In the eyes of many English, the Scots have always seemed to have been an unruly bunch; unwilling to accept the power of the Crown and wanting to go their own ways as often as not. This has meant uprisings and insurrection from time to time. The last of these uprisings was in 1745 when Prince Charles Edward Stuart arrived in Scotland from France and started raising an army. These followers were known as Jacobites and were the last of the really organized Scottish armies.

Backed by the French, the army had a number of successful campaigns and managed to take back most of Scottish territory from the English. However, events unfolded such that there was no popular uprising once the army crossed into England as was hoped. Hopes were further dashed when it was realized that the French were unwilling to supply troops to help. Though there were some additional successes, they were few and so the army was pushed back into Scotland and eventually disintegrated less than a year after the initial call to raise troops.

The author takes us through these developments and looks at the structure of the army, filled mostly with conscripts and those beholden to the landowners who led the various regiments. It was as much the make up of the army and the lack of skill of the unit leaders that led to the later failures. When things go badly for a conscript army, there is no training to take over and will to fight quickly goes away.

As with other books in this series, it is divided into sections that include organization, units, leadership and administration, weapons, tactics and commentaries. The book is superbly illustrated with period artwork and drawings, backed by the excellent illustrations of Gary Zaboly that shows the extremely colorful garb worn by soldiers of this time period.

I found this to be a very interesting book and one of a subject I'd not considered before. I'm sure you will find it just as fascinating.

November 2006

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