I recently finished reading Mr Falkner’s military life of Prince Eugene of Savoy. I got this on the back of his excellent book on Fontenoy. The Fontenoy book assuaged my fear that it would be the usual Anglo-centric work, and I found that the new book also gave a broader perspective.
This is not really my core period, or even one that I wargame, but they still wore tricorns/floppy hats so what’s not to like.
The book definitely filled in some big gaps on my knowledge of the Prince. I’d been aware that he’d had two periods when he had successful pops at the Ottomans, and that he’d ‘done something in Italy’, but beyond his role as Marlborough’s wingman, that was the extent of my knowledge.
Falkner avoids a hagiographic presentation of Eugene, and gives a balanced view of the man. It’s nice to have a bit of nuance.
Not the most detailed of works, but this is a good introduction, and it’s probably a must read if you are into the WSS at all.
Sounds like a good book, nice to rebalance the Churchill excess!
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“Churchill excess”. I wish I could think of a suitable insurance related punchline. Ohhhh yes.
DeleteGlad you enjoyed the read.....but what's wrong with Anglo centric?!! 😄
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review. Based upon your anonymous comment on Alan’s blog about not having ability to comment on my blog, I toggled “Allow Anonymous” commenting on. You should be able to comment anonymously now! Let’s see if I get flooded with SPAM.
ReplyDeleteThat looks interesting, and indeed he does tend to be only mentioned as a sidekick to John Churchil, so it's good to get a wider view. One for the wish list...
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