Battle of the Revolutionary War- 1775–1781: 1775-1781 (Major Battles and Campaigns) (Major Battles and Campaigns Series) - Softcover

Wood, William J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0306813297 ISBN 13: 9780306813290

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2003

Synopsis

The Americans did not simply outlast the British in the Revolutionary War, contends this author in a groundbreaking study, but won their independence by employing superior strategies, tactics, and leadership. Designed for the "armchair strategist" with dozens of detailed maps and illustrations, here is a blow-by-blow analysis of the men, commanders, and weaponry used in the famous battles of Bunker Hill, Quebec, Trenton, Princeton, Saratoga, and Cowpens.

About this title

About the Author

W. J. Wood (19171501997), was a retired Army lieutenant colonel whose background included not only professional authorship but also combat experience in World War II and the Korean war, a decade spent in professional war gaming for weapons systems analysis at the Army Material Command, and a lifetime studying military history. His books include Battles of the Revolutionary War and Leaders and Battles.

From Library Journal

The second and third volumes in "Major Battles & Campaigns" are at opposite poles of the series format. D'Este, author of previous works on Overlord and Sicily, takes a strategic perspective, focussing on Anglo-American cooperation in the central Mediterranean. Wood's battle history of the American Revolution is tactically oriented. D'Este argues that the Allies and the Germans had essentially the same limited purpose: to keep maximum enemy forces pinned in a secondary theater. Neither of the principal Allied commanders, Harold Alexander and Mark Clark, had the character or the talent to make the Mediterranean theater more than a dead end. D'Este avoids discussing the campaign's grand strategic aspects and ignores British operations in the eastern Mediterranean. Nevertheless, his presentation is sound within its set limits. A paperback edition would be welcome collateral reading for courses in World War II. Specialists will find little new in Wood's pages, but troop movements and command decisions are presented well and perceptively critiqued. In arguing for the uniqueness of Revolutionary battles, Wood fails to delineate clear principles of selection. Neither political, strategic, nor institutional contexts are well developed. This is, however, a useful one-volume update of Christopher Ward's two-volume The War of the Revolution (LJ 9/1/52), the standard operational narrative. -- Dennis E. Showalter, Colorado Coll., Colorado Springs
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0306813297
• ISBN 13: 9780306813290
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 363