"WSS Recomended reading?" Topic

What are people's fvorite or most useful books about the WSS?

I have figures painted and based, and rules to go with them. Now I would like to learn more about the conflicts.

Fiction or non-fiction are both welcome. What get's your blood up for the period?

David Chandler. Both Marlborough as Military Commander and The Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough. Churchill's biography of Marlborough, followed by the recent one by Richard Holmes. Trevelyan's trilogy of England Under Queen Anne takes a wider view of things than just Marlborough. I quite enjoyed Iain Gale's Man of Honour for fiction.
Reading about the English party politics of the time gets my blood up, and made me loathe Jonathan Swift.

Dave,

There is: Lynn's Wars of Louis XIV which is a good overview of all Louis' wars. However, particulars of battle are lacking.

Spencer's "Blenheim, Battle For Europe" As the title suggests it is about Marlborough, Eugene and the 1704 campaign that culminated in the battle of Blenheim. Great character portraits of the men (and women) involved, lucid account of the battle itself. Spencer does not like Louis XIV and it shows. However, I have read the book multiple times. Highly recommended.

James Falkner's "Great and Glorious Days" which is all about Marlboroughs battles, 1704-1711. Good overview. Decent maps.

Christopher Scott's "Oudenarde" Pricey but good account of another of Marlborough's battles. See the pattern developing?

There are a few more, search at Amazon.uk for more.

Of the above, I would by Spencer's Blenheim as a good overview. You will gain an appreciation of the armies and generals of the era with an anti-French bent, sorry anti Louis XIV. There is some hero worship but I think that what Marlborough had to overcome is extraordinary in and of itself. Also, the chapters on Eugene are very enlightening, more needs to be written in english of this general and his campaigns. There is an Osprey Campaign of this battle that I find is a good companion piece.

Email me off line at rstuhrke (at) aol.com for some more information.

Hope this helps,

Rick

In addition to all that above, it shouldn't be forgotten the real conflict beneath this global European war, which is no other than an internal Spanish struggle for dominance between the Kingdom of Castile and the Crown of Aragon in support of one or the other candidate to "the Spains"' thrones.

It is somehow bizarre to realize how much this war, its aftermath and its decisive influence in the contemporary configuration of Spain has been neglected, in spite of the real fact that it was the most fierce war the Iberian Peninsula has ever suffered for centuries --even more than the 1936-1939 conflict. Not in vain it lasted long time after the Utrecht Peace: it wasn't definitely over inside Spain until 1715.

Maybe an unusual but interesting resource on this war latest stages could be this one: link

James Falkner has also written about Marlborough's Sieges, and the Battle of Ramillies.
Peter Verney's account of Blenheim is a great read.

Also, if you're looking for something along the Spanish line, check out:

wargames.cat

Look on the right of the screen and click on "Catalonia Stands Alone 1713 – 1714: the Catalans' War".

Oh, and apologies to Catalan friends for calling you Spanish! As a Scotsman, I understand! ;)

I can't add anything to that – anything by Chandler or Falkner would be on my list, and it was the Spencer book that first got me "into" the period..

Thanks for the heads up on "Oudenarde" though – I've had my eye on it for a while now..

I have a list of books on my WSS project blog here:

link

Steve

Excellent, Steve! Hadn't come across your blog before. Bookmarking now. Thanks!

I thank you and Amazon thanks you.

And Catalonia Stands Alone looks like it will make fascinating reading too.