European Medieval Tactics, Vol. 1: The Fall and Rise of Cavalry 450-1260 (Elite)

If your only knowledge of early medieval tactics is based on Robin Hood movies this is a good book to read about the reality. Most Tactic series books cover a few years of a specific war; this book spans centuries. True technology didn't change that much, but Nicolle does demonstrate how the tactics changed in response to new threats. Hook's illustrations definitely add to the overall package. Highly recommend for anyone interested in this period.

This book was an easy and enjoyable read. It covered some areas I hadn't read about before. I believe anyone looking to get a solid background in medieval cavalry, should consider this an addition to their reading list.

This slender Osprey volume shows an author with great awareness and knowledge4 of military tactics from 450 to 1260. The title emphasizes cavalry, but the book also considers other units, including infantry and archers, for example. The geographic scope is expansive--from England and Scotland and Ireland and Wales to the Scandinavian realm to western, central and eastern Europe to the Middle East and so on.One theme is the alleged centrality of cavalry and the varying tactics across the geographic range. The author also raises questions about overemphasis on cavalry. One strength of the book is diagrams of battles illustrating tactics in combat. The depictions provide a way of giving the reader a good sense of the dynamics of battle (e.g., battles at Catraeth [600], Lech [955], Hastings [1066], Bremule [1119], and so on).While the author is extraordinarily well versed (as far as I can tell), the actual narrative is wearying. Fact after fact, description after description, short snippets from varying regions,. makes this a sometimes challenging read.Still and all, in the end I learned a great deal from this work, a part of Osprey's "Elite" series. And that is a real contribution.

Simple, clear, straightforward. It's not a very thick book and that should inform how much depth one expects--but for it's length, it does complain a lot of unwatered and useful facts. Highly academic for it's ease of reading.

I expected a lot more of interest here, it being an osprey title and I own over a 100 of them and am pretty used to the format they use. But I have noticed in the last few years the artwork has stayed good but the textual content has gotten more shallow.

Excellent

A meandering, disjointed scramble across topics, periods, and cultures. The book lacks structure and a cogent direction and fails to offer any new insights into medieval warfare. It's a shame because the illustrations are top notch.

Time frame is too big for anything but some general information. Save your money and go to Wikipedia, probably just as good.

David Nicolle here presents a dense summary of cavalry warfare in times and places where accessible literature as well as history programmes on TV still perpetuate many myths, and especially English-language presentations rarely venture beyond the very limiting subjects of the Hundred Years’ War and the Crusades.“European Military Tactics – The Fall and Rise of Cavalry” covers the subject for the entirety of Europe, including its encounters with non-European forces. The comprehensive view, and Nicolle’s judicious use of high-quality, and not just English-language sources, draws a picture that emphasises continuity, evolutionary improvement and mutual exchange, rather than the still prevalent stories of revolutionary change and sharp contrasts – there is less “wow” factor to Nicolle’s narrative, but it has the undeniable advantage of being consistent with the sources and the current state of research.In the areas I am familiar with, I did not find any clear errors – personally, I believe the sources show the mounted use of the cross-bow to have been more common than Nicolle allows, but that is no more than a disagreement on emphasis and is by no means certain. The battles chosen are well-described and appealingly illustrated, and the events actually support the argument presented in the text; that this is worth remarking on is a sad testament to the quality of the competition.A glaring omission for a book on cavalry is clearly the near total absence of any discussion of horses – a book on, say, WW II armoured warfare would scarcely avoid a review of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the Sherman or the Königstiger. Yet Nicolle can hardly be faulted too much for this gap, as it faithfully reflects the state of research. There is very little (and even less reliable) academic literature on the various types and conformations of the horses used, or the interaction between the type of mount and the fighters’ equipment, tactics or military organisation. It is only now that academic research is beginning to address this complex.

Thr author endeavours to dismount same conventional ideas about medieval warfare, and more particularly about the tactical behaviìour of the mounted knight and most of what he says sounds convincing; as a result however no clear general picture emerges. In my opinion this was more or less inevitable, given the very long time span covered; however one would like to arrive at a better defined idea of west european warfare, particularly in comparison with that of other peoples (Ayubids, Mongols etc.) in the most crucial period, ie in the two last centuries covered.

Just received as scheduled. Thanks!

Non e' sicuramente colpa dell'autore che e' un grande esperto ma della casa editrice che sta scadendo.Sembra un libro per bambini con disegni approssimativi e immagini inutili.E' un libro semplicemente divulgativo per un neofita.

I bought this for research. Tattics descrbes how fighting on the battlefield is carried out. It's a good read but the main theme is not tattics; it's more about politically initiated strategy.