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29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Marching with the Rifle Brigade, August 15, 2004
This review is from: Wellington's Rifles: Six Years to Waterloo with England's Legendary Sharpshooters (Hardcover)
I'm a serious devotee of the Peninsular Campaign of the Duke of Wellington and, as such, read widely on the period and have travelled to Spain, Portugal, France and Belgium on a number of battlefield tours. So, it's always refreshing to pick up a new book in the field and find you've got an outstandingly entertaining read.
Mark Urban's history of the 1st Battalion of the 95th Regiment of Rifles is the first modern work to be published and his copious and in-depth research shines through. However, his scholarship is lightly worn; drawing on previous research, some newly unearthed materials and original sources - particularly the diaries of serving Riflemen in the 95th - he makes his subject come to life. You feel you are marching alongside those wonderful characters like Pte Joseph Almond, Maj Alexander Cameron, Cpl Robert Fairford and many others.
His battlefield descriptions, explanations of deployment, discussions of sieges and strategic thinking are excellent but thoroughly entertaining. Interspersed with chapters devoted to individual battles like Barba del Puerco, Fuentes d'Onoro or the Nive, are chapters more of a social historical nature covering topics like Gentlemen Volunteers, the Wounded or the Regimental Mess.
I found this an excellent and thoroughly entertaining book and recommend it highly to readers of social and military history.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Greenjackets, September 17, 2004
This review is from: Wellington's Rifles: Six Years to Waterloo with England's Legendary Sharpshooters (Hardcover)
Most readers will be familiar with the famous greenjackets of the 95th Rifle Regiment through Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe's Rifles" series. This is ironic because, while Sharpe and his core followers are soldiers of the 95th Rifles, the 95th itself appears only in the very first novel and then the Waterloo installment. Therefore, this profile of the regiment should have an instant audience among fans of the popular Cornwell serial who are curious about the famed, hard-fighting outfit that lends Sharpe so much mystique, but appears very rarely in his adventures.
Mark Urban has not strayed very far from his previous work, "The Man Who Broke Napoleon's Codes," a profile of the Duke of Wellington's intelligence chief. In his history of the 95th, Urban details their participation in the campaigns of the Peninsular War of 1809-14, and then at the climactic battle of Waterloo. However, the 95th built its reputation in numerous engagements with the French stemming from outpost duty, vanguard and rearguard actions, raids, and the storming of fortresses. As an elite light infantry unit, they participated in most of the major battles of the Napoleonic British Army, but were never at the center of such set piece action. Paradoxically then, the Rifles saw considerable action without being front and center at any famous battle.
That considerable action makes the book exciting to read, and Urban ably weaves a story of Napoleonic soldiering through the personal experiences of a wide cast of characters, ranging from lowly privates to the Light Brigade's (later Division's) founder and first commander Brigadier "Black Bob" Craufurd. Heroism, chivalry, and honor stand side-by-side with privation, shirking and floggings in Urban's honest storytelling.
In an afterword, Urban outlines the rise of several officers of the 95th (and the larger Light Division) into the ranks of the general officers, how they came to dominate the mid-19th Century Royal Army, and how the Rifles tactics lived on to permeate the tactics and methods of that Army. The 95th Rifle Regiment itself lives on in the Royal Army (along with the sharpshooters of the 60th Royal Americans) as HM's Greenjackets, and their adventures live and breath in the pages of Urban's excellent book.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Read -- Suspense, Color, Regimental Life, and the Hard Facts of History, August 15, 2008
This review is from: Wellington's Rifles: Six Years to Waterloo with England's Legendary Sharpshooters (Hardcover)
I may be late in writing this review, but I picked up this book recently to understand more about the circumstances endured by Wellington's troops on the Penisula and their campaign. I was not disappointed!
Author Urban covers only the 95th Rifle Regiment, but to attempt more would have seriously detracted from his story. The Regiment performed brilliantly, with warts and all, proving that open, skirmisher formations were the wave of the future, something that had to be learned again by American Generals in the Civil War.
Urban's focus on individuals to tell his story produced excellent readability and allowed the reader to become involved with the book's leading characters. One almost sees the hardships, leadership problems, bravery and emotions of the riflemen. Few authors can achieve this degree of connection with his readers in an historical work -- Urban's counterpart in writing about a later war might be Stephen Ambrose.
This would be an excellent primer on life in a Napoleonic army, except that the riflemen were relatively unique for their time. They stressed marksmanship, and even as light troops could withstand attacks by line troops. They were tactical descendents from the American riflemen in the Revolutionary War who are normally denigrated today by historians. Apparently contemporary historians have misunderstood riflemen -- there usefulness was not limited by their slow rate of fire but by a lack of training and discipline. The 95th did not suffer from a lack of training and discipline, and there is much to learn here that can be applied elsewhere.
My only criticism concerns the maps. They were of limited usefulness, and I found myself using the maps contained in a little book, "Napoleon's Campaigns" by Bruce Quarrie to understand the troop deployments and movements in the various battles. The prose is sometimes difficult to follow for an individual desiring to maintain an image of the battles in his head while reading, and better maps would be a plus.
All in all, if you're interested in the Napoleonic era, its armies, soldiers' lives and how warfare was conducted, then buy this book.
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