Firepower: Weapons effectiveness on the battlefield, 1630-1850 by Hughes, B. P. Format: Hardcover with Dust JacketPublished by Scribner, 1975 After Europe emerged from feudalism a whole new era in warfare began, featuring some of the most famous battles in history. Great commanders such as the Dukes of Marlborough and Cumberland, the Count of Saxony, Charles XII of Sweden, Peter the Great, George Washington, the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon Bonaparte became heroes commanding troops now armed with muskets and cannon. But were the great battles of this era more lethal affairs than those fought by Caesar, Hannibal or Genghis Khan in previous centuries? "Firepower" examines the battlefield experience of the smoothbore era in a lucid, penetrating assessment of smoothbore firearms on the battlefield and their influence on both strategy and tactics. Unavailable for many years, this classic work begins with a comprehensive survey of the weapons of the infantry and artillery in use on the battlefields of the world from the seventeenth to the early nineteenth century. Maj. General B.P. Hughes (now deceased) describes their development, methods of deployment, capabilities and theoretical effects. Copiously illustrated with detailed maps and illustrations of battles such as Blenheim, Brentenfeld, Dettingen, Leuthen, Albeura, Talavera, Bussaco, Ferozeshah and Gujerat, Hughes demonstrates how losses were inflicted and sustained, and the evaluation of weapons is supported by statistics of experiments carried out at the time. Once the Crimean War had begun and, shortly after, the American Civil War, rifled weapons brought the smoothbore era to a close and tactics were forced into an entirely new direction. For all readers who have sometimes wondered what exactly it was like to fight a battle with muskets however, during the periodfrom Marlborough through Napoleon, "Firepower" is a one-of-a-kind resource.Product image is for illustration purposes only and may not be an exact representation of the product offered for sale.
