Destructive and Formidable: British Infantry Firepower, 1642–1765

by David Blackmore

"Looks at British infantry doctrine . . . from the British Civil Wars of the seventeenth century up to just before the American War of Independence." --British Civil Wars Blog

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the British Army's victories over the French at battles such as Blenheim in 1704, Minden and Quebec in 1759, and over the Jacobites at Culloden in 1746, were largely credited to its infantry's particularly effective and deadly firepower. For the first time, David Blackmore has gone back to original drill manuals and other contemporary sources to discover the reasons behind this.

This book employs an approach that starts by considering the procedures and practices of soldiers in a given period and analyzes those in order to understand how things were done and, in turn, why events unfolded as they did. In doing so, Blackmore has discovered a specifically British set of tactics, which created this effectiveness and allowed it to be maintained over such a long period, correcting many of the misconceptions about British infantry firepower in the age of the musket and linear warfare in a major new contribution to our understanding of an important period of British military history.

"Essential reading for anyone interested in the British army of the 17th and 18th centuries."--Military History Monthly

Genres: Nonfiction, Military Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2014

About the author

I am a retired museum professional, formerly the Registrar of the Royal Armouries, who I worked for for 26 years. After retiring I completed a PhD, which is published as 'Destructive and Formidable'. After writing 'So Bloody a Day', I turned my hand to writing fiction, 'To the Douro' being the first of 8 planned books making up the 'Wellington's Dragoon Series' and telling the story of a cavalry officer, Michael Roberts, during the Peninsular War against Napoleon. Book 4, 'A Different Kind Of War', has just been published and work has begun of book 5.

I started reenacting in 1973, and a lot of my reenacting experience has been as a cavalryman, most recently with B Troop of the 16th Light Dragoons, the regiment that features in the 'Wellington's Dragoon Series'. In 2015 I took part in the 200th anniversary reenactment of Waterloo, in command of the British Light Dragoons.

I ride regularly, and Johnny, Michael's horse, is a real horse that I frequently ride.

Reviews

[Sean Chick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some military historians love commanders or strategy or logistics but this book is for the rarest breed of all: the fan of doctrine. Lots of detail but the prose is dry (but not wordy at least) and the context of different battles is lacking. The argument is that Britain has an infantry tradition that can be dated to the English Civil War. This doctrine made Britain formidable in the 1700s which is undisputed (1600s is more debatable). Trouble is Blackmore ignores one major flaw in his argument: without good commanders British armies tended to lose. Indeed, take away Marlborough and Wellington from the horse and musket era and the British army has a rather indifferent record. Wellington himself said pretty much the same thing during the Flanders Campaign in the 1790s: the soldiers and tactics were good but the commanders were flawed.

[Anton Tomsinov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you know what was required from a good redcoat soldier? To fire four bullets a minute. Do you know what terrified his enemies more than these sharp bursts? The sight of the British infantry presenting loaded muskets but holding their fire until the very last moment. This is one of the best books on military history. No beating around the bush, no politics, no moralizing - only pure war. The whole book is devoted to methods of directing infantry fire. One can’t help being enchanted by sophistication of the lethal choreography and mathematics behind musket volleys. It was truly interesting to see how the British infantry excelled in sustaining the enemy fire while advancing to the range of 30 yards, how their point-blank volleys devastated opposing ranks, how they charged home with bayonets. Few military eras were as terrific as the age of line tactics.
Note that the author used almost no second-hand accounts. The book is based upon archival research of manuals, treatises, letters, memoirs and other contemporary documents on theory and practice of the 17-18th century warfare.

[Robin Braysher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dry subject, based around military regulations and manuals is brought to life with eye-witness accounts and clear explanations. The author does a great job with his end of chapter summaries and concluding chapter. You too can understand 'platoon firings'! Essential reading for anyone with an interest in the British army of the 18th century: "The brutal effectiveness of British infantry in combat is revealed."

[Gilbert Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent over view of British 'tactical' doctrine for their army regiments. This gets down to the details like firing by platoon, companies by battalion etc... It even gets down to the 'timing' of volley and how effective/ineffective certain types of firing was. This book is meant for the enthusiast not the casual reader.

[George Polansky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for those who are interested in the development fire power in the British Army.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating analysis of the development of British infantry tactics between the Civil Wars and the Seven Years War.

[John M · Rating 5 out of 5]

During the First World War at the first encounter of British Troops with an enemy in Western Europe since Waterloo in 1815 the British rifle fire was to intense that the Germans were convinced the BEF were using machine guns, which they were not. Prior to that in the Boer War the new recruits in the UK for that war were inept at handling weapons, (well why would they not be? I mean you don't go round arming the working classes, look where it got the Czar). Anyway after the Boer War shooting clubs and rifle associations were formed to upgrade the skills of men likely to join an army and at Mons it seemed to pay off.

(Sorry i am rambling) Anyway when i saw the title of this book i thought it might give me some insight into why the performance at Mons was so good. Actually it didn't and i think there are perhaps two more books that could be written following up with 1766 to 1815 then 1816 to 1914,

Having said all that it was a very, very interesting book and highly recommended. It not only covered the aspects of managing fire control with bandoliers and matchlocks and then cartridges and flintlocks but touched on many of the officers and commanders, the structure of the fire control and the slowly evolving tactics and use of the bayonet after close range firing. The closing part of the book also dealt with the Seven Years War in North America and the development of tactics to counter the Native Americans and the Irregulars was particularly insightful. Well worth the read.