German Armies 1870 - 1871: Prussia (Men at Arms, 416)

Rating:
Summary: Sword Knots and All
Review: Although I normally find the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 an interesting subject, I cannot say that Osprey's Men-at-Arms #416, German Armies 1870-71 (1), sparks much interest. This volume on the Prussian armies, by Michael Solka, is so mired in intensely boring detail about Prussian uniforms that I found very little in these pages that was fresh or insightful. If you want to read about the different types of sword knots or what color buttons Prussian dragoons wore, then this is your book but otherwise....

The best part of this volume is the detailed order of battle provided on the Prussian army for 1 August 1870; unfortunately, the author does not list Landwehr or reserve units that showed up for the winter campaigns in France. After that, the author spends most of the rest of the volume describing the uniforms and equipment (with only the barest details on equipment) of the cavalry and infantry. Much smaller sections are provided on artillery and the other support branches. Although the author provides bare outlines of unit organization, there is absolutely no mention of doctrine and the organization provides few details. The author clearly missed a chance here to describe the strengths and weaknesses of the Prussian army. Readers might also note that the cavalry branch gets considerably more attention than any other branch, despite the fact that most histories credit the superiority of the Prussian artillery as the decisive factor in the war. The color plates are adequate, but not particularly informative; of the 25 figures shown, only one is a line infantryman - the kind that bore the brunt of the fighting (why Otto von Bismarck and the Kaiser are included is unknown, but they really weren't representative of field soldiers).

Some of the best notes actually came in the commentaries in the back on the color plates that listed some details of which units were in particular actions. Readers might also note that very few of the photographs or illustrations depict Prussian troops in field or combat conditions. In short, this volume really doesn't address the issue of what the Prussian troops who actually fought the war looked like (why so little on winter uniforms - there was more fighting in the winter of 1870-1 than there was in the short summer campaign), or how they were organized or trained. Instead, the author buries the reader with trivia about different colors of sword knots and other uniform distinctions - all to the detriment of providing anything like a balanced account on this subject. Osprey can do better than this, as evidenced by the recent MAA title on the Russo-Japanese War, but unfortunately the MAA series seems to be increasingly directed toward a smaller and smaller audience.