BOOK REVIEW – EDUARD WAGNER –
EUROPEAN WEAPONS AND WARFARE – 1618-1648 1979 Octopus Books
Colossal coffee-table book
on the 30 Years War, which would be just a modest pamphlet if the many drawings and illustrations were removed, but the detail of the pictures makes them well worth keeping.
Text wise, Wagner certainly knows his stuff. The brutal War was an
economic and religious conflict, beginning over jealousy about the wealth of
Catholic Spain, when the Czechs attacked the Hapsburg Empire, but they were annihilated at the 1920 battle of The White Mountain, near Prague. The Spanish forces now moved against the Protestant dominated German territories, taking substantial tracts of territory before 1623. The Danish Catholic Habsburg supporters began taking more of Germany between 1625 and 1629, when the Bavarians pushed them back. The Swiss attacked Germany and its allies between 1630 and 1635. The final phase saw the rise of the French forces against the Spanish. For many, the war was a mercenary excuse to loot Europe It was economic bankrupts that finally secured the peace. The ordinary people were losing faith in their governments and kings, and the seeds of revolution were growing strong.
With conscripted troops often deserting, (from reluctance to fight on foreign soil instead of defending their home towns, rather than due to cowardice), mercenary armies were on the rise. If unpaid, they would plunder and in the end provisions left soldiers and civilians alike starving. Thousands died. The Swiss were able to develop a disciplined mobile regular army, which gave them considerable advantage over rag-bang bands of soldiers of fortune.
The author outlines the roles of cavalry, artillery, infantry, & dragoon divisions, with many pictures of their uniforms and weapons. Every tactic from attacking fortifications to crossing a defended river point is covered in detail in relatively little text, but it is the astonishing detailed art work that is a must for historians, re-enactors and general readers alike.
Arthur Chappell