This title explores and illustrates the armies of France, and six countries allied against Louis XIV, in a wide-ranging Continental conflict that ushered in more than a century of European warfare. Formed in 1689, the 'Grand Alliance' or League of Augsburg was a military coalition of the Holy Roman Empire, the Dutch Republic, Britain, Spain and the Duchy of Savoy, to resist Louis XIV's rich, powerful and expansionist France. The first stage of the nine year conflict that followed also coincided with the so-called 'Glorious Revolution' in Britain (1688–91), when the throne passed to the Dutch Protestant leader, William of Orange, the head of a multi-national Dutch, Danish and English army, which finally expelled James II's Jacobite and French forces from Ireland. The long war on the continent was notable for the first widespread use of regimental uniforms and flintlock muskets with bayonets, plus the sophisticated use of siege warfare under the great French engineer, Vauban. The final Treaties of Ryswyck (1697) brought the war to an end and marked Louis XIV's political zenith, and also the ascendancy of both the Dutch and British as first-rate global powers. This fully illustrated title explores the armies which fought the War of the Grand Alliance, examining their strength, organization, uniforms and weapons, and explaining their campaigns and major battles.

Between 1689 and 1697 the British army fought as a member of the Grand Alliance against Louis XIV. Despite the military and political significance of the European conflict, this book is the first historical investigation for over a century dealing with the operations of the principal campaigns in the Low Countries. John Childs begins his comprehensive study by exploring the diplomatic origins of the Nine Years' War. Leading on from this political background, the author then focuses on the detailed organisation of the British, Dutch and other allied armies and the conduct of the operations. The specific campaigns are also examined and in particular the author looks at the strategic and tactical role played by the British. This campaign and operational study of the British army will be of interest to both specialist and general military historians, as well as to political historians.

The Great Northern War was a long series of campaigns in which Russia, linked with several other countries in temporary alliances, confronted and eventually replaced Sweden as the predominant power in Northern Europe. While contemporary with the Duke of Marlborough's pivotal campaigns against France, the Great Northern War was in fact more decisive, since it reshaped the Northern European power balance up to the eve of the Napoleonic Wars. It began with a series of astonishing Swedish victories lead by King Charles XII, from Denmark to Poland and deep into Germany. But Peter the Great of Russia showed steadfast determination, and Charles overreached himself when he invaded Russia in 1708; the Russians adopted classic 'scorched earth' tactics until they could destroy the Swedish army at Poltava in 1709, one of the most overwhelming victories in history. Nevertheless, Sweden continued to fight, and frequently win, in Germany, Denmark and Norway, until Charles's death in battle in 1718, though the war itself did not conclude until 1721. This study explores, in detail, the numerous armies and complex alliances engaged in the war for Northern European dominance. Containing accurate full-colour artwork and unrivalled detail, Armies of the Great Northern War offers a vivid insight into the troops which battled for control of the North.

Abstract: This dissertation explores the origins and creation of the allied army that fought in the Spanish Netherlands during the Nine Years' War. In 1689, the Dutch Republic, England, Habsburg Austria, Spain, Brandenburg-Prussia, and later Savoy, along with a number of lesser German states united to combat the ambitions of French king Louis XIV. These states formed coalition armies to fight in the various theaters of war surrounding the kingdom. Arguably the most important of these was the army in the Spanish Netherlands, often referred to by contemporaries as the "Confederate Army." Due to the Spanish Netherlands' strategic importance to both the Dutch Republic and France, the so-called "Cockpit of Europe" attracted immense armies on both sides. France assembled the largest army until the Napoleonic Wars during the Nine Years' War; and the largest of its field armies was deployed in the Low Countries Theater. For the allies, the burden of the war effort in the Spanish Netherlands fell to England and the Dutch Republic, the wealthiest and militarily strongest of the coalition's members. The combination of geography, politics, and strategy merged resulting in the greatest of the allies' armies, the army the army of Stadhouder-Koning William III. This dissertation explores how diplomatic, political, and military factors intersected to create the first modern coalition army. Commanded by William III, the Confederate Army was the largest, best equipped and arguably best led and organized of the coalition forces arrayed against France. The composition of this army was the result of a combination of factors. The geographic location of the coalition partners, and the theater of war; the economic power of the army's principal contributors; and the unity of command William III brought to the Confederate Army; all of these factors contributed to that organization's character. Together, they forged a unique army in the history of European warfare in the early modern period, and a forerunner of later coalition armies.

The War of the Triple Alliance is the largest single conflict in the history of South America. Drawing Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay into conflict the war was characterized by extraordinarily high casualty rates, and was to shape the future of an entire continent – depopulating Paraguay and establishing Brazil as the predominant military power. Despite the importance of the war, little information is available in English about the armies that fought it. This book analyzes the combatants of the four nations caught up in the war, telling the story of the men who fought on each side, illustrated with contemporary paintings, prints, and early photographs.

In the 1840s, Italy was a patchwork of states. The North was ruled by the Austrian Empire, the South by the Spanish-descended monarchy of the Two Sicilies. Over the next two decades, after wars led by Savoy/Piedmont and volunteers such as Garibaldi, an independent Kingdom of Italy emerged. These conflicts saw foreign interventions and shifting alliances among minor states, and attracted a variety of local and foreign volunteers. This second volume in a two part series covers the armies of the Papal States; the duchies of Tuscany, Parma, and Modena; the republics of Rome and San Marco (Venice) and the transitional Kingdom of Sicily; and the various volunteer movements. These varied armies and militias wore a wide variety of highly colourful uniforms which are brought to life in stunning, specially commissioned, full colour artwork from Giuseppe Rava.

Describes how newly modernized Japan waged war against China in its first overseas campaign, marking its rapid transition into Asia's leading military power only 30 years after emerging from centuries of feudalism. After the Meiji restoration of the Japanese imperial regime in 1868–77, modernization along Western lines of Japan's industry, communications and land and naval forces advanced with remarkable speed and, by the 1890s, the rejuvenated nation was ready to flex its muscles overseas. The obvious opponent was the huge but medieval Chinese Empire, and the obvious arena for war was Korea, a nearby Chinese protectorate that Japan had long coveted. (A secondary campaign would be fought on Formosa/Taiwan, an autonomous Chinese island protectorate.) In this study, author Gabriele Esposito describes the bloodthirsty course of the Japanese campaign in China, using colour illustrations and photos to showcase the organization, equipment and appearance of the various Chinese forces (China had no true national army), the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy, and, for the first time in English, the Korean and Formosan participants. Japan's victory left it confident enough to challenge Imperial Russia and, nine years later, it defeated it at the Battle of Tsushima where two-thirds of the Russian fleet was destroyed by the Japanese Navy. This victory confirmed Japan's place as Asia's leading military power, soon to become a realistic rival to the West.