Armies of the Seven Years War: Commanders, Equipment, Uniforms and Strategies of the 'First World War'

I collect toy soldiers of this period as well as the Napoleonic Wars and it is good that this text is available for review. Mr. Digby Smith should of be proud of this book as not many books cover the Seven Years War for collectors in color and with historical content. Thank you.

I've enjoyed many of Smith's books, both written under the nom de plume of Otto von Pivka and now under his own name. They are, in general, well-researched and complete. This latest volume on the Armies of the Seven Years War is a disappointment.It purports to cover "Commanders, Equipment, Uniforms, and Strategies of the 'First World War'" In fact, it is a uniform guide and not much else. Virtually no commanders are mentioned and certainly none are discussed in any depth. There is a brief and not very satisfying chapter on Military Tactics, Weapons and Equipment which spends (for example) more words on breech-loading rifles (which were not used in the war) than it does on all other infantry equipment combined. It has a section on artillery ammunition which is embarrassingly inaccurate, claiming that canister was fired from howitzers while cannon fired grape shot. (Both fired canister; grape shot was used by larger caliber weapons, usually naval guns.)There is a short (one page) chapter on Political Background which is as close to a discussion of strategy as there is. There is a longer chapter on Naval Warfare; I have no idea what it is doing in a book on the Armies of the Seven Years War.The overwhelming content of the book deals with uniforms. There is a lot of material here, but there is also a great deal missing -- too much, in my opinion.Common variations from regulation uniforms are not mentioned. This is particularly problematic for the Russian Army. Smith describes the Russian regulation uniform but neglects to mention that the Russian infantry routinely left their heavy green coats with the regimental baggage during summer (most of the campaign season) and marched and fought in their red sleeved waistcoats -- fails even to mention that their waistcoats were sleeved instead of sleeveless. Likewise he lists the uniform of cuirassier regiments but fails to mention that the regiments converted to cuirassiers from dragoons shortly before the war fought in their dragoon uniforms and were not issued cuirasses.More annoying, at least one entire army is missing. There is a chapter on the Ducal Electorate of Bavaria and the Palatinate which explains the two states were combined in 1777 (well after the end of the war) and then proceeds to describe the uniforms of the Bavarian Army and completely ignore the army of the Palatinate, which was as important as the Bavarian Army in the war.Organizational information is spotty. A brief rundown of unit organizations is included for most armies but there is little mention of changes during the war, including important ones. The infantry regiments of Hesse-Kassel, for example, are described as having only a single battalion, ignoring the mid-war reorganization which gave them two battalions each.These problems were uncovered after a fairly light page-through. Whether there are more problems of this sort lurking in the text I cannot say. I give it three stars. It's not that it's a bad book, it's simply not the book advertized and, more importantly, it's not the book I was expecting from this author.

A highly interesting title on the various army uniforms, flags, personalities, and battles of the period. Of particular interest are the chapters detailing the minor players of the Seven Years War, for example the various contingents of the Holy Roman Empire, which are not often covered in nearly as much detail in many other sources, when they are included at all. Lots and lots of period and later illustrations of the various troops covered in both B&W and color. Armies of the Seven Years War is HIGHLY recommended and will be a worthy addition to your collection of books on the subject if you are at all interested in the warfare and armies of the mid-18th century.

The book is less definitive on uniforms than i thought it would be. There is no detail in many instances such as on the color of boots and busby's for hussars. Nothing on their saddle blankets. There is no mention for example that Russian Hussars were not equipped with carbines something made clear is Osprey's book on Russian Cavalry and artillery. If you paint miniatures the information on the uniforms is often too limited to. paint a complete figure.The illustrations were plentiful but old and outdated in some instances.If you are looking for a broad brush approach that sacrifices depth for breadth this is your book. I enjoyed the battle maps and descriptions in the back of the book. For someone who is unfamiliar with the period it's a good start, but for anyone who has many uniform books Osprey, Funcken, The Painter's Guides put out by On Military Matters and authored by William Biles, it is not so useful.

