Fusiliers
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- €9.99
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- €9.99
Publisher Description
From Lexington Green in 1775 to Yorktown in 1781, one regiment marched thousands of miles and fought a dozen battles to uphold British rule in America: the Royal Welch Fusiliers. Along the way, the Fusiliers adopted new tactics and promoted new leaders which together laid the foundations for the subsequent performance against Napoleon. Drawing on a wealth of new research, Mark Urban, author of the bestselling Rifles, reveals the inner life of the regiment - and, through it, of the British Army as a whole - as it lost the battle against the American revolutionaries, but simultaneously revolutionised the way Britain fought.
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The Royal Welch Fusiliers, who became the most celebrated British corps in "the battle for America" and served from the initial skirmish at Lexington in 1775 through the surrender at Yorktown in 1781, provide "a narrative that mirrors the wider story," according to Urban (Wellington's Rifles). Drawing on letters and diaries, Urban paints an often grim but ultimately heroic picture of the life of the ordinary soldier fighting an unpopular war in a hostile environment. The Royal Welch Fusiliers few of whom were Welsh surrendered at Yorktown as "a sadly depleted party" of a few dozen men, but they and their leaders had learned important tactical lessons in fighting the Americans, especially the necessity of "rapid manoeuvre." Former Fusilier officers like Harry Calvert would use "the bitter lessons of America to educate an army that one day would defeat Napoleon." Urban, diplomatic editor of BBC's Newsnight, offers "a British-army-centered version," but is admirably evenhanded in his analysis and conclusions. Readers interested in military history will appreciate this insightful and sobering perspective on soldiering in the 18th century.
