1st Edition

Alexander Leslie and the Scottish Generals of the Thirty Years' War, 1618–1648

By Alexia Grosjean, Steve Murdoch Copyright 2014
    304 Pages
    by Routledge

    302 Pages
    by Routledge

    Field Marshal Alexander Leslie was the highest ranking commander from the British Isles to serve in the Thirty Years’ War. Though Leslie’s life provides the thread that runs through this work, the authors use his story to explore the impacts of the Thirty Years’ War, the British Civil Wars and the age of Military Revolution.

    Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Scotland’s Indigenous Military Cultures; Chapter 3 The Scottish Military Diaspora; Chapter 4 The Thirty Years’ War Campaigns: Stralsund to Prague, 1628–35; Chapter 5 Alexander Leslie and the Army of the Weser, 1635–9; Chapter 6 The Home Front: Leslie, Ruthven and the Bishops’ Wars, 1638–41; Chapter 7 The Scottish ‘Veteran Generals’ in England, 1642–7; Chapter 8 Going Full Circle: The New Scottish Command in Europe, 1639–48; Chapter 9 Conclusion; Chapter 10 Appendix;

    Biography

    Steve Murdoch, Alexia Grosjean

    “…this academic study is a necessary and long overdue supplement to E. L. Fischer’s The Scots in Germany.” - William Shepherd, Catholic Library World

    "Overall, in Murdoch and Grosjean’s rich and scholarly book, the researcher will find not just a long series of new facts, but also perspective and inspiration for researching new historical questions. This is precisely how important scientific research should work" - Lars Ericson Wolke, Militärhistorisk tidskrift (The Journal of Swedish Military History)

    "From the perspective of a Swedish historian, Steve Murdoch's and Alexia Grosjean's penetrating study appears not only as an inspiring contribution to European military history, especially with regard to its analysis of the interaction between Scottish society and Scottish Soldies abroad. It also enhances our understanding of official and unofficial relations in a broad sense between Scotland and Sweden during the period. And it is, of course, vital to our knowledge of how the military capacity of Gustavus Adolphus and Axel Oxenstierna's Sweden successfully expanded" - Björn Asker, Northern Studies

    "Murdoch and Grosjean have produced another important book covering Scots in the first half of the 1600s. They return to familiar territory by examining Scots in the Thirty Years’ War; their emphasis on those who gained the highest ranks allows them to explain that the anti-Habsburg alliance gained far more than cannon fodder from Scotland. Those who think the topic is narrow will be surprised by the depth of their analysis in social, military and international history." - Edward M, Furgol, Scottish Historical Review