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An influential yet controversial naval officer who played key roles in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars through unconventional methods and secretive operations.Quicksilver Captain is the story of Sir Home Popham (1762-1820), an extraordinary and under-appreciated personality of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Popham was a bundle of highly unusual contradictions. He achieved the rank of post-captain without a ship; he was more often employed by the War Department than by the Admiralty; and, as an expert in combined operations, he spent almost as much time serving on shore as at sea. In just over 25 years as a naval officer, Popham acted as an agent for transports, an unofficial diplomat, an intelligence officer, a Member of Parliament, an acclaimed hydrographer, a scientist and inventor, a publicist, and a government adviser, among many other roles.Popham's career was literally as well as figuratively amphibious. So was his personality. Popham's well-known past as an illicit private trader, as well as his notorious lack of scruples, marred his reputation. People meeting him for the first time did not know what to make of him: 'He seems a pleasant man, but a dasher.' He fully understood the importance of communication and is best known for inventing a signal code that the Royal Navy used for decades. When he died, he left reams of correspondence behind him. But he also understood that words could either obfuscate or illuminate the truth, and his genius for twisting the facts to suit his own purposes made him an unreliable narrator. Many contemporaries distrusted and loathed him; after his court martial in 1807 for attacking Buenos Aires without orders (he escaped with a reprimand), many of his naval peers refused outright to serve with him again. And yet, even his greatest critics could not deny his abilities. One of his fellow naval captains wrote what could have been his epitaph: 'He is an extraordinary man, and would have been a great man, had he been honest.'Quicksilver Captain paints a portrait of an ambitious man who built a career based on secrets and shadows. Popham's direct line to important patrons like William Pitt and Henry Dundas allowed him to play a role far beyond that of an ordinary post-captain. His ideas for using Britain's naval might for imperial defense and expanding British trade, as well as his knowledge of combined operations, made him the politicians' go-to expert. They wanted results, no matter what the cost, and Popham's willingness to play dirty - using bribery, threats, and experimental weaponry - appealed to them. In return, they protected him from his many foes, although in the end, they could not save him from his worst enemy - himself.

A diary of a young British officer during the campaigns of the Duke of York against the French between 1793 and 1795.

The proceedings of the 2019 From Reason to Revolution conference, addressing the British soldier 1721-1815.

The 1779 American Revolutionary War campaign leading up to the American assault and capture of Stony Point, New York, led by General Anthony Wayne.

This book deals with the Guerra Fantastica, or 'Fantastical War', a series of military operations that occurred in Portugal during the Seven Years' War.

A series of case studies exploring the experiences of various units deployed to oppose the Jacobite Rising of 1745.

This is the story of how, in 1808, the Royal Navy used its dominance in the Baltic to rescue the Spanish Army of the Marques de La Romana.

Lavishly illustrated by Franco Saudelli, the volume shows the elegance of the Saxon Army, misjudged by Friedrich II of Prussia as "weak".

An analysis and evaluation of the British army sent to Egypt in 1801 to eject the French Army of the Orient.

Scharnhorst: The Formative Years is the first comprehensive study of Gerhard Scharnhorst. It focuses on his service in Hanover, corrects the inaccuracies of previous German editions, and presents many unpublished discoveries.

A detailed account of the Battle of Villamuriel, the largest action during Wellington's retreat from Burgos in 1812, based on extensive use of international archives.

This book provides details of the recruitment, organisation, equipment, logistics, and command of the Army of King George II from 1727 to 1760.

From Napoleon's invasion of 1812 to the Wars of Liberation and beyond, seen from the common Russian soldier's perspective.

The uniforms, organisation and equipment of Napoleon's French army in Egypt.

A memoir from the ranks of the 45th Regiment of Foot for the period of the Peninsula War.

The journal of Paymaster John Harley is an exposé of life in both the British army and civilian life in Georgian times; full of intrigue, scandal and the strange.

Lavishly illustrated by Franco Saudelli, the volume shows the elegance of the Saxon Army, misjudged by Frederick II of Prussia as "weak".

Details the uniforms and service of infantry and specialist troops in the declining years of the Dutch Republic.

The letters written by George Ulrich Barlow to his father George Hilario Barlow, Governor of Madras, whilst serving with Wellington's army in the Peninsula and at Waterloo.

A Military history of the 1793-95 campaign in Flanders and the Netherlands.

From Across the Sea: North American's in Nelson's Navy explores the life and service of North American-born sailors and officers who served in the Royal Navy during the Wars with France.

The Napoleonic Services of John Burgoyne RE who was present at many battles and sieges in the Peninsular War.

A complete and thoroughly researched book about 'The Secret Expedition'; the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland 1799 and the Franco-Batavian defence. Including numerous first-hand accounts.

The story of the mercenary army which gave the future Duke of Wellington the hardest fight of his life at the Battle of Assaye in 1803.

This book, based on extensive new research, examines the military forces of the British Army which effectively faced the threat of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars on Ireland.

The definitive and illustrated guide to French light infantry through the wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon's First Empire, this study details the development of the chasseurs and voltigeurs.

Using new information from British, Portuguese and French sources, this book updates the story of the Lines of Torres Vedras defences and their role in the Peninsular War.

A study of the British use of selected soldiers formed into temporary battalions, rather than established regiments, as the central tactical element on the battlefield in the 1775-1783 war.

A deeply human study of the 47th Regiment of Foot's difficult, but successful, transition from peacetime to wartime.