Featured battle : Quatre-Bras

Part of The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Date : 16 June 1815 - 17 June 1815

One of the 'Waterloo' quartet of battles. Napoleon's left wing under Ney arrived at the crossroads of Quatre-Bras about midday on the 16th. The French were at that time at least 20,000 strong and were opposed by 8,000 unseasoned troops. But knowledge of Wellington in the Peninsular dictated caution which allowed the allies to build up their strength. They held the position against far superior forces until the end of the day. Not until 1800 hrs was their full strength achieved. Overnight Wellington ordered a general fall back to Mont St Jean. The fight on the 17th was mainly between the British cavalry/horse artillery rearguard and those few elements of the French which could get up with them. Although they had lost the position the allies regained some of the valuable time lost to Napoleon's initial surprise advance.

The Global Seven Years War

Daniel Baugh
This book is no lightweight with 665 pages of really 'meaty' text and a further 81 pages of supporting notes and index. The content covers, in depth, the full nine years of the Seven Years War. The military, naval and the political aspects with their necessary interactions are well covered. The character, motivation and machinations of the leading figures are described as are the resultant effects. The book is without illustrations but has seventeen supporting maps. The narrative flows easily and logically and pages once started are difficult to put down because always there is something interesting coming next. The vast majority of the text is free from the author's opinions and comments which are reserved for the long final chapter.
A war of four continents and seven oceans in one excellent readable book.
Routledge, 2014