Featured battle : Würzburg

Part of The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Date : 24 October 1813 - 26 October 1813

Wrede's Bavarian Corps stood a chance of blocking Napoleon's escape route [see Hanau 30/31 October 1813] but Wrede chose to waste time and precious ammunition on the impregnable fortress of Würzburg [the Marienburg]. The fortress actually held out until 2 May 1814.

Battle Understanding Conflict Hastings to Helmand

Graeme Callister & Rachael Whitbread
This is a rather different sort of book in not being about a war, campaign or battle but rather about all battles. It gives the reader a framework through which to assess any particular battle or conflict. The authors make the case that every conflict has a number of contributing factors which add or subtract from the outcome. Their approach is to give each of these factors a chapter which concludes with an account of one or two battles in which the particular factor was significant. They do stress that all the factors have a part to play to a greater or lesser degree in every battle. They also point out the ever present difficulty of finding accurate information about these matters.
The aim of the book is to aid in the understanding of battles and in this it succeeds very well indeed.
We highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to understand battles of any place or period.

Pen & Sword Military, 2022