"Danish Troops in the Williamite Army in Ireland, 1689-91"

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Cheriton
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"Danish Troops in the Williamite Army in Ireland, 1689-91"

Post by Cheriton » Fri Aug 10, 2012 8:46 pm

Hello all:

I couldn't find any other mention about this here. I received the following from Amazon this morning (California time).
We have good news! We're able to get this part of your order to you faster than we originally promised:

Kjeld Hald Galster "Danish Troops in the Williamite Army in Ireland, 1689-91: For King and Coffers"
Previous estimated arrival date: August 29, 2012 - September 01, 2012
New estimated arrival date: August 16, 2012 - August 18, 2012
Sorry, if it has already been mentioned elsewhere, the search engine found nothing. Anxious to see if it will be worth "the candle".

Cheers,

Michael
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Re: "Danish Troops in the Williamite Army in Ireland, 1689-9

Post by quindia » Sat Aug 11, 2012 1:51 am

I ordered a copy of this earlier today...
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Re: "Danish Troops in the Williamite Army in Ireland, 1689-9

Post by Rebel » Sat Aug 11, 2012 11:44 am

it's good, in fact excellent !!
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Re: "Danish Troops in the Williamite Army in Ireland, 1689-9

Post by Rohan Wilmott » Sat Aug 11, 2012 11:06 pm

Hello, Michael!

I can second Rebel's comments - this book is excellent. I purchased mine from Book Depository in UK (best prices with postage to Australia, usually). :mrgreen:

The author is a recently retired Danish Army officer where his final job was as a senior researcher for the Royal Danish Defence College. He trained at the Royal Military College of Canada & the University of Copenhagen and served in the Royal Life Guards. This means that his military analysis is excellent, as is his English.

The book has a wealth of contemporary quotes, especially from letters between the Danish leaders of the forces in Ireland and the King & his representatives in Denmark. Much of this would be new to English readers as it comes from Danish Archives. The author has also made extensive use of other primary and secondary sources, including recent excellent publications from Childs and McNally, for example. The bibliography is extensive and all material is footnoted to these sources.

In the (rather long) introduction, there is much useful detail on organisation and equipment, though not much on uniform detail. There is a good amount of detail on the recruiting of the force, and logistics. This is followed by a full history of the Irish campaign generally from the Danish perspective, but with a lot of detail on the whole conflict. There are some true gems here - for example, on pp180-1, there is a detailed description of the force composition & plan of attack for the assault on the breech at Athlone.

The Epilogue is an excellent professional military appraisal of the force and the conflict.

There are 3 appendices - The Allied Order of Battle, the Danish Order of Battle and the Jacobite Order of Battle. The first and last are lists of units present throughout the campaign, with period of service in parenthesis in the Allied list. The Danish OOB not only lists the units present, but has a detailed list of officers from CO to troop and company level right down to cornets & ensigns!

The book has a number of relevant black & white illustrations and maps. The illustrations include contemporary maps and illustrations of sieges, pictures of weapons, recent photos of battle fields and forts, and basic maps of the major battles. It does miss out by not having a simple map of Ireland with the relevant places and geography shown, but does have a map of Ireland dawn in 1762! This is for those with good eyes or strong magnification. :)

All in all, a marvellous addition to the literature on the conflict and period.

Cheers, Rohan.
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Re: "Danish Troops in the Williamite Army in Ireland, 1689-9

Post by tbarkowski » Sun Aug 12, 2012 12:56 am

Just ordered one of these as well. Ordered through ABE Books from Kenny's Books in Ireland. It was already in stock and was only $56.23 USD with free shipping to North America. He still has one left if anyone else is interested.

Tim
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Re: "Danish Troops in the Williamite Army in Ireland, 1689-9

Post by Cheriton » Sun Aug 12, 2012 5:53 pm

Rebel, Rohan et al:
Rebel wrote:it's good, in fact excellent !!
Rohan wrote:I can second Rebel's comments - this book is excellent. I purchased mine from Book Depository in UK (best prices with postage to Australia, usually).
Thanks for the positive comments. It is some rare excitement when a really useful book on an esoteric topic of interest appears, very much looking forward to its arrival in the coming week.

