Customer Reviews

Medieval Russian Armies 1250 - 1500 (Men-At-Arms)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A very interesting book: the text is well written and the colour plates are superb.
I must confess that I'm a big fan of David Nicolle and Angus McBride: they combine in their work two of my greatest passions: military history and illustration.
As such my opinion can be biased but I will try to be as impartial as possible.
This book is one of my favourite and I will try to tell why.
After a century by century general description of warfare in Russia (from the 13th to the 15th century) we are presented with chapters about arms and armour, and fortresses and siege warfare and, finally, a chapter about the introduction of firearms in Russian warfare.
The text must be understood as an introduction to the subject and as such it fulfils all the expectations; it gives a general, although not simplistic, view about the subject: the text is full of details.
The stile of writing of David Nicolle is, at the same time, academic and enjoyable to read.
My favourite chapters were the ones dealing with arms and armour that were full of interesting facts; it accomplish in giving the reader a very interesting view about the unique shape and use of weapons in medieval Russia, combining the best there were in both west and east.
The colour plates by Angus McBride are great, especially three of them: plates C, E and F.
Plate C represents cavalry from 1300 to 1375 and the quality of details and atmosphere makes this illustration a superior work: you can almost feel the anxiety of the Novgorod cavalryman facing the other two warriors.
Plate E (the one presented in the book cover) represents cavalry from 1375 to 1425. In particular I would like to discriminate the figure representing the mounted drummer: it's splendid.
My favourite one, however, is plate F. it represents warriors defending themselves and the atmosphere created by Angus McBride is breath-taking : you can feel the fear, courage and all the adrenaline that those warriors experience; I recommend that you get the book and look at this plate: it deserves the effort.
This book although with not many pages uses them all in providing us with many details about Russian medieval warfare. The colour plates represent the best corollary that the great text could have.
A great book!

Living in Nicaragua in the 80's with the Sandinistas in Power and the influence of the Soviet Union at his best, make me study a lot of the Russian culture and history, one of those part that brought my attention was the Mongol Invasion and their struggle for liberation of the Golden Horde influence, the many problems with their not so nice Christian neighbor and the continues fighting for power between the Medieval Russians.

At last the search for a nice work on the Medieval Russia Armies has come to his end, Mr Nicolle and Viacheslav Shpakovsky have done a EXCELLENT work with the little help of Angus McBride, there is a nice chapter on the Mongol influence of later Russian armies and the use of The guns of Muscovy.

This is the second part of the series the first one dedicated to the almost dark period of Russian History 838-1252 is also another great book to check. I hope in the future we can see more works on the medieval russia, I'm only know about the works publish by Osprey but there most be more specializes work on the subject, it is my opinion the the only weakness of this two work are that did't talk about the Russian heraldry but let hope they make one also nicely illustrated.

A fascinating account of the Russian military from their defeats to the Mongols in 1250 to 1500. This was a period when the Russians engaged in a war on two fronts. To the West were the German crusaders and in the East were the Mongols.

During this period, siege warfare became more important. The Russians improved their military both in size and quality. In technology, their equipment kept up with the West. The Russians quickly adopted crossbows and then guns. Slowly the Russians threw off the Mongols and established a state centered on Moscow.

Another excellent men-at-arms title that is richly endowed with the beautiful artwork of Angus McBride. It discusses a dark era in Russian history-when they were fighting for freedom from the Mongols and were also faced with challenges in Western Christian Europe-and gives many detailed insights into the weaponry and gear of the soldiers, and their fortifications and organization.