I THING DIGBY SMITH IS ONE OF THE BEST MILITARY HISTORIANS AROUND AND HAVE NUMEROUS BOOKS OF HIS. THIS IS ALSO MY FAVORITES PERIOD IN HISTORY AND I HOPE MR SMITH ILL DO MORE ON THE YEARS WARS AND FREDERICK THE GREATSPRUSSIA ESPECIALLY. THE BOOK IS WELL WRITTEN, ILLUSTRATED AND HAS GREAT MAPS. I RECOMMEND IT TO EVERYONE WHO IS INTO THE 7 YEARS WAR.

This is a somewhat disappointing effort. Largely in black and white, the book draws heavily on free internet resources. However, as a basic primer on uniforms it is okay. I wouldn't make it a first purchase, or a last one. Rather it is a run of the mill uniform book that gives the reader or casual researcher a few pointers about uniforms and very little about organization. Had the book been in colour, the price would have been quite high, so as a black and white book with a handful of colour center pages it is a bargain.

I use this for modelling. Lots of intersting facts, pics, details, battles, personalties, etc. Lots of nice figures and pics. Details on each regiment.Well worth getting.

I ordered this book thinking that the author would look at the whole of the Seven Years War as according to the title. Unfortunately this book is mainly a uniformology book. There is little about the commanders that you would not find in an encyclopedia or Wikipedia article and some big commanders are left out completely (The Duc de Broglie is never mentioned). Battles and strategy are not covered all that much, there is no mention of the largest battle of the war, Kunersdorf. The armies are not covered all that well, normally just brief explanations of the problems and strengths of each force.The book however does dive into exquisite detail regarding the uniforms of the period. Unfortunately many of them are not in color which hurts the one strength the book has. If you are into studying uniforms of this time period I would recommend this book. However there is not much else worth reading in it.

I found this to be a very helpful book, but a large number of illustrations are in black and white when colour would have been preferable. That would no doubt have lead to a considerable increase in price.I am no authority on this period, but found the book to be very informative in my painting of a Wargame army.Binding was not very good as pages began to fall out after my first flick through!Recommended for wargamers.

The slight delay in delivery only whetted my appetite to have this book in my hands. It is great value, there is a wealth of information on the armies and uniforms of the period and the battle maps with orders of battle are well done and very useful.However, colour in the 21st century is no longer a luxury, and replacing the extensive use of line drawings coupled to text on the opposite page by colour images and short captions à la Funcken books would have been be a joy here, too, especially as this is clearly aimed at wargamers. Colour images of flags and standards rather than dry descriptions would have been welcomed, as would colour images of each nation's artillery equipment. A great text is never spoiled by great colour illustration, and this is what wargamers are really hoping for. Welcome as the two colour sections are, they are reminiscent of dated approaches to this kind of production. I realise that this would have made this book much bigger and pricier - bring it on, say I!Also welcome would have been a further reading list. The bibliography is astonishing for its omissions - no Duffy, no Bleckwenn, no Cecil Lawson, no Parkman, not a single title from French authors. So a reading list that beginners would have found truly useful is an unforgivable omission from such a work. However, much can be forgiven for mentioning the incredible web-pages of kronoskaf - my recommendation to any wargamers looking for a model resource. If only that were available in book form - web pages so often disappear off the face of the Internet.

As with any one-volume history Digby Smith's summary has to set itself limits. His notes on the uniforms of the Austrian army are not, for example, going to equal those of Stephen Summerfield. They do however provide a good starting point. The illustrations are the usual old favourites, including a number from the excellent Kronoskaf website. Even at twice the size it would still be hard pressed to encompass everything. It serves therefore as an entry pass to this period of history

