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Frances Isabella Duberly (1829-1902) accompanied her officer husband to the Crimea as the only woman on the front line. Her letters home to her sister, highlighting the incompetence and negligence of the generals, and describing the appalling conditions in which the men were fighting, appeared anonymously in the press and, along with W. H. Russell's reports, helped stir public opinion against the prosecution of the war. This reaction persuaded Duberly to ask her brother-in-law to edit her diary, and it provoked a sensation when published in 1855. Although she occasionally conveys some of the elation of victory, the journal is more often a stark and disturbing document: following the battle of Balaclava she writes that 'even my closed eyelids were filled with the ruddy glare of blood'. No history of this brutal campaign can ignore this journal, and it stands comparison with any account of the horrors of war.

Vincent Eyre (1811-81) was an English officer in the East India Company from 1827 and took part in the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-42), which ended in disaster for the British. He would later become a major-general and a Knight Commander of the Star of India, but in this work Eyre lucidly describes his experiences as a lieutenant in the war, during which he was severely wounded. In addition to providing a wealth of military detail, he also includes an account of how he was captured with his family by Akbar Khan in January 1842 and held hostage for nearly nine months. Eyre kept a diary throughout, and the manuscript was smuggled to a friend in India prior to publication in England in 1843. This updated third edition offers insights into both military and personal misfortune.

Two of Jane Austen's brothers made successful careers in the Navy: Francis (1774-1865) rose to the rank of Admiral; Charles (1779-1852) to Rear-Admiral. Jane's naval heroes, most notably Captain Wentworth in Persuasion, as well as much of her knowledge of naval life and contemporary affairs during the Napoleonic Wars, owe much to the stories and letters of her brothers. Written by Francis Austen's grandson John Hubback and his daughter Edith, this double biography is informed by family tradition as well as research into contemporary documents. The Hubbacks, with their unique insight, suggest many family anecdotes and characteristics as possible sources for Jane's novels. Beyond its interest as a record of how her brothers' naval careers influenced her work, this book, first published in 1906, also remains of great interest to historians of the Navy in the first half of the nineteenth century.

These extracts from the personal journal of Sir James Outram (1803-63), which he kept while serving with the 23rd Regiment in the British Army of the Indus, describe the British campaigns in Sindh and Afghanistan in 1838-9. In the preface to the book, originally published in 1840, the author explains that his 'rough notes' are not attempting a narrative of the military operations but have been printed 'for the perusal of valued friends'. The work begins in Sindh, where the author joins the campaign that aims to restore Shah Shuja to the throne of Kabul, the ultimately disastrous First Anglo-Afghan War. It is dedicated to Sir William Macnaghten, who was later killed during negotiations with an Afghan chief. Outram himself later clashed with the Napier family over Sir William Napier's account of the Conquest of Scinde, and both books are also reissued in this series.

Written by military historian Major-General William Napier (1785-1860), and published in 1845, this book describes the conquest of the Indian territory of Scinde (Sindh), and includes a biographical sketch of Major-General Sir Charles Napier (1782-1853), the British Army's Commander-in-Chief in India, and the author's brother. Napier, whose History of War in the Peninsula and the South of France is also reissued in this series, describes in detail how Scinde became inextricably drawn into the sphere of influence of the government of British India, and the events (including the First Anglo-Afghan War and its consequences) leading to its conquest. Napier's interpretation of events was almost immediately challenged by Sir James Outram in Conquest of Scinde: A Commentary (1846; also reissued in this series). The Appendices include extracts from the private correspondence of Sir Charles Napier, revealing his personal concerns during the course of the campaign alongside the historical narrative.

This work by Sir James Outram (1803-63), subtitled A Commentary and originally published in two parts in 1846, is an attempt by the author to vindicate his reputation which, he believes, was sullied by Sir William Napier's book The Conquest of Scinde (1845; also reissued in this series), in which he is represented as devoid alike of military and diplomatic skill. (William Napier was the brother of Sir Charles Napier, the British Commander-in-Chief in India, and his account is not unbiased.) In Part 1, Outram declares his intention to expose these misrepresentations and to vindicate a reputation which for a quarter of a century he had 'maintained unimpeached'. He claims to corroborate his version of events using personal correspondence, describing in detail and in the first person the political and diplomatic intrigues and the military actions which led to the conquest of the Province of Sindh by the British.

