Infantry in Battle 1733-1783

From Reason to Revolution: Warfare 1721-1815

by Alexander S. Burns

Genres: Military History, History

244 pages, Hardcover

Published February 4, 2025

Reviews

[AlmantasVT · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent, clearly written piece of history on an often-underappreciated and flattened era of history. At a conceptual level Burns is making an excellent move by putting a heavy emphasis on letters and accounts from enlisted men, privileging the descriptive over the much more prescriptive, even aspirational, writings of their officers. At a practical level, Burns does excellent work by frequent, long quotes from his sources, giving his arguments a solidity and confidence that would be lacking if he relied more on his own summaries. I came away from the work with a much more profound appreciation for the era, for the men and women who lived under these frightful governments, and for the attempts of people to survive and thrive in such benighted circumstances.

As for criticisms they are on the small end and are not coming from an especially expert position, so apologies to anybody looking for academic critique of the arguments. 18th century writing norms creep into Burns' own writing, which can create unwieldy sentences where the subject gets lost in the weeds. There are a few typos. There's a singular foray into statistical analyses for one chapter that is not applied elsewhere in the work, disappointing my quant brain. And, in true blue pop history critique manner, could have used more maps.

Overall an easy recommend as a dad/uncle read. Lots of violence, lots of quotes, and lots of disabusing of common mythologies.

[Stephen Ede-Borrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This study will come as a complete surprise to anyone who thinks they understand mid-eighteenth century battle. The author sets out his, somewhat revolutionary, ideas quite clearly at the beginning of the book but, then proceeds to justify them, quoting from a wide variety of contemporary sources.

It is not my intention here to fully explain everything that the author proposes – indeed in the few words of a review this is not actually possible – but the concept of how the infantry of the mid-eighteenth century behaved on the battlefield, the long-ingrained idea of long lines of automata compliant to every order and whim of their officers is very effectively destroyed in this book.

The study does cover the ‘Theories of Battle’ but also then examines what officers, and most especially, other ranks record of what happened in practice – and this is the core of the book, what ACTUALLY happened as opposed to what theorists wanted to happen, or for those not even present, believed to have happened.

If you are at all interested in the military history of this period, then this book is a genuine must to read – it will change your ideas of those battles and also have some influence on how you think of the emergent armies of the First French Republic, perhaps not quite so ‘revolutionary’ as you might think…

[Mado Seven · Rating 5 out of 5]

my god what a treat this one was. I really appreciate the first-hand accounts of those actually on the ground. as the book itself mentions, too much of our understanding of this era's military history is in the hands of theorists and generals of the time. this book treats that imbalance rather well, with accounts of the common man often outshining those of the hoidy toidy military officers. of course, both struggled together.

at any rate. Great read. a bit dry at parts, but this is rather academic history we're talking here.

[Chris Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr Burns has presented his dissertation in book form, in an interesting and informative way. While it is deep and complex, he establishes his information in a form from which even a general reader can profit. While it is aimed at the specialist military historian, it would also be beneficial to many other historians as well. A generalist with military or war game interests would find it particularly helpful. He writes in a particularly conversant voice, and while a dictionary would be appropriate for some, it is a good read.

[Ron Nurmi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A relook at infantry warfare in the mid-18th century.

[Robin Braysher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will admit to being something of an Alex Burns 'fanboy'; I've heard him as a guest on the Napoleonic Wars podcast and, more recently, as co-host of the excellent new podcast, 'Prime & Load', and have always enjoyed what he has to say about 18th century warfare. This book has come up multiple times in discussions on the pods, so it was inevitable that I would eventually buy it (from the publisher!) and read it. I haven't been disappointed. I had some familiarity with the looser infantry tactics of the American War of Independence, but the idea that flexibility (in various degrees) was seen in other armies of the period - especially the highly disciplined Prussians (Alex's speciality) - has been quite a revelation. It's an attractive looking book with some fine maps, but no illustrations, although I guess it would be difficult to know what to include given the range of subjects covered and colour plates would add to the cost. My only complaint is that Helion seem to have let themselves and Alex down by skimping on proofreading, as there are a number of irritating duplicated words and missing words. There's nothing terrible and you can easily work out what is meant, but it's a bit annoying. A very readable book and a fine addition to the literature of the period.