Ich interessiere mich nicht so sehr für den Siebenjährigen Krieg als vielmehr für die hannoversche Geschichte und deren Militärgeschichte.Das Buch gibt einen netten Überblick über die teilnehmenden Armeen, von Preußen über Hannover, Hessen, Frankreich, Russland bis Portugal und Sachsen. Bestimmte Schwerpunktschlachten sind genauer beschrieben mit Gliederungen und Verlauf.Die Uniformen der Armeen sind textlich beschrieben und mit Knötel-Zeichnungen in Farbe und als s/w-Abdrucke illustriert.Da kommen wir auch zum aber: Gerade die kleinen Details der Uniformierung sind hier eher oberflächlich beschrieben und Hannover betreffend (okay, da weiß ich es zufällig) auch teilweise falsch dargestellt. Ob die Informationen zu den anderen Armeen alle richtig sind, ich weiß es nicht.Daher ist es ein schöner Überblick mit vielen Infos zu den Armeen und den Truppengattungen, aber es ist eher eine Übersicht. Trotzdem gut zu lesen und mit vielen Infos.Hat mir gefallen, würde ich weiterempfehlen, um einen ersten Überblick zu bekommen. Wer richtig ins Detail will, der muss die tiefergehende Fachliteratur lesen.

Written by Digby Smith, who made his name (or perhaps, given that he used to be known as Otto von Pivka, somebody else's) by producing a whole host of primarily Napoleonic titles starting over thirty years ago. Mr Smith states in the introduction of this his latest work that a great deal of the information presented here was gathered during the course of researching those other earlier works.Stylistically, this volume is very much like his previous "Armies of the Napoleonic Era". Thankfully he eschews the traditional extended historical introduction, concentrating on more specifically tactical considerations before plunging into the details of the alphabetically listed armies themselves; their treatment is unfortunately rather uneven. Whilst uniform detail is adequate, unit organisation is often a little vague (and rarely lists numbers of men, just companies and battalions/squadrons); when touched upon at all, colours are described more often than illustrated.Some nationalities armies fare reasonably well (the Prussians, for example, though Mr Smith has published on their army previously), others less so. Curiously, given his previous output, it is the armies of the smaller German states which seem to suffer this the most. Thus, whilst his treatment of the Reichsarmee might be pretty good, some of the national haus-regiments get pretty short shrift. The troops of the Palatinate are a good example of this - despite being included in the title of one chapter, no information is offered on their army other than the fact that it was combined with that of Bavaria in 1777!Unlike the earlier Napoleonic title, this volume includes a good number of colour illustrations gathered into two sections, with additional black-and-white pictures embedded in the text. Whilst most of the "usual suspects" one might expect are included (Knotel, Ottenfeld, Lienhart and Humbert), it's good to see a lot of Morier's paintings of the British army reproduced (even though they more accurately reflect dress in the previous War of the Austrian Succession - but I guess that's a rather petty quibble!) On occasion however, the choice of illustration is another area where some slight eccentricity is evident. For example, the infantry shown in the chapter on the Russian army are certainly not wearing the uniforms described in the text, but probably the Prussian-style ones of 1762 which "were probably never introduced" (to quote from one of the least useful coloured illustrations included).The addition of details of a few "key battles", including orbats, in one appendix is a nice touch, the thirty pages of potted biographies in another is probaly less so. As has been commented upon elsewhere, the absence of some important names from the bibloigraphy is also a bit odd - surely Duffy at least merits inclusion?I guess the key question when it comes to recommending this volume is whether it is better than anything else that might currently be available. If searching for information on individual armies, one may be better served by more focussed specialist titles. The closest comparable general publications to this one are James Woods' three volumes on the armies of the Seven Years War recently published by Partizan Press. These certainly aren't perfect (and in fact, neither they nor this title cover the army of Mainz, for example), but probaly do a better job of it than Digby Smith manages here. They too have plenty of colour illustrations (no David Morier, but Bob Marrion provides some excellent plates), and stick very rigidly to the armies themselves without some of the extraneous bits featured in this volume. But they are three books instead of one, and probably more expensive as a result, which may be an important consideration.In conclusion, I think Smith's book is reasonable primer, but too incomplete (and sometimes downright vague) to stand alone.