Bøger af Rene Chartrand

Covers the full scope of the French East India Company's military prowess and colonial influence, from its global trade dominance to its strategic triumphs in India and Africa.From the early seventeenth century a multitude of French East or West India companies holding overseas trade monopolies and privileges were active in various parts of the world, especially in Africa and Asia. From 1719, they were united into a single vast Compagnie des Indes (Company of the Indies) known to the anglophone world as the French East India Company. In reality it was far more than that, for its trade privileges also covered Africa, other places in Asia from Arabia to China, and North America. Besides a multitude of usually modestly fortified trade lodges and factories, these companies were the actual government representing the Kingdom of France over substantial parts of Africa, India and the Indian Ocean islands as well as Louisiana in America from 1716 to 1731. The profits were expected to cover government operations. The companies had the power to make war where they operated, and thus, private-sector military conflicts often occurred. They, therefore, maintained their own private armies and navies that were totally independent from those of the King of France. These private troops were usually very modest until the formation of the Compagnie des Indes in 1719. Thereafter, as the French company expanded and became involved in the politics of the crumbling Mughal Empire in India, especially during the rule of the imperial visionary Dupleix, the fairly modest number of European soldiers was greatly expanded by enlisting many thousands of Indian soldiers who were given European training, weapons and sometimes uniforms. It was at the 1746 Battle of Aydar that Compagnie des Indes' French soldiers and sepoys utterly defeated a far larger Indian princely army so that dominance of a European nation in India was assured. After a hard fight, though, that nation would be Great Britain thanks to the good and effective support of its government compared to the French disinterest in overseas matters by the late 1750s. Pondicherry fell in 1761, as Senegal in Africa had three years earlier. The Compagnie des Indes, however, went on for another decade until it closed its books in 1770.The monopoly companies had quite a variety of troops posted in many places. The port of Lorient in France was, from the later seventeenth century, the European troops' depot and training center. Some served as marines on the company ships, others in a multitude of forts and trading lodges on three continents. Their recruitment and command are described. In India, their tactical role multiplied and led to the creation of units of gunners, horse grenadiers, dragoons, hussars, and grenadiers, all with very distinct uniforms. There were sepoy, topas and caffre units as well as auxiliary allied princely armies in India, and trained auxiliary soldiers in Africa. The few royal army soldiers sent to India in the late 1750s are also considered. All Indian, African and metropolitan army troops are covered and described in this fully illustrated study.

Volume II of the history of the Canadian Armed forces prior to World War I with complete units histories, uniforms, flags and equipment in color.

This volume is the first of two covering the organistion, uniforms and weapons of the Portuguese Army in Europe during the Napoleonic Wars. Based on Portuguese as well as British documents, this study comprises a source on the material culture of these forces between 1806 and 1815.

Louis XIV's army in the War of the League of Augsburg, with a focus on the campaigns, the Irish contingent, and the cavalry.

Volume 2 concerns the wars, military politics and geo-strategy from 1672 to 1688 as well as analysis of French and foreign line infantry units.

Though the French and British colonies in North America began on a 'level playing field', French political conservatism and limited investment allowed the British colonies to forge ahead, pushing into territories that the French had explored deeply but failed to exploit. The subsequent survival of 'New France' can largely be attributed to an intelligent doctrine of raiding warfare developed by imaginative French officers through close contact with Indian tribes and Canadian settlers. The ground-breaking new research explored in this study indicates that, far from the ad hoc opportunism these raids seemed to represent, they were in fact the result of a deliberate plan to overcome numerical weakness by exploiting the potential of mixed parties of French soldiers, Canadian backwoodsmen and allied Indian warriors.Supported by contemporary accounts from period documents and newly explored historical records, this study explores the 'hit-and-run' raids which kept New Englanders tied to a defensive position and ensured the continued existence of the French colonies until their eventual cession in 1763.

Volume 1 deals with the Sun King's early years, from his birth in 1638, the resounding victory of Rocroi when he was five and a child king, the unstable years of the Fronde civil wars, his seizure of absolute power in 1661, the initial foreign military adventures culminating with the French army's blitzkriegs of 1667-1668.

The year 1755 saw the rivalry between Britain and France in North America escalate into open warfare as both sides sought to overcome the other's forts and trading posts. This book focuses on a daring feat of arms at the height of the French and Indian War.

Wellington was faced by 80,000 men of the Army of Portugal under Marshal Massena. At Bussaco on 27 September the British/Portuguese force offered battle. This title shows how Bussaco was both a stinging defeat for the French army and a demonstration of the quality of the Portuguese army.