Originally published in 1792, this work was revised (incorporating new material) and corrected for the 1805 edition, reissued here. As a ship's purser and occasional Judge Advocate, Delafons had considerable experience of advising in naval courts martial, including first-hand involvement for the defence in the trial of Peter Heywood, a midshipman on board HMS Bounty during the mutiny of 1789. He intended this work to be a textbook for conducting judicial proceedings in the Royal Navy, and it is also now a fundamental text for historians and researchers in both the legal and naval history of a period of British maritime supremacy. Delafons covers the subjects of jurisdiction, evidence, sentencing, and the roles of individuals within the trial. He also makes a comparison between the law of the Navy and its practical applications and that of the civil courts, and examines the development of the Naval Code itself.

The liberal Radical MP Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke (1843-1911) campaigned for (among many other causes) votes for women and labourers, legalisation of trade unions and universal education. His republican sentiments damaged his political reputation, and earned him the hostility of Queen Victoria. However, despite his views on the monarchy he was an imperialist, and his early work, Greater Britain (1868; also available in this series), was widely read. In the 1890s he became known as a parliamentary expert on military, colonial and foreign affairs. This 1892 work, co-written with Spenser Wilkinson (1853-1937), a journalist and military historian, together with Dilke's earlier work, Problems of Greater Britain, led to the founding of a parliamentary committee on imperial defence. The book argues that, while hoping to avert war by diplomacy, the Government has a duty to maintain a naval and military force to protect the interests of its citizens.

In 1823, after relatively undistinguished diplomatic missions to Sicily and China, Lord Amherst (1773-1857) was appointed Governor-general of Bengal, a compromise candidate following Canning's sudden withdrawal to become foreign secretary. Arriving in India, he found the country on the brink of war with Burma, which he was unable to prevent or quickly to resolve, resulting in an expensive and demoralising two-year campaign, and the death of his eldest son. This 1894 biography, written by Anne Thackeray Ritchie (1837-1919), elder daughter of the novelist, and journalist Richardson Evans (1846-1923), was part of a series established by Sir William Wilson Hunter (1840-1900), a former Administrator in the subcontinent. Decidedly flattering in tone and glossing the War as 'a glorious enterprise of arms', this book, which quotes extensively from Lady Amherst's diary and other contemporary sources, is a fascinating example of the late-Victorian presentation of earlier colonial administration.

This first-hand account of the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824-6) was written by Captain Frederick Doveton of the Royal Madras Fusiliers and published in 1852. Intending to feed the contemporary British fascination with tales of Burma and its people, Doveton gives a brief history of the conflict, placing it into the context of the events leading up to the outbreak of the Second War (1852-3). He then offers a 'personal narrative' of his experiences, aimed at a popular rather than professional readership. His descriptions of Burmese life, landscape, and customs are full of anecdotes. These include his surprise at the natives playing chess, and his experience of having a tattoo; but he also shows respect for a people with an ancient history and culture, and conveys vividly the complexities and hardships of warfare and army life in an inhospitable terrain.

The journalist William Howard Russell (1820-1907) is sometimes regarded as being the first war correspondent, and his reports from the conflict in the Crimea are also credited with being a cause of reforms made to the British military system. This 1865 book began as a review in The Times of the five-volume work of General Eduard Todleben (or Totleben), the military engineer and Russian Army General, whose work in creating and continually adapting the land defences of Sevastopol in 1854-5 made him a hero and enabled the fortress to hold out against British bombardment for a whole year. Russell added extracts from the original book to his review, and enlarged his commentary on the Russian text, producing a thorough and accurate synthesis, but always highlighting the central importance of the Russian work to any student of the history of the Sevastopol siege.

The journalist William Howard Russell (1820-1907) is sometimes regarded as being the first war correspondent, and his reports from the conflict in the Crimea are also credited with being a cause of reforms in the British military system. This account of his time there, first published in 1858 and expanded in this 1895 edition, explains how Russell was sent by The Times of London in 1854 to join British troops stationed in Malta. He spent the next two years witnessing some of the key moments of the war, including the battle of Balaclava and the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade. His newspaper reports of the fighting and of the living conditions for the troops were widely read and very influential. In this retrospective work, Russell gives a more personal narrative of his experiences, making this an important account of one the most brutal wars of the nineteenth century.

