Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
End of the Charles I and his Civil War, July 21, 2007
I found this Osprey Campaign book on campaign and battle of Naseby to be pretty well written and researchd. In 93 pages, the author managed to clearly summarized what happened in 1645 when King Charles I and his army was totally defeated by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell with their New Model Army. This campaign and battle decided the fate of Charles I and the war itself.
The book take on the familiar Osprey format that gives that summarized the background to the campaign, tidbits on the leaders, organization and tactics of the each army and finally into the campaign and battle. Its well supported by strategic maps - which really explained the strategic cluelessness of the royal forces. The battle maps are also quite good in giving a clear understanding of the battle. The illustrations and photographs - many of the actual battlefield also were very helpful. The narrative was peppered with many first hand accounts and it was pretty well done. Its pretty obvious that the author have a good command of the the subject matter and the actual terrain that the battle was fought on. I think I read somewhere that the author is from that part of England.
If there is a weakness, I thought that perhaps the author didn't go into what made the New Model Army so special and what this battle did to make that army so dominate during the next ten years under Oliver Cromwell. Of course, I am willing to understand that there is page restriction in this series. Graham Turner's illustrations were okay but not great. Surely he could have drawn a better subject matter then bunch of female Irish camp followers being mistreated by Parlimentary forces after the battle as he did in this book.
Overall, this book come well recommended by me. This is one of these great English battles very few Americans knows anything about (unless you watched that misleading but entertaining movie, Cromwell) and this book should give anyone a good introduction to one of the most important battles ever fought on the British Isles.
|
|
|
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fighting for Intolerance, Military Dictatorship and the Right to Murder Camp Followers, August 16, 2007
In modern England, the victory of the Parliamentary army led by Sir Thomas Fairfax over the Royalist Army of King Charles I is viewed as the decisive moment of the English Civil War. The author of Naseby 1645, Martin Marix Evans, certainly has a good command of his subject but his ability to convey his meaning is clouded by a meandering writing style (he does not even get to the opening of the battle until page 62, two-thirds of the way through the volume!) and an over-use of period first-person accounts. Indeed, towards the end of the volume, the author seems content to string together one account after another and let them do most of the narration. I'm also a bit concerned about the balance in this volume - the author clearly favors the Parliamentarians and calls Cromwell, "one of the greatest generals that Britain has ever produced." While Naseby 1645 is depicted in this volume as "the triumph of the New Model Army" there is no mention that by creating a standing professional army, Parliament created a potential tool for oppression by a dictator such as Cromwell.
Naseby 1645 begins with a short introduction that details the military situation in England at this phase of the Civil War and military centers of power. No information on demographics, manpower potential or finances is provided, which means that there is no real comparative aspect beyond territory under control. The author tries to cram 27 capsule biographies into the Opposing Commanders section, which reduces most of them to just names and dates. Oddly, the author lists a Colonel Rainsborough as possibly born in Massachusetts around 1610 - is he unaware that there were no English settlers there until 1620? The section on Opposing Armies is probably the best written and most lucid part of this volume, with the main emphasis on infantry and cavalry. The Order of Battle is adequate. Oddly, there is no mention of how much artillery was in the trains of either army, although the author later says that the loss of weaponry at Naseby crippled the Royalist Army. The sections on Opposing plans is laughable and at one point, the author says, "in early May neither side had a clear strategic objective and both were content to divide their forces to pursue small actions at unrelated locations." Plan? There ain't no plan! Once the campaign narrative begins, the author spends an interminable 24 pages (one-quarter of the volume) with will-nilly preliminaries before he actually gets to the battle. For most readers of a short volume, this is a major turn-off.
The graphic quality of Naseby 1645 seems a bit less than most Osprey campaign titles. It has only four 2-D Maps (territory and major towns controlled in early 1645; principal troop movements April to early June 1645; the marches after the fall of Leicester to 13 June; the battle area with troop movements up to the start of the fight) and three 3-D BEV maps (the Royalist attack, the Royalist retreat, the last stand). The 2-D maps have no legends with specific incidents indicated - unlike most Osprey campaign titles - which makes it more difficult to trace the early phases of the campaign. Despite all the authors says about the steep and difficult nature of the terrain, none of this is conveyed by the 3-D maps, which make the battlefield seem almost flat. The two battle scenes by Graham Turner (Okey's dragoons, Parliamentary troops looting the baggage camp and abusing camp followers) add almost nothing to the volume and readers should note that neither shows Royalist troops. There are also a number of photo plates in here - on rolling the edge of a cheek piece, stepping, etc that really didn't add anything to a campaign narrative and belong on a Warrior or Elite-series title. On the other hand, the author does provide a decent bibliography and he has clearly researched this subject carefully.
Overall, this book is celebratory about the Parliamentary victory and seems eager to consign the Royalist cause to the ash-bin of history. The fact that the Royalists were fighting for a more tolerant political entity in the United Kingdom (a kinder, gentler Empire?) and that Cromwell was a religious-bigoted thug willing to murder anyone who got in his way doesn't seem to register with this author. A military solution to the Civil War only opened the door to oppression by Cromwell, who now had no opposition to impede his plans for a Britain cleansed of "popish influence." Perhaps he should have included an Irish quote or two, presenting what they thought about Britain's "greatest general."
|
|
|
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fine pick for military libraries specializing in ancient battles., September 2, 2007
Martin Marix Evans' NASEBY 1645: THE TRIUMPH OF THE NEW MODEL ARMY uses first-hand accounts to chart a 1645 battle at Naseby, exploring the origins of the battle, strategies on both sides, and the emergence of lasting tactics. Archaeological and documentary evidence pieces together the battles in a fine pick for military libraries specializing in ancient battles.
|
|
|
|
by John Tincey
by Peter Gaunt
by Stuart Reid
