On October 14th, 1808, Napoleon persuaded Herzog Peter Friedrich Ludwig of Oldenburg to join the Confederation of the Rhine by the Treaty of Erfurt - the military contingent to be maintained by the duchy was set at an infantry battalion of 800 men in six companies. Similarly, Friedrich August, Herzog of Nassau, was charged, under the terms of the treaty with coordinating and organizing the military efforts of all the tiny states of its neighbours. In this fine addition to Osprey's Men-at-Arms series, Otto Von Pivka details the campaign history and uniforms of Napoleon's Nassau and Oldenburg...

By the end of the nineteenth century the fame of the Zulu was world-wide, and their army was one of the few non-European military organizations to have become the subject of serious historical study. Their very name is still synonymous with bravery, discipline and military skill. This excellent addition to Osprey's Men-at-Arms series tells the story of the Zulus at war, from their rise to unrivalled power under the fearsome Shaka to the final devastating defeat against the British at Ulundi, detailing Zulu weapons and tactics, and the famous battles in which they fought.

The Landsknechts were German mercenaries who served during the reigns of Maximilian I and Charles V in the sixteenth century. Having signed up, these Landsknechts were read a very detailed code of conduct, organized into companies, paid one month in advance, and sent into battle Their major weapon was the pike, which could be up to 18 feet in length, but those whose duty it was to advance in the front line carried instead the fearsome Zweihander; an enormous battle-sword around 66 inches in length Douglas Miller describes in detail the organisation, tactics, weapons, uniforms and history of...

On April 24th, 1855, Colonel Carmichael Smyth held a parade of the ninety skirmishers of the 3rd Light Cavalry of the Bengal Army at Meerut, some 30 miles from Delhi. The disastrous events that followed sparked an almost wholesale mutiny of the Honourable East India Company's Bengal Native Army. Had the ensuing uprising succeeded, it would have threatened the validity of the entire British Empire. As it was, the Mutiny witnessed several tragic and bloody events, from the original incident in Meerut to the horrifying siege of Cawnpore. Christopher Wilikinson-Latham details the history of the...

The chasseurs, being the indigenous French light horse, can perhaps therefore be equated best with the infantry demi-brigades of this period, a half-trained, unprofessional, make-shift collection, making up with zeal what they lacked in experience, a qualification which in no way diminished the importance of their role within Napoleon's all-conquering army. Emir Bukhari's fine text examines the dress and equipment of Napoleon's line chasseurs, plus the histories of individual regiments in a volume containing a plethora of illustrations and diagrams including eight full page colour plates by...

In the early 5th century BC, after the fall of the Lydian Empire, the Persian Wars began. It was an ideological conflict which pitted a proud, democratic, freedom-loving people against a tyrannical and mighty empire. The stories of the many battles fought between the Greeks and the Persians are here spendidly brought to life by Jack Cassin-Scott, who details the tactics, organisation and uniforms of the armies of both sides in a volume featuring numerous illustrations and museum photographs, plus eight full page colour plates superbly drawn by the author himself.

The Imperial German Army began the Great War (World War I) as the most professionally impressive conscript force in the world. This fascinating book by Donald Fosten and Robert Marrion explores in great detail the organization, tactics, weapons, uniforms, equipment and origins of this army that fought in World War I from its start in 1914 to their ultimate defeat in 1918. Numerous contemporary photographs serve to illustrate this engaging and informative text which covers such wide-ranging topics as conscription, artillery and the army veterinary service. Eight full page colour plates by...

Between 1869 and 1874, Edward Cardwell, Gladstone's Secretary for War, undertook major reforms to modernise the British Army. The Crimean War and campaigns in India had revealed serious administrative and command shortcomings. Cardwell's legislation was aimed at curing these faults and served as the foundation of a new-style army. His successors put into practice further improvements in tactics, training and command structure, and by the outbreak of war in 1914, the British Army had developed into one of the best professional fighting forces in Europe. This book details the development,...

This title examines some of the most colourful and fanciful uniforms in military history, those of Napoleon's Guard Cavalry. The detailed text covers units such as the Grenadiers a Cheval; the Empress's Dragoons; the Chasseurs a Cheval; the Mamelukes; the Gardes d'Honneur; the Polish Lancers; the Dutch Lancers; the German Lancers and the Lithuanian Tartars. A plethora of illustrations complement the text, including eight fine full page colour plates by inimitable Angus McBride, providing admirably detailed reconstructions of uniforms and accompanied by ten pages of commentaries."

In 1543 three Portuguese merchants entered a turbulent Japan, bringing with them the first firearms the Japanese had ever seen: simple matchlock muskets called arquebuses. They proved a decisive addition to the Japanese armoury, as for centuries the samurai had fought only with bow, sword and spear. In 1575, during the Battle of Nagashino, one of the greatest original thinkers in the history of samurai, Oda Nobunaga, arranged his arquebusiers in ranks three deep behind a palisade and proceeded, quite literally, to blow his opponent's cavalry to pieces, marking the beginning of a new era in...