GALLOPING AT EVERYTHINGThe British Cavalry in the Penninsular War and at Waterloo 1808-15

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The poor discipline demonstrated by the British cavalry commanded by general Slade at Maguilla in 1812 prompted the Duke of Wellington's famous remark that British cavalry officers were in the habit of 'galloping at everything. This work rehabilitates the reputation of the British cavalry in the Peninsula and at Waterloo.

Students of the Peninsular War should need no introduction to Ian Fletcher, who has written a number of well received books on different aspects of the subject. Here he has examined the performance of the British cavalry during the Peninsular War and the Hundred Days campaign and has questioned whether earlier historians have done justice to those British horsemen. On the principle that no-one is going to write such a book and conclude that previous historians have been right all along, I don't think I am really betraying too much of Fletcher's argument by revealing that he thinks that a re-evaluation of the accomplishments of the cavalry is overdue. He makes an entirely convincing case, too. From the start, the intention to cover only the British component of Wellington's cavalry is made clear, but this is no piece of patriotic drum-beating. The failings and failures of the British cavalry are dispassionately analysed. Praise, where due, is directed at the Portuguese, Spanish, French, Polish and, above all, Hanoverian cavalry who participated either alongside the British, or against them. Fletcher shows how certain comments of Wellington's set the tone for most subsequent accounts of the cavalry; he also argues that such remarks were principally based on unfavourable reports, often unjustified, passed to the Duke, concerning actions at which he had not been present. That said, some of the cavalry's worst misadventures did occur under the general's gaze, at Talavera and at Waterloo. Fletcher's account of the cavalry's role at Waterloo is especially good. He goes further, perhaps, than any previous historian in trying to make sense of what really happened when the British heavy cavalry charged the French infantry, with disastrous consequences for both sides.

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Product Code:	21152
Author:	Ian Fletcher
ISBN:	9781862274198
Format:	SB 320 pp Plates and Maps Published Price £14.99
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Our Price:	£4.95 save 67%