I’m absolutely delighted to bring you this episode of Battlechat, featuring a young and exciting military historian from the United States: Dr Alexander Burns, whose latest book Infantry in Battle 1733-1783 goes about hunting down a number of the sacred cows of 18th century military history with aplomb.
But before we had an in-depth discussion about the revelations in that book, we took time to introduce Alex properly, discovering something about his background, his love of the wargaming hobby (indeed, only top academics who are also wargamers get to come on my show!), his experience as a re-enactor, his acquaintanceship with the late, great Christopher Duffy and, indeed, his part in the creation of the marvellous Festschrift dedicated to that man, The Changing Face of Old Regime Warfare.
But the second half of the interview is focused entirely on Infantry in Battle, and I am grateful to Alex for allowing me to question him at length about the reasons for having tackled the subject in the first place, the way in which he has structured the work, the sources he has called upon in writing it, and the many of the examples he gives in the book of historical evidence that ought to make us question much of the ‘received wisdom’ about the period that has been handed down through the generations. If nothing else, I’m certain that, like me, you will sit up and take notice of the War of the Polish Succession which has surely avoided most wargamers’ radar!
As you will hear, much of what Alex’s work brings to light can be summed up by a couple of lines from the introduction: “…These men were indeed early _modern_ soldiers… These men were indeed _early_ modern soldiers… ” Make sure you re-read that and pay attention to the italics, which I have re-emphasised in case your email or browser doesn’t show them!
It would easily have been possible to spend another hour combing the book and chatting about what it contains, but I think that what we have here really ought to be enough to persuade you to head off right away to get your copy. I genuinely believe that this is some of the finest military historical work on the period since the late Christopher Duffy penned the landmark work The Military Experience in the Age of Reason (1987) and as I mention in the show, I have immediately found ways to incorporate some of its findings into my own Shot, Steel & Stone rules.
Finally, I just have to mention Alex’s marvellous Kabinettskriege blog, which has been a superb resource for wargamers, re-enactors and historians since 2013. In recognition of the contribution that this has made to the hobby for fans of the 18th century, alongside his book, I am awarding it the rare and coveted Battlegames Award for Excellence.
Enjoy the show!
Henry
Infantry in Battle 1733-1783 (affiliate link)
The Changing Face of Old Regime Warfare (affiliate link)
The Military Experience in the Age of Reason (affiliate link)
P.S. This episode was recorded twice, because the software I used initially suffered a catastrophic failure and gobbled the version recorded last Monday evening! Fortunately, thanks to a rapid move to a new recording platform (Cleanfeed, if you’re interested) and with Alex’s kind permission, we had a second attempt on Friday afternoon and you’re listening to the results. In fact, although the first go was sort of a rehearsal, the conversation took a completley different course and so felt as fresh to us as I hope it does to you. H
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