-
Seasonal Offer:
This title is part of our Seasonal Offers promotion.
Rifles: Six Years with Wellington's Legendary Sharpshooters
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Rifles: Six Years with Wellington's Legendary Sharpshooters for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Daily Express, 25 October 2003
A deeply researched, beautifully crafted and captivating volume ... a riveting slab of derring-do and high adventure.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'If you like Sharpe, then this book is a must, your Christmas present solved.' Bernard Cornwell, Daily Mail 'A brilliant warts-and-all depiction of Wellington's famous riflemen.' Daily Telegraph
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
144 of 147 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Mark Urban, the author of "The Man Who Broke Napoleon's Codes," has written another very good book. He tells the story of the "legendary" 95th Rifles, following them from when they embark from England in 1809 (to take their place in the Peninsular War) up until their involvement at the Battle of Waterloo. We travel along with them through Portugal, Spain, France and Belgium and get to know the hardships they endured- seemingly endless marching; the confusing advances and retreats; sleeping out in the open in the cold, rain and snow; and going long periods, sometimes up to 3 days, without any food. This, in addition to the many skirmishes, sieges, and battles they engaged in- which were more numerous than those fought in by any other regiment. I enjoyed this book for many reasons: Mr. Urban writes very well, with a witty, yet informal, style; there are many first-person accounts, so we really get to feel that we know these men and what they are going through; in addition, the author doesn't try to hide the less noble aspects of the 95th- besides the many examples of bravery and loyalty that we read about, we also see drunkeness, desertion, looting, and shirking of duty. But let me emphasize that Mr. Urban doesn't do a "hatchet-job" on the regiment. This is not revisionist history, it is just a full history...warts and all. And, believe me, the positive vastly outweighs the negative. Considering the amount of combat these men saw over an extended period (6 years), and the privations they suffered, one comes away from this book with a great deal of admiration and respect. Another nice thing about the book is that Mr. Urban goes to great lengths to explain what made this regiment so special- and what wasn't unique to them. For example, they became excellent marksmen because they practiced actual shooting. This was unusual because most soldiers of the time, although they practiced formations and loading their weapons, did not get much, if any, "target practice." On the other hand, while the 95th was known for its ability to "pick off" French officers in battle (causing confusion and loss of morale amongst the common French soldier), this practice did not originate with them. What made the 95th so special was their ability to hit the target! Before this time, British army leadership was under the impression that only "woodsmen," such as German and Swiss mercenaries, could become sharpshooters. The 95th showed that, with enough practice (and with the right weapon) the common British soldier could do just as well. The 95th, through their long years of combat, also showed that sharpshooters had value not just as skirmishers: they could also fight in a line, and they could also be effective in siege operations...as they proved at Ciudad Rodrigo. The reason I am giving this book 4 stars rather than 5 is because it does suffer from a few defects. Firstly, the maps are very poor. They are few in number and not detailed enough. It is very difficult to follow the author, sometimes, as he tries to describe in detail what is going on during the course of a battle. Secondly, Mr. Urban is almost exclusively concerned with the "small picture"- following the 95th in action from one battle to another. It would have been helpful if he had stepped back once in awhile to explain the broader strategy- what Wellington or Napoleon had in mind at a particular time. In the overall scheme of things, however, this is small beer. This is a very good book, and well-worth reading for its "insider's view" of what camp-life and battlefield conditions were like for both officers and common infantrymen who served under Wellington.
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having been a student of military history at uni and having grown up reading Bernard Cornwell's adventures of Richard Sharpe it was very interesting to read the true life accounts of the men of the 95th (or at least the 1st Battalion). Urban manages to make his book both informative and interesting, there are enough first hand accounts to stop it reading like a text book but there is still a wealth of academic information to keep the military historian happy. It was very interesting to follow the lives of several key figures within the battalion watching as their careers developed or indeed ended abruptly on the battlefield (or in at least one case, in front of a firing squad).
This is not a campaign history of the Peninsular war, although there is plenty of information on the subject, nor is it a regimental history of the 95th; it is more a personal history of the men of the 1st battalion of that unit that followed Wellington from Talavera to Waterloo. It focuses not only on their experiences in battle, be in small skirmishes, large set piece battles or the storming of a breach but also on the day to day lives of the soldiers covering such topics as food, shelter, desertion, advancement, money and entertainment. All in all a great book and well worth a read for anyone wishing to find the true Richard Sharpes of Wellington's army.
