The Pacific War was the climax of the decades-long Wars of Liberation, and is one of the most important conflicts in South American history. After winning their independence from Spain in 1825, Peru and Bolivia became separate nations - but over the following years repeated attempts to re-unite them were frustrated by the neighboring powers, particularly Chile.

By the 1870s Chilean military superiority and expansionist policies exploded into full scale conflict. This book examines the troops, uniforms and equipment used by forces on all three sides of the conflict and traces the...

In the 1840s, post-Napoleonic Italy was 'a geographical expression'--not a country, but a patchwork of states. The north (Savoy/Piedmont, and Venice ) was ruled by Austria-Hungary, and most of the minor central states were more or less clients of Austria. From Naples, a Spanish-descended Bourbon monarchy ruled the south--'the Two Sicilies.' The European 'Year of Revolutions', 1848, saw popular uprisings against the regimes all over the peninsula. These were eventually crushed (First War of Independence, 1848-49); but they left King Victor Emmanuel of Savoy/Piedmont--and his able minister...

The First Carlist War broke out after the death of King Ferdinand VII, the king restored at the end of the Peninsular War thanks to Wellington's victory. The crown was claimed by both his daughter Isabella, backed by the Liberal party and his brother Don Carlos, at the head of northern ultra-conservatives centered in the Basque provinces and Navarre. The Liberals or "Cristinos" were supported by a 10,000-strong British Legion of volunteers led by a former aide to Wellington as well as the British Royal Navy, a Portuguese division, and the French Foreign Legion. With both armies still using...