"Prussian Napoleonic Tactics by Hofschroer " Topic

"Prussian Napoleonic Tactics 1792-1815 is a refreshing departure from most Osprey books in that it wants to make a point. Although Peter Hofschoer uses a chronological approach to make it, at least it provides a starting point for discussion.

Hofschroer is out to disprove the historical narrative of a decrepit and outdated Prussian army getting humiliated by Napoleon and Davout at Jena and Auerstädt and that national heroes like Gneisenau and Stein revamped the army so that it could redeem Germany from 1813 to 1815. You can see how well that fits in with 19th and 20th century nationalist historiography.

In the opposite corner, Hofschroer posits that reforms had been ongoing all the time since Frederick's late reign and that the post-Jena reforms were therefor not so revolutionary. Hofschroer shows that the regulations indeed kept pace with developments elsewhere, for example the introduction of light infantry: riflemen were added to regular infantry units in 1787 and specialist battallions of Fusiliers in 1793.

But Hofschroer goes further by also showing that the tools provided by the regulations were used on the battlefield, in particular on the Revolutionary Wars and the 1806-7 campaign. Although it is hard to tell how representative the examples are, they show what the Prussian army was capable of. This suggests wider application and that Prussian soldiers were tactically on par with the French rather than mindless automatons…"
Full article here
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Hope you enjoy!.

Amicalement
Armand

The Hof. Oh dear …

So it was a fit and modern "Prussian army getting humiliated by Napoleon and Davout at Jena and Auerstadt"?

Rick

Overall, he has some good points but I think he rather exaggerates the theoretical as opposed to the reality.

Peter Hofschoer wants to make a point? Gerraway!

Yes its a sad story really, a tale told more of rocks stars than young revisionist historians. If only he'd been content with producing good work from the archives, steadily building up a body of enlightening work, instead of producing every volume as a new 'shock horror' revelation completely throwing over all previous works…

'Amazing revelation – Wellington's army contained foreigners'

'Shocking news – 19th Century historians were nationalistic Jingoes!'

'Amazing new discovery – pre reform Prussian army didn't need reforming that much'

But that said, once you quickly release which way he is grinding his axe, and make allowances accordingly, his books are well worth every pfennig when it come to the Prussian service.

I don't think he's completely disregarded any major primary sources, that contradict his thesis in this one, but then again, ignorance is bliss!

Personally I like his work for two points:

1. The books are informative and interesting.

2. It helps me realise what it must be like as a non-Brit reading our histories of the Napoleonic Wars.

'Vive la vue diversifiés'

@Sparker,
I agree with you on this. I think you hit the nail on the head with you comments. His articles and books are very informative, you just have to block out his axe grinding.

Though most of his earlier articles, don't contain any axe grinding at all!!

John

The book was published in 2011 and I'm sure we have discussed this title before?

On the one hand it is an interesting title and a nice addition to the Osprey Series on Napoleonic Tactics.

On the other hand, in some parts, not so good. An example being when the author uses really feeble excuses as to why the Prussians lost in 1806. And this after explaining how skilful, progressive and reformed the Prussian army had become and they didn't lose due to using old fashioned tactics!

In one battle they lost because of the fog! I kid you not! Apparently, the fog affected the Prussians but not the French? Anyone know of any special 'fog' training the French Army had? or did they have night-vision equipment?

Even so, the book is worth owning, as are his other titles. And every book contains faults and some elements of bias. But I'm really hoping there will be Osprey titles on Austrian and Russian Napoleonic titles in the offing. Now that would really be interesting.