Lady Sale (nee Florentia Wynch, 1790-1853) became an instant heroine when her journal of the disastrous events in Afghanistan in 1841-2 was published in 1843. The wife of Sir Robert Sale, second-in-command of the British forces, she was taken hostage, along with her daughter and baby grand-daughter, after the massacre of over 4,500 British troops at Kabul, while her husband commanded a besieged garrison at Jalalabad. The small group of hostages was moved from place to place, with only the clothes they stood up in, to evade attempts at rescue over a period of nine months. Eventually, they were able to bribe a tribal leader to release them, and they met up with a British rescue party just before Afghani pursuers overtook them. Lady Sale's diary, carried in a cloth bag at her waist, was published almost unedited, and is an extraordinary account of her ordeal.

In April 1855, Bernard Whittingham (fl.1850), a captain of the Royal Engineers, set off from Hong Kong aboard H.M.S. Sibylle. He had volunteered to join an Allied squadron attempting 'to discover the progress of Russian aggrandisement in North-eastern Asia, and to ascertain how far the reports of her successful encroachment on the sea frontiers of China and Japan were true'. In the context of the Crimean War's Pacific theatre, he was also keen to see avenged the Royal Navy's defeat by the Russians at Petropavlovsk the previous year. Whittingham's notes, published in 1856, give a personal and uniquely British account of an understudied time and place with far-reaching influence on later events. The book is also a rich source of anecdotes, not least that relating to the capture of crew members of the ill-fated Russian frigate Diana.

First published in 1813, this comprehensive dictionary of maritime terminology in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was designed as a reference work for shipbuilders and navigators. Compiled by the naval historian William Burney, it is a revised and expanded version of the classic Universal Marine Dictionary originally published in 1769 by the poet and lexicographer William Falconer (1732-89). It provides over 800 pages of technical data on shipbuilding, navigation, the operation of ships, weaponry and provisions, as well as historical, legal and medical information, and even French vocabulary lists. It contains extensive tables and illustrations, and longer articles including, for instance, lists of clothing, books and equipment required by a young midshipman. Both Burney and Falconer were leaders in their field, and the book remains a key historical source on seafaring during the age of Nelson and the French wars, for scholars and enthusiasts alike.

George Napier (1784-1855) was a brother of the famous soldiers Sir Charles and Sir William Napier, and himself had a distinguished career in the British Army as general and Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. He wrote these memoirs to guide and amuse his own children, not intending them to be widely circulated. In 1884, however, his son published them, earning a letter of congratulation from Queen Victoria. George Napier tells of his early army life, which took him around Europe from Sicily to Sweden to Bordeaux, and writes of his admiration for the Duke of Wellington, hailing him as 'one of the greatest captains that ever lived'. Napier's reflections on the responsibilities of an army officer (including the duty to obey and not to criticise), and his advice on how a regiment should be commanded, raise this work above a conventional autobiography.

First published in 1853, this book chronicles the personal experience of the 'Kaffir' war of 1851-2 (now known as the eighth Xhosa or frontier war), between the European settlers and the native inhabitants of the Eastern Cape in South Africa. Serving as a lieutenant, William Ross King (1822-90) sailed to South Africa from Cork with the 74th Highlanders in March 1851 and remained there until late 1852. His memoir was not intended as a detailed history of military operations in the Kaffir war and in fact encompasses all of King's experiences in South Africa rather than focusing solely on the conflict. The book is especially notable for its extremely one-sided account of events: King exhibits a particularly scathing attitude towards the Xhosa people, who were 'committing the most deliberate outrages and murders' and displaying 'cowardly treachery' towards the European settlers.

First published in 1880, just a year after the titular conflict took place, this account by Frances Colenso (1849-87) of the 1879 war between British settlers and the Zulu population in South Africa is remarkable in its defence of the Zulu people, a very unusual view for a British writer at this time. Colenso was the daughter of controversial bible scholar John William Colenso, the first Anglican bishop of Natal. This book was intended to support her father's criticism of British policy, but while she credits her father's influence and opinions in shaping her book, Colenso is careful to state that the work is her own. Beginning with the causes of the conflict, which she identifies as an unjust and barbaric British invasion, Colenso describes the Zulu war chronologically to its conclusion. The military details of the war were provided by Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Durnford, a close friend of Colenso's.

