Sunday 9 April 2023

Yet more reading on the Grand Procession #5 Hungary 1849

Spent Easter weekend chilling, doing lunches and coffees with the extended family, so plenty of time to write up another review. 

I was well impressed with the first volume of this series that focussed on the winter campaign of 1848-49, so had high hopes for ‘Hungary1849, ‘the Summer Campaign’. I am not disappointed. The official Austrian history of the war takes us towards the fierce battles of 1849 and the subsequent failure of the uprising. Chris Pringle has again done a superb job in editing the translation of the original German text leaving us with a level of detail unsurpassed in anything previously published in English on what was one of the largest insurrections of 1848 that swept through Europe at that time.

The book is big in detail and in physical size, at 554 pages. It covers the decisive second half of the war, where the Kaiser, defeated in 1848, called for assistance from the Russian Czar. Assailed from all sides, fighting some brilliant delaying actions and even winning some victories, we are treated to a piece by piece account of the destruction of the insurrection. It seems that every action, great or small, between the Hungarian forces and those of the Kaiser and the Czar is covered, often in great detail. I won’t begin to list the various chapter headings and sub-headings; take it from me this is a most comprehensive and fascinating step by step account of the war across all theatres of operations.

There are sections on the armies involved, and there are numerous detailed orders of battle throughout the book, together with several maps which will be of great interest to the casual reader as much as the historian or wargamer. There is much to recommend this book; a sympathetic translation, forensically researched and presented, and a cracking read to boot! If the nineteenth century and the years of revolution are your thing then this is the book for you.

Only two weeks until we return to the UK. Not in any rush to go home but my little men are beckoning me…..

ISBN 978-1-915113-80-1 554 pages

1 comment:

  1. Thanks, Colin, you've made my day! Still can't tempt you to build armies for it? Apparently Rupert Clamp of Keelmen Miniatures has taken over Steve Barber's 28mm range for Hungary 1848-1849 and plans to expand it. See his FB announcement: https://www.facebook.com/groups/952133704806728/user/722564445/ and website (no figures listed there yet) https://keelmenminiatures.co.uk/?fbclid=IwAR0zeuu-GVQyRHEb0weNZMnez2TqYn-oK9yKDEHlSvOQ_3TfVEO7zLO25b0

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