Cheers,

Michael
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Re: "Danish Troops in the Williamite Army in Ireland, 1689-9

Post by Rohan Wilmott » Mon Aug 13, 2012 12:55 am

Happy reading, Michael. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

So much in fact, that I fervently hope the author will do a followup volume with the continuing saga of Württemberg's Danish contingent in Flanders during the Nine Years War. If done with the same breadth & depth as this volume, it would be an excellent addition to the very sparse literature on the NYW.

So, does anyone have an acquaintance with and influence on Mr Galster? :wink: :mrgreen:

Perhaps those who posted in the Irish Bits 1689 etc topic? If you follow the link to the Aughrim facebook photos, there is a picture of the man himself at the very end.

Cheers, Rohan.
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Re: "Danish Troops in the Williamite Army in Ireland, 1689-9

Post by wdrenth » Mon Aug 13, 2012 5:36 am

I have taken liberty to post a review of this great book on my blog:
http://britisharmylineages.blogspot.nl/ ... my-in.html

cheers,
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Re: "Danish Troops in the Williamite Army in Ireland, 1689-9

Post by Rebel » Mon Aug 13, 2012 9:46 am

Rohan,

I'll mention it to him next time we speak.



Mike.
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Re: "Danish Troops in the Williamite Army in Ireland, 1689-9

Post by Rohan Wilmott » Wed Aug 15, 2012 12:34 am

I'll mention it to him next time we speak.
Mike.
Thanks, Mike. I had a charming letter yesterday from Dr Galster after Four Courts Press passed on my letter of appreciation (& hopes for further BLB era works from his pen :) ). His next work will apparently be on Napoleon's Danish Auxiliary Corps.

Cheers, Rohan.
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Re: "Danish Troops in the Williamite Army in Ireland, 1689-9

Post by Cheriton » Wed Aug 15, 2012 1:14 pm

Rohan Wilmott wrote:Happy reading, Michael. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Cheers, Rohan.
Rohan:

It is due to arrive by week's end.

Cheers,

Michael
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Re: "Danish Troops in the Williamite Army in Ireland, 1689-9

Post by quindia » Wed Aug 15, 2012 1:57 pm

Got mine yesterday. I've only skimmed it so far, but in addition to an apparently detailed account of the campaign there is a 50+ page 'Introduction' that covers the Danish practice of hiring out troops, weapons and equipment, organization, and several pages of on the strategy and tactics of the period.

Sadly very little on uniforms or flags and no mention of cuirassiers so far... :wink:
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Re: "Danish Troops in the Williamite Army in Ireland, 1689-9

Post by Rohan Wilmott » Wed Aug 15, 2012 9:51 pm

Sorry, Clarence.

No mention of Cuirassiers at all in the book. There are extensive contemporary quotes in the book, and cuirasses don't feature. So I'm afraid it appears that either all horse of the period wore armour and so not mentioned as remarkable, or, more likely, none did.

As far as uniforms & flags, very little detail either. Perhaps with Barry's "Irish Wars supplement" for BLB, you could persuade Dan Schorr, Robert Hall & any other experts you know, to do a chapter on these & other uniforms for the supplement. :D :mrgreen:

Cheers, Rohan.
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Re: "Danish Troops in the Williamite Army in Ireland, 1689-9

Post by Dfogleman2 » Tue Aug 21, 2012 2:31 pm

Got mine yesterday and am half-way through it. A definite must-have for anyone interested in the Williamite Wars in Ireland.

Interesting to note that of the Danish battalions in Ireland only the Lifeguards had a grenadier company.
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Re: "Danish Troops in the Williamite Army in Ireland, 1689-9

Post by Cheriton » Tue Aug 21, 2012 8:25 pm

Dfogleman2 wrote:Got mine yesterday and am half-way through it. A definite must-have for anyone interested in the Williamite Wars in Ireland
As did I. Really happy I made the investment, this is one of those rare esoteric books that are always an exciting find for any era.

Michael :D
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