First published in 1831, this account of a notorious event in the history of the navy makes extensive use of letters, papers and the testimony of those involved. Sir John Barrow (1764-1848) was Second Secretary to the Admiralty, and so had unrivalled access to official documents. He begins with a chapter detailing the first visit to Tahiti by Captain Cook. The mutiny, Bligh's 4,000-mile voyage in an open boat, the capture and court martial of some of the mutineers and the fate of the remainder who settled on Pitcairn Island are described with clarity and even-handedness. Whilst acknowledging that Bligh was 'a man of coarse habits' with 'mistaken notions with regard to discipline', Barrow is unequivocal that the episode 'ought to operate as a warning ... to our brave seamen, not to be led astray ... either by order or persuasion of some hot-brained, thoughtless, or designing person'.

Isaac Schomberg (1753-1813) had a controversial career in the Royal Navy. Although he distinguished himself at the relief of Gibraltar and the battles of St Kitts and the Saintes, his aggressive temperament and scholarly interests meant he was a poor choice to serve as first lieutenant under the petulant, pleasure-seeking future William IV. Schomberg's career never recovered after they clashed. Retiring to Wiltshire in 1796, he began this long-planned chronology of the Royal Navy. Published in 1802, with detailed descriptions of engagements, events on board, and politics at home, as well as an appendix of facts and figures stretching back to the origins of the Senior Service, this five-volume work remains a classic source of naval history. Forming a thorough appendix, Volume 4 presents numerous lists, including information on the number of vessels in the Royal Navy and how many guns and men were aboard each ship.

An influential work on naval strategy, The Influence of Sea Power on History (1890) by Alfred Mahan, an American naval officer, had been instrumental in reshaping military tactics in navies all around the world. Its central idea was that a nation's success was determined by its 'sea power' - its ability to command the oceans with a large fleet. Frederick Thomas Jane (1865-1916), the founding editor of All the World's Fighting Ships and All the World's Airships (which continue to this day), here recounts historical battles to argue that other factors were as crucial, if not more, in determining military outcomes. In this daring and astute critique of Mahan's work, Jane proposes that 'fitness to win' played an essential role in securing victory. First published in 1906, this work is a thought-provoking contribution to the debate that influenced the naval arms race in the period before the First World War.

In 1908, the motoring journalist R. P. Hearne published Aerial Warfare, the first book on the subject to reach an audience beyond military strategists. Enormous advances in aviation resulted in the publication of this substantially revised edition in 1910. At a time of intense European military rivalry, the book highlighted differences in the way countries were adopting new aerial technology. Hearne makes the assumption that conflict with Germany at some point is inevitable, and identifies the airship as 'practically an invisible enemy'. At this point Germany had ten airships compared to Britain's one, and while the British regarded them as useful only for reconnaissance, the Germans had identified potential offensive uses. Reviews commended the book for its depth and numerous illustrations, but also suggested it was alarmist and anti-German. However, it brought the subject to wider attention, and was a factor behind the government's decision to invest properly in aviation research.

A naval officer from a generation that could spend an average of between 250 and 300 days a year at sea, Sir Cyprian Bridge (1839-1924) used this extensive experience and the knowledge he gained from wide reading to become a highly respected commander, firm in his beliefs and unafraid to voice them. In retirement he became a vocal critic of the drive to build bigger ships, believing that hardware should be subordinate to tactics. A regular contributor to newspapers, he wrote articles on naval history, tactics and strategy. This collection of articles was published in 1910, and includes his well-known paper, first delivered in 1902, setting out the difficulties in maintaining supplies and communications with a fleet based far from home. This work remains relevant to naval historians, and to those interested in how Britain maintained her maritime supremacy into the twentieth century.

Adventures in the Rifle Brigade is probably the best-known and most popular of the many memoirs written by the men who served under Wellington in the Peninsular War and Waterloo Campaign. The author, John Kincaid (1787-1862), served as an officer in what was then the 95th Foot, the most famous of Wellington's regiments, which was 'first in the field and last out'. Kincaid fought in most of the great campaigns in the Iberian peninsula between 1809 and 1814 and at Waterloo in 1815. Originally published in 1830, this book is history at its best: informative, enlightening and perceptive, hard fact mixed with humour, a vivid description of life on campaign with one of the most famous regiments in the British army. It is, furthermore, highly readable and engaging: a contemporary review noted that Kincaid's book 'has one fault, the rarest fault in books, it is too short'.

