According to Davies, the need to face enemies who used novel tactics and strategies on unfamiliar terrain necessitated the need for the British army to learn and adapt to many new challenges. This combination of rich, original source material allows Davies to insightfully navigate and recreate the process of British officers’ observational and experiential learning throughout diverse and distant theaters of war. Perhaps most impressively, Davies research spanned four continents and included collections held at the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle, the Wellington Papers at the University of Southampton, the Sir Eyre Coote papers at Michigan University, the papers of the American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati in Washington, D.C., the Punjab Archives in Lahore, the National Library of Australia, and the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney…to name only a few. The Wandering Army is an attractive book and benefits from a plethora of colorful maps, images, and figures. He relies on an impressive array of original source documents in the form of personal correspondences, memoranda, journals, and campaign maps, many of which have been previously overlooked or inaccessible to scholars. Davies is eminently qualified to write on the topic of the British army of the 18th and 19th centuries. In this telling, the British army’s ability to institutionally develop, distribute, and apply knowledge during the long 18th century led to a worldwide military enlightenment.Ī reader in Early Modern Military History at King’s College in London and the author of three books on the period, Huw J.
Whereas most scholars agree the British navy holds a special place of honor in understanding any conceptual British way of war, Davies instead promotes a boots-on-the-ground approach centered on the expeditionary nature of British arms.
Davies adds a new perspective to long-established scholarly debates on the British way of war.
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