Battles and Battlefields

In good condition - has markings from use - due to differing weights for books the postage maybe adjusted at checkout.

A battle is an awe-inspiring and a terrible event, no matter whether it be fought with sword, lance, pike and cross-bow; musket, sabre and cannon; or machine-gun, high velocity shells and tanks and aircraft. In battle a large number of men fight each other to the death; many are killed, many wounded. War is ugly, battle is brutal.

Yet there is another side to it, which does not alter the main fact that war and battle are horrible. In battle men willingly risk death or mutilation for what they believe to be right. One would not say that every soldier who has fought in battle went voluntarily, or even understood what he was fighting for. Yet there are always some, often many, who fight and kill for what they believe to be a just cause. Ordinary men become inspired to unexpected heights of courage and become selfless. Many a man has fought willingly, and died without complaining, because he sincerely believed he was fighting for the freedom of others, of people he would never know, of generations unborn.

Battles are violent and tremendous events, they are the key points of history. The Norman conquest was made by the battle of Hastings, our much-prized form of government by free parliament was confirmed by the battle of Naseby. One could cite a score of examples. Battles are important, and because they are essentially human stories of life and death, of utmost endeavour, and because they often have far-reaching results, they make good reading.

A battle does not happen suddenly; it is the climax of events in which the difference of opinion has become so sharp that it is resolved by fighting. To understand why 10,000 men face each other on a battlefield it is necessary to understand the quarrel which brought them to that place.

The stories in this book, all about battles fought in Britain, begin with the cause of the quarrel, so that by the time the armies face each other we know why they are there, for what they are fighting and who are the commanders. Without that knowledge a battle is meaningless.

This book tells the stories of fifteen battles, beginning in 1066 and ending in 1746. There are many more, as the list on pages 185-7 shows. There were famous battles between Romans and Britons, and between the Saxons and the Vikings, notably King Alfred's victory at Ethandun in 878. But the information for these earlier battles is sketchy and in most cases experts cannot agree over the details. The year 1066 seems to be a good starting point, especially as it is the one date we all know.

Most of the battles we have included are of Englishmen against Englishmen, or Scots or Irish, and the prize is the crown, though at Edgehill and Naseby it was to decide who should govern, king or parliament. The first two battles in this book are against foreign invaders; we won the first and lost the second. There is some consolation in the fact that although Duke William of Normandy conquered our island, he and his Normans became English.

William's invasion in 1066 was the last time anyone has succeeded, though there have been other attempts: Philip of Spain in 1588, Napoleon in 1805, and Hitler of Germany in 1940. The first two were foiled by the Royal Navy, defeating the Armada, and the combined French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar. The last attempt was foiled by the gallantry of the fighters of the Royal Air Force. Fighting against tremendous odds, they saved us in the Battle of Britain. We have not included that great battle in this book because it was fought in the skies and not on soil of Britain.

Battles are noisy, bewildering affairs, often confused and always confusing to the soldiers themselves. There is the mad din of battle, shouts and cries, the clash of steel, the explosion of muskets and cannon, or the deadly ripple of rifle or machine gun and the whistle of bullets. Remember the background of noise, the dust, the colour of uniforms, the shouting when you read the story of a battle. No words can properly describe a battle; the reader must do his share.