Overview

This is the first complete detailed study of the military aspects of the first half of this important conflict (1618-1635). Each chapter deals with a particular battle, but Guthrie also examines wider questions of strategy, leadership, armaments, organization, logistics, and war finances. The main emphasis is on the unique character and aspects of the Thirty Years War, with attention to the evolution of warfare and weapons, the impact of this evolution on actual operations, and the replacement of the previously dominant tercio style of warfare by the nascent linear system. The Thirty Years War is considered within its own context, rather than merely as a poor relation to the linear or Napoleonic periods. The campaigns covered in this volume include the defeat of the Bohemian and German Protestants (1618-1623), the Danish War (1625-1629), the victories of the Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus (1630-1632), and the final defeat of the Swedes at Nordlingen in 1634. Guthrie also pays particular notice to the important battle of Breitenfeld. With the inclusion of many secondary theaters and minor actions, the whole of this work constitutes a complete military history of the German War.

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9780313320286

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Reviews

William Guthrie has performed a splendid service by writing a book that describes each of the major engagements of the Thirty Year War from its outbreak to the entry of France, at which point it expanded into a pan-European conflict. - Arquebusier Guthrie's Battles of the Thirty Years War attempts to fill this gap, and it does so in solid if formulaic style, laying out the strengths of the opposing forces, the abilities and personalities of the commanders, and the tactical details of the actions... Without this book one is forced to glean this kind of detail from a myriad of obscure works written in several languages. Nor does Guthrie simply summarize these older works; he also provides intelligent, original analysis-both tactical and strategic-of his own. Scholars will also find Guthrie's brief but effective intorduction useful, for it provides a detailed explanation of military technology, tactical organization, and military practice of the period, something that is lacking in anglophone historiography...this is a well-researched and unique reference work that should find favor with scholars of the Thirty Years' War or early modern warfare. - The Journal of Military History [A]n immensely handy reference to military operations during the first 17 years of the war, with a focus on the actual engagements. There are numerous tables discussing the apportionment of personnel among the arms, mini-biographies of commanders notable and not so notable, and much more. Well worth reading--and having--for anyone with a serious interest in the conduct of war during the early seventeenth century. - The New York Military Affairs Newsletter

.,. an immensely handy reference to military operations during the first 17 years of the war, with a focus on the actual engagements. There are numerous tables discussing the apportionment of personnel among the arms, mini-biographies of commanders notable and not so notable, and much more. Well worth reading--and having--for anyone with a serious interest in the conduct of war during the early seventeenth century. -The New York Military Affairs Newsletter

Author Information

William P. Guthrie is an independent researcher. He holds a PhD in Political Science. This is his first book. He is currently working on a follow-up volume, covering the second half of the Thirty Years War.

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