eBook The Banner of Battle: The Story of the Crimean War ePub

I enjoy reading history written by Alan Palmer. It is always interesting and insightful and a good balance between the strategic and personal. In this book we learn a great deal about the Crimean War and the British, French, Turkish, Italian, and Russian governments and armies that fought it. Florence Nightingale is a household word. But we also meet Nicholas Pirogov, one of the Russian Empire's greatest surgeons and medical innovators. Unfortunately this wonderful volume is plagued with misspellings and formatting errors that detract from the smooth historical journey the author intended for his readers. It is a curse afflicting the ebook publishing industry. One hopes a remedy will soon be found.

This book does cover a lot of diplomatic history and is not for the beginner. This is not a good choice for your introduction to the Crimean War. However Clausewitz said “war is politics by other means” and this book keeps that in mind. Some of the best generals were those with an acute awareness of the political situation like Alexander the Great, Caesar, Marlborough, Frederick the Great, Napoleon and his nemesis Wellington. Also, diplomatic efforts (and threats) had much influence on the course of the war.

One example would be the retreat of Russian forces from the Danube Theater early in the war. One book I’ve read said the sturdy defense by the Turks achieved this – with not much detail given about the defense. Another book credited it to the handful of bold British officers detailed to the Turks – again without much detail. So I was hoping to get some details about this defense from Palmer’s book. The Turks did fight bravely, if none too skillfully. Austria-Hungary was upset that the Russians were all over the Danube Valley. They mobilized their army and threatened to enter the war against Russia, already engaged with Turkey, France and Britain. The Czar folded under this pressure and ordered his armies to retreat. He was furious that the Austrians had done this not many years after Russian troops had intervened against Hungarian rebels and saved the Habsburgs. Palmer goes on to note that the Austrian threat was renewed in some degree from time to time during the war.

No such pressure is ever mentioned in Christopher Hibbert’s “The Destruction of Lord Raglan”. That book is a stirring read. With very few exceptions the Russians are a faceless host of stolid troops who exist to be shot, bayoneted and sabered by gallant Britons. The French exist to confound their British allies, as do some British generals.

Palmer’s book is much more nuanced. The Russians are real people with internal disputes and political problems. Neutral nations hover around seeking advantage from eventual peace negotiations. The Allies try to convince neutrals to join the war on their side; the Russians try to convince them to stay neutral. In time the small nation of Piedmont-Sardinia does join the Allied side and send 15,000 troops to the Crimea.

If you are looking for primarily military descriptions of the war with orders of battle and such, this is not the book for you. But if you want a balanced view (no, the French aren’t the only ones who make mistakes) then read this book. While the battles are not covered in heavy detail, they are covered, including some that get short shrift in most British accounts (because no British troops took part).

Palmer also explains how the revolutions of 1848 unhinged the Concert of Europe that had kept the lid on most wars in Europe since 1815. After 1848 the great powers resumed their predatory behavior and a rash of wars broke out, the Crimean first among them.

I would give this book a higher rating if it had maps. At least one of the general area from the Balkans to the Caucasus and another of the area around Sevastopol would be nice, even though maps in Kindle books tend to be less than wonderful. Also, whatever software is used to transfer books to Kindle is prone to errors. 100 is often rendered as loo, day can become hay and so on. While I can usually figure this out without too much trouble, it is still irritating. Some books are worse than others. For whatever reason, this is one. Some words defy my best efforts to figure out the mistake and I just plow on to the next sentence. Misspellings involving foreign names are tough.

I hope the processing of copying text to Kindle format improves and that they figure out how to store maps in a way that can be expanded on the readers.

From the charge of the Light Brigade to the lesser known Miss Seacole, the Black Jamaican who consoled wounded Victoria. Soldiers in the frontline, the author gives us front row seats to this lesser known of Britain’s Wars in the 19th Century.

good history book.......the language is a little dated but hey it's free and informative. What more can you ask for in a history book

There isn't really any new ground covered here, but worth a look if you enjoy this period or Mr Palmer's work

Just a good simple easy to read assessment of the war in Crimea. Nothing comprehensive, just the facts pretty much. I enjoyed it, and like the authors style. He moved it along, not getting bogged down in areas where other authors may try the readers attention span. Would have given five stars were it not the horrible job the people responsible for converting the book to e book did. Terrible quality, screw ups all over.