a leading candidate due to the research of three individuals, Lee McGee, Francis Kajencki and Sam Fore – please note my name is not among them, I've only borrowed facts they have either shared from their research or previously published. First lets look at the leading candidates for a CLD drill. Steuben's drill. A British drill. A French drill. A Prussian drill. I've ruled out Steuben's for two reasons. The first is it's simply an incomplete drill and would not allow a commander to take the field and operate in an effective manner. The second reason for dismissal is it's date of publication. 1794. If anyone out there can produce an earlier version of Steuben's mounted drill please say so. A British drill? Quite possible. Obviously there was a strong British influence on the American military leftover from the prewar militia system. People often cite Robert Hinde's Discipline of the Light Horse published in 1778. Allowing time for circulation, acceptance and adoption that stretches the plausibility of Hinde's as an option but does not entirely rule it out. However, Hinde's Discipline of the Light Horse is actually an amalgamation of two drills; that for the light troop within a regiment of heavy dragoons and that for Light Dragoons proper. The two drills within Hinde's are solid, effective drills and some form of them could well have been available to Continental Light Dragoon commanders. A French drill? Most likely such a beast would have been popular with Continental officers. Dr. Lee McGee published a excellent paper at the S[outhern]C[ampaigns of the] A[merican] R[evolution] cavalry conference titled European Influences on Continental Cavalry and detailed the service of one Augustin La Balme who was appointed Inspector General for the Continental Cavalry, July 8, 1777. La Blame had served in the French Gend D'Armes (heavy cavalry) and he also published two treatsies on French cavalry. But La Blame resigned shortly after Count Casimir Pulaski was appointed brigadier general to command the four CLD regiments on Sept 15 1777. So was there a French drill used by the CLD regiments? McGee's paper cites a letter dated Jan 15 1778 from Henry Lutterloh (Washington's deputy quartermaster) to John Laurens (Washington's aide de camp) which supports this conclusion but hints that La Blame was not well received, stating that Pulaski would be an improvement over La Blame, as La Blame had no prior service in light cavalry. So apparently some CLDs did receive some sort of brief instruction in French drill. A Prussian drill? As previously mentioned Count Casimir Pulaski was appointed to command the four CLD regiments. I would suggest everyone read Francis Kajencki's book Casimir Pulaski: Cavalry Commander of the American Revolution At this time after the Seven Years War the Prussian cavalry was considered some of the best in the world and Pulaski ordered all CLD regiments to translate and adopt the Prussian cavalry drill. See the Washington papers online. Pulaski to Washington: Dec 29, 1777. So all CLD regiments were ordered to adopt a Prussian drill. Further evidence is Pulaski's choice for a riding master, Michael Kovats. Kovats was a veteran of the Seven years War and a former officer in the Prussian Hussars. Was Kovats a mounted version of von Steuben? Perhaps briefly but due to personality issues, Pulaski resigned his post as brigade commander in March of 1778. Cited in Lee McGee's European Influences on Continental Cavalry is a study done by Dr Ira Gruber of Rice University on military literature commonly found in British officers' private libraries. One recurring work was William Fawcett's English translation of Regulations for the Prussian Cavalry, printed 1757. This same drill is available online: http://tinyurl.com/2fwdzv Just the list of official subscribers for the work was nine pages long, suggesting quite a wide circulation and being initially published some eighteen years before the start of our revolution I think it's safe to assume that Continental officers would have had access to this work. But was the Prussian drill continued after Pulaski's resignation? There is some evidence it was continued in the 3dCLD. When Pulaski resigned from command of the four CLD regiments he formed his own legion of light cavalry and infantry and took his riding master, Michael Kovats, with him. Kovats was killed outside Charleston in May of 1779. Pulaski was later killed at Savannah in Oct. of 1779. Command of Pulaski's Legion then passed to Maj. Francois Vernier who was in turn killed at Monck's Corner in April 1780. (You can't say you never saw a dead cavalryman in this war!) After Vernier's death, Capt. Lebrun de Bellecour, an officer serving under Vermier, wrote a letter to General Benjamin Lincoln on March 24, 1780. Sam Fore, former archivist for Colonial Williamsburg, kindly shared this letter with me. In it Bellecour requests that he and his men be posted with William Washington and his 3dCLD "where the discipline is so well kept" I don't believe Bellecour was referring to how well the 3dCLD saluted. Note that the term discipline was often used in the 18th C as a way of describing a craft, sphere of knowledge or a way of doing things. I believe Bellecour was referring to the 3dCLD's drill, the same drill used by Pulaski and later Vernier. The reader should keep in mind that Francois Vernier and William Washington operated together in 1780 outside of Charleston. It may be the Pulaski/Prussian drill was adopted by Washington in this later 1780 campaign, and not at the time Pulaski initially ordered it in 1777. Now I'm not saying there's a smoking gun here but we do know the following: 1. Prussian drill was ordered adopted by Pulaski when he took command of all CLDs in 1777. 2. Michael Kovats, Pulaski's drill instructor, was a former captain in the Prussian Hussars. 3. Fawcett's translation made the Prussian drill available to Continental officers. 4. Captain Bellecour, an officer familiar with Pulaski's drill, compliments the 3d CLD "discipline" and requests he be posted with them in 1780. It's entirely plausible that the 3rd CLD were using a Prussian drill, moreover it's highly likely and in my opinion the best choice, currently. Yours, Daniel Murphy 3dCLD

56pp., 4to, fully illus.in colour, stiff card covers. 2016. Second volume in our magnificent new Military Colours series. Everything you could want to know about Prussian Grenadier uniforms, regiment by regiment. Amazing illustrations.

The way in which Napoleon used cavalry to shape the battlefield and to support his infantry attacks made cavalry operations play a unique role in Napoleonic warfare. Studying the cavalry operations during the decline of the Empire from 1813 through 1815 enabled an analysis not only of the capabilities of the soldiers and leadership of the French cavalry, but also a better understanding of the changes that occurred in Napoleon's operational and strategic art of warfare. This study required an analysis of cavalry operations in all of the major campaigns of the period. The operations of General Francois-Etienne Kellermann from 1813 through 1815 provided an excellent case study of cavalry operations to analyze the changes in Napoleonic warfare. This detailed analysis presented different conclusions than many historians and questions much of the traditional interpretation of the capabilities and operations of Napoleon and his armies.

The theory of early modern military revolution, which was presented by Michael Roberts in the 1950s and was later revised by various historians, is well known and still in use even today. One of the pillars of supposed revolution was a change of infantry training and a general change of infantry tactics, which first happened in the Netherlands in the 1590s. Another modification of infantry training and tactics took place in Sweden during the reign of Gustavus Adolphus. These transformations were reflected by a specific genre of period learned literature – military handbooks for infantry. Military manuals were published not only in Western Europe but also in Central Europe, mostly in Germany. In the period of 1550–1650, approximately 125 military handbooks were printed in ca. 225 editions. Twenty-five of these books were concerned specifically with the art of infantry war. Book history is a transdisciplinary field which offers new methods of studying military history. While researching changes of the content and formal aspects of military publications, it is possible to trace changes of period military theory. The prosopography of military theorists and book publishers helps to reveal how the new ideas were disseminated – in this case how the new approaches to infantry training and the art of war spread from Western and Northern Europe to its centre. The aim of this contribution is not only to describe period infantry handbooks, but also to characterise the transfer of revolutionary changes in infantry warfare from Netherlands and Sweden into Central Europe with the help of period military manuals – especially those intended for infantry.