I finished the book on James Keith (Nothing But My Sword by Sam Coull) and a very good read it was too, if a little slow at first. There is a lot of useful background on Scottish society & political power in the 17th century, and the role of the Earls Marischal (i.e. Keith's family). It then moves on to cover the Keiths' involvement in the Jacobite uprisings in 1715 and 1719, then exile in France and Spain where the Jacobites were used by the Bourbons as pawns in their rivalry with Great Britain. Keith eventually moves on to Russia where he climbs through the ranks to become a key subordinate of Field Marshall Münnich (a German officer) in the wars against the Ottomans, and Field Marshall Peter Lacy in the War of the Hats (Swedish war in the 1740s). Lacy was one of the Wild Geese who fled Ireland during the Williamite War and father of the future Austrian Field Marshal Franz Moritz von Lacy (Lacy senior had married into the Baltic German nobility).
As an aside, Keith's brother George, erstwhile Earl Marischal, had a falling out with some of the main drivers of the 45 and the Bonnie Prince himself and stood aloof from the Stuart attempt to re-take the throne. In his letters to James, George explained he'd been sidelined from discussions by his fellow Jacobites and the Prince, and that he'd come to realise that the French and Spanish were never going to commit enough resources to the cause. George said that the Bourbon monarchies were just using the prospect of risings to distract the British. His final reason was that he thought the plot was doomed to failure.
Coull takes you through the Prussian campaigns of the SYW, including the battles of Lobositz, Rossbach and Hochkirch where Keith played a key part. The last named, didn't end well, but the Scotsman earned himself a place in the Pantheon of Prussian heroes. He also ended up (probably) the only man to have statues erected in his honour in both Berlin and Peterhead.
One thing that lets the book down, in my opinion, is the starting chapter. It 'fictionalises' an event from James' boyhood - you know the kind of thing, 'the weather was turning colder and the farmhands were bringing in the kine, when the hooves of a visitors horse could be heard on the approach to the castle. The boy stopped and stared.....'. Boll***s! That's not history! There's probably never any contemporary account that gives this kind of detail. Fortunately I persevered and this twaddle stopped in the first chapter. I read a biography of Maria Theresa that was full of this type of stuff. Awful! Keep it to novels!
Despite that, a good read overall - Coull's writing style is very easy and reading the book is a pleasure. It isn't in slightest academic (a strength and a weakness). I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in the Jacobites, Russia's wars of the 18th century and the SYW.
*********
Then on to the second book. Zweybrücken in Command: the Reichsarmee in the Campaign of 1758, translated and edited by Neil Cogswell. This is more of a curate's egg of a book. It is actually a campaign diary of the year 1758, told from the perspective of someone (believed to be) in the headquarters of the Reichsarmee. This was the army that was involved the year before in the debacle of Rossbach. Very much seen as the whipping boys of the SYW. The Zweybrücken of the title is Prince Friedrich Michael Prinz von Pfalz-Zweybrücken-Birkenfeld, Commandant-General of the Reicshsarmee. Young Fritz (for he was only 34 at the time) stood 6 foot 6 and won the affection of the Empress by converting to Catholicism in the 1740s. Smart boy. Fritzi was member of the Wittelsbach family (i.e. the dynasty that ruled Bavaria). I'm sure none of this had anything to do with his appointment to the command.
There are several orders of battle (including troop returns) and lots of maps of camps dotted throughout the book. In addition there are lots of accounts of skirmishes and small actions, and at least one siege. I have only got to mid-September so I have a way to go yet. Fritz's main opponent is Prince Henry, the Old Fritz (i.e. Frederick the Great). A lot of the campaign is jockeying for position, each force sending off detachments to seize particular places or interdict enemy supplies. There is lots for the wargamer to feed on if you want to game the Kleine Krieg and battles of a few thousand men. In other words, good inspiration for Old School games.
As well as the Reichsarmee, Zweybrücken is also leant troops from the Austrian army under the command of Serbelloni and that rising star Hadik.
My gripe is that Young Fritz isn't really much of an actor in the diary. Mostly the account states things like General X or Colonel Y with a force of abc grenadiers marched to TownZ. Herr Two Bridges doesn't seem to be dishing out many orders. He doesn't seem to be in command. It all seems to happen magically. Or maybe he's just too posh to give orders. I'm sure Zeybrücken was there, handling his command wisely, not exposing his potentially fragile troops to open battle, edging Henry out of a position here and a position there. But the book title does come across as a bit misleading about the contents.
As a source, the diary is very partisan. Probably typical for the period. The Reichsarmee appears markedly different from the ragtag mob of reluctant warriors that appeared in the 1757 campaign. No doubt there were genuine improvements (and there were always some units, like the Hessen-Darmstadt Infantry, who were recognised as being good the previous year). But virtually every account of encounters with the Prussians result in wins for the Reichstruppen and with casualties massively in their favour, and everyone on the Reichs side performs splendidly. To be fair, Prince Henry was not given the best troops Prussia had to spare (with disproportionate numbers of fusileer regiments and Freikorps) but by the Nth AAR it all begins to smell a bit fishy.
As I mentioned above, I'm approaching the last quarter of the year, and presumably the climax of the campaigning season. With the Imperialists edge closer, will Dresden fall?