This is not a campaign history of the Peninsular war, although there is plenty of information on the subject, nor is it a regimental history of the 95th; it is more a personal history of the men of the 1st battalion of that unit that followed Wellington from Talavera to Waterloo. It focuses not only on their experiences in battle, be in small skirmishes, large set piece battles or the storming of a breach but also on the day to day lives of the soldiers covering such topics as food, shelter, desertion, advancement, money and entertainment. All in all a great book and well worth a read for anyone wishing to find the true Richard Sharpes of Wellington's army.
80 of 83 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is a cracking read.The author peels away layers of myth and tells it like it was.
The officer who hid in his tent to avoid a battle gets his due, so does the sergeant who got himself a comfy job in the hospital store room to avoid fighting. At the same time the guys who fought the French again and again - desperate not to let their regiment down despite suffering terrible conditions get the praise they deserve. In other words the 95th can at last be judged as real men rather than the two dimensional heroes of previous books.
Urban flags up the stories of several soldiers and officers to show what kind of people they were, where they came from, what their hopes and fears were. He shows also how the cameraderie between officers and men came to blow away the class system - with men of the Rifles themselves using the term 'Band of Brothers' that is now so familiar to us.
There are plenty of battle scenes and as many villains seem to wear British uniform as French. It really is an eye-opener, especially if you've read a bit about the Rifles before.
My only criticisms: not enough maps and it could have been longer - quite a few soldiers who you want to know more about but just get walk on parts.
The officer who hid in his tent to avoid a battle gets his due, so does the sergeant who got himself a comfy job in the hospital store room to avoid fighting. At the same time the guys who fought the French again and again - desperate not to let their regiment down despite suffering terrible conditions get the praise they deserve. In other words the 95th can at last be judged as real men rather than the two dimensional heroes of previous books.
Urban flags up the stories of several soldiers and officers to show what kind of people they were, where they came from, what their hopes and fears were. He shows also how the cameraderie between officers and men came to blow away the class system - with men of the Rifles themselves using the term 'Band of Brothers' that is now so familiar to us.
There are plenty of battle scenes and as many villains seem to wear British uniform as French. It really is an eye-opener, especially if you've read a bit about the Rifles before.
My only criticisms: not enough maps and it could have been longer - quite a few soldiers who you want to know more about but just get walk on parts.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Rifles Hits the Target!
I don't think I'll tell you what this book is about. Read other reviews which summarise the content. Or better still, read the book! Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr. Peter Franklin
A real adventure into the age of Wellington
I am only halfway through this book and it is so well written, I can actually feel I am in with the men of the 95th, the reality of how they coped with the sometimes horrendous... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mr. T. Beachem
Urban hits the mark
This is a cracking read, even (perhaps especially) if you're not usually a military history buff - or even a Sharpe fan. Read more
Published 3 months ago by James Mitchell
The Beginning Of The End For Line Infantry
Mark Urban gives us an incite-full look at the now legendary riflemen of the 95th. Set largely during the Peninsula Campaign, he draws on many sources of information and gives a... Read more
Published 8 months ago by TheReader
'Sharps country'
If you like reading about history, facts, the origins of the modern military and learning about how people live, react and survive warfare, this is the book for you. Read more
Published 13 months ago by ChrisD
The Rifles
This is an excellent book. It is full of first hand accounts of battle and life during the Napoleonic war.
Published 14 months ago by Dino59
Very Good
Mark Urban writes an excellent book engaging and easy to read. Though personally I think I preferred "10 Generals..." a little more. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Baron Bass
Sixpence a Day And Flogged on the Way !
Mark Urban's Rifles, tells the heroic and at times heartwrenching story of the soldiers of the 95th, following them through Potugal Spain and France from 1809 - 1815. Read more
Published 22 months ago by A. Tomlinson
Real Rifles
Excellent and readable contemporary account of the Rifles in the Peninsular War - captures the frustrations and tedium of army life as well as honest accounts of action
Published on 11 April 2010 by Simon Says
History as it should be, strong research combined with great tales
This book by Mark Urban is an good example of popular history writing at its best. The mix of a clear overall narrative, that combines good story telling and strong research, makes... Read more
Published on 8 Oct 2009 by Robert I. Atkinson
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