A colourful British general, Robert Wilson (1777-1849) was knighted many times over by crowned heads, but never by his own monarch. Described by Wellington as 'a very slippery fellow', he fought in the Peninsular and Napoleonic wars, and his published account of the Egyptian campaign resulted in Napoleon complaining to the British government about accusations of his cruelty towards prisoners and his own men. Following the invasion of Russia, Wilson was seconded to Kutuzov's army, and was present at all the major engagements. Edited by his nephew and published in 1860, this second edition of Wilson's journal includes personal and official correspondence from Tsar Alexander I and his generals, and gives not only detailed accounts of troop movements and strategy, but also vivid descriptions of the savagery meted out by both sides. It remains an essential source of information on one of history's most famous military retreats.

Sir Howard Douglas (1776-1861) fought in the Napoleonic wars in Spain, taught at the Royal Military College, served as lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, lord high commissioner of the Ionian Islands, and as a Conservative MP for Liverpool. A military scholar, fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Royal Society and associate of the Institution of Naval Architects, he wrote widely on bridges, systems of defence and attack, and on Britain's North American provinces. Written in retirement, when Douglas became an unofficial advisor to a succession of prime ministers, this work addresses the use of steam to propel ships, with detailed analysis of design, steering, propeller and paddle engineering and considerations of speed and manoeuvrability. The book goes on to examine tactics, including breaking the line, fuel economy and fleet arrangement. Built upon by others, this important work, first published in 1858, remains of interest to military historians.

James Anthony Froude (1818-1894) was one of the foremost historians in Victorian England, famous for his controversial 1884 biography of Thomas Carlyle (also to be reissued in this series), and for many works on England during the Reformation period. In 1892 Froude was appointed Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford. This volume, first published posthumously in 1895, contains a series of lectures on the English navy in the sixteenth century which he gave at Oxford between 1893 and 1894. Informed by Froude's earlier research on the Reformation, the lectures focus on key leaders and events, as well as exploring the relationship between the growth of the English navy and the Reformation, and the role of Sir John Hawkins in exposing the Ridolfi plot to overthrow Elizabeth I. They provide many insights into the close connection between the court of Elizabeth I and the development of the navy.

Sir Frederick Charles Lascelles Wraxall (1828-1865) was a historian, novelist and translator (from French and German) who spent most of his short adult life in mainland Europe. Amongst his many publications was the 1862 authorised translation of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. He served as assistant commissary at Kerch in the Crimea in 1856 and afterwards maintained a strong interest in military matters, on which he published several books. This volume, first published in 1856, outlines the military capability of thirteen European nations at the end of the Crimean War. Wraxall uses German military intelligence documents to describe the organisation and strength of the armies and navies of countries including Britain, France, Russia, Turkey, Prussia, Austria and Belgium. Containing detailed descriptions of the numbers of infantry, cavalry, engineers, artillery, ships and crew for each country, the book remains a valuable resource for military historians interested in mid-nineteenth-century Europe.

John Charnock (1756-1807) was a professional naval biographer and historian. After completing his studies at Trinity College, Oxford, he joined the Navy as a volunteer and began to research historical and contemporary naval affairs. This six-volume work, first published between 1794 and 1798, contains biographies of over two thousand post-captains and admirals who served in the Navy between 1660 and 1793. Charnock researched this monumental project using collections of historical naval biographies made available by his friend Captain William Locker, lieutenant-governor of Greenwich Hospital. He also drew on his own experiences and his contacts among serving officers to provide valuable insights into contemporary events. However, his sometimes uncritical approach to sources means his work is best consulted together with other evidence. The biographies are arranged by year of first appointment, and alphabetically within each year. Volume 1 contains biographies of officers appointed between 1660 and 1673.

In this book, first published in 1910 at the height of Britain's naval arms race with Germany, E. P. Statham (b. 1848) presented the lives and exploits of, in his words, 'licensed plunderers'. Insisting his tales were 'without embroidery' but were intended 'to amuse and entertain', Statham clearly had a fondness for adventure and an almost grudging admiration for his subjects. A retired Royal Navy officer at the time of publication, Statham was also the author of a number of medieval histories, and at one point was the superintendent of a School Ship, which when moored in the River Mersey (Statham was born in Liverpool) was twice burnt down by its pupils. In his conclusion, Statham questions the possible role of privateering in the wars yet to come. Engaging and colourful, the stories perhaps reveal as much about the buccaneering spirit of the author as they do about their subjects.