I loved this book! It describes the vastness of medieval life and castles, covering so much ground. Besides that, Warner has a wonderful way with words and gives his experienced opinion on many matters, and can't help but agree with him fully. As a writer of medieval fantasy, this book has helped me so much! I will keep it as a permanent reference while I continue exploring the mysteries of the medieval world and write down what I can't see for myself.

Philip Warner was lecturer at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, England and is the author of a numerous of books.
In this work, he gives you the need for the Castle, why it came into being, how it developed. He show the strict structure of the Castle society - inside and out, the lives of the people running it and those serving in it, even down to what they are and worse. He even cover medieval recreation!!

He breathes live into the subject, giving a fresh new look instead of tired impressions.

Excellent work for people wish to see Castle life as it was or for Writers of Historical works.

Highly recommended.

This beautifully illustrated book explains how and why castles were built in the middle ages and why they were such a dominant influence on medieval life, especially in times of war. Philip Warner recreates a complete picture of daily life in a medieval castle: how peasants and nobles lived; how men fought in tournaments and trained for combat; how castles were sited, designed, managed, attacked and defended; and what the the people who lived in them ate, drank, and wore. This book will also go a long ways toward breaking up some of the preconceived notions that people have about castles. One learns that the castle was not primarily a refuge. The object of the castle wasn't to retreat from conflict, but to control it. The Medieval castle was a dynamic integral part of medieval society and Philip Warner does brilliant work in showing this. Whether you're a medieval history buff or just a curious layman read this book. It will take a little effort to find it, but it's worth the time.

Haythornthwaite provides background to the French Revolutionary Wars followed by 62 pages of color illustrations keyed to 44 pages of text descriptions.A nicely illustrated look at the men who composed the French Army and the Allies, their weapons and equipment, and their tactics in combat. Six appendices provide further information on French and Prussian uniforms. New to this edition is an extended bibliography.Useful appendices, a bibliography, glossary, and index round out this book

This book covers the uniforms as they transitioned from Frederican to the better-known Napoleonic Glory Years. These are the soldiers that forged Gen. Bonaparte's reputation in Northern Italy. Some obscure entries, too, for those miniature collectors looking, say, for a dromedary corps! Good buy!!

This book covers the major battles in Scotland starting from Wallace and de Moray's victory at Sterling Bridge and Wallace's later defeat at Falkirk, straight through to Culloden. Gives very detailed maps & locations references for those trying to visit these locations, a brief introduction to Scottish History and the in individual battles in a very readable form.
Very great quick reference work.

This is an older account of this famous, or infamous, battle and acute in its description of this classic ultimate as a quagmire, beyond even Verdun, but more so in its indirect critique, from a military historian, hang the stiff upper lip. Perhaps this is the most horrendous action of them all, in the major league of battles in the wasteland, World War I style. What I find remarkable is the picture of the English numero uno general Haig, known to me from picture book photographs, but not known to me as a general, and a most flawed one, whose tactics betray the core obtuseness of the military tacticians of this era, with a studied indifference or inability to grasp, or even visit to see, the hell they created in abstractions. Even Lloyd George, stuck with him, had become restive at his gallant notions of cavalry charges applied to this inferno of the artillery, where a hundred thousand ended up 'missing', no dog tags for the archaeologists of mud. All that was gained, a few kilometers, was lost, or regained and lost again, and two thirds of the way through I found my normal sense of loyalty yielding to innovations in political philsophy, the 'right' of mutiny, perhaps the right and duty, for indifferent generals in luxurious castles, adding the forces of attack deserve no such battles, til finally, by the end, I was browsing the maps, what route might a deserter take from all this? Of course, as the author notes, this battle was, in a final note of its unforgiving nature, the evidence for much pacifism, even during the coming of the Thirties rearmaments, converging toward another war.

This book covers the Battle of France 1940. It was an interesting book. It was hard to believe that the Germans had defeated the British Expeditionary Force so bad however, Hitler decided that the German Army was moving too fast and ordered a halt which prevented the complete capture of the BEF. Also, interesting was that Britian was not able to properly suport France through use of fighter planes since Britian needed them to help protect for the invasion of Britian! It is a interesting book and I would buy it again!

Philip Warner, who died recently after a notable career as a military historian and obituarist for Britain's Daily Telegraph, was a national treasure. He re-invented the almost-lost art of the newspaper obituary, and his glorious and often hilarious accounts of the extraordinary lives of the veterans of Britain's wars and empires help account for that newspaper being by far the most successful of Britain's quality newspapers. He managaed to resuscicate the idea of the hero and pay due tribute to the ancient Roman virtue of courage, while never losing his sense of the ridiculous. This book was the result of a lifetime of research into the British army, and is robustly written with the flair of born journalist. Naturally, it focuses on the Western Front, on the appalling casualties and grimmest of battles, as an essentially civilian nation learned the dreadful lessons of modern, industrial war. But learn them they did, and Warner pays due tribute to the remarkable resilience with which the raw British recruits survived the painful learning curve of their own generals, and slowly established a moral dominance over what had been the finest and best-trained army in the world. The British victories of the final three months of the war, starting with the attack of August 8, 1918, (which the German chief of staff General Ludendorff wrote in his diary was "the black day of the German field army") are splendidly recounted. This is strongly recommended as a single-volume narrative, and should take its place alongside Liddell Hart, Cyril Falls and John Keegan as fine examples of the British school of military history.

This is one of the few early volumes in this series that still has some usefulness. It is as comprehensive as the knowledge of the times allowed in the 70s and was written by a veteran of the war. It does not attempt too much coverage and thus still stands.Osprey has let many of the early titles aimed at the military miniature market stock deplete and go out of print. Deservably so.
This one has been recently made available again in a facsimile edition. Although some twenty plus years old it is still useful.
According to the other listings on this site a whole new edition is coming out covering the period from the conquest of Manchuria to 1945. As the original author was a mature man and a serving soldier in the war, if he is not deceased he is certainly retired by now.