Bøker av Christopher Duffy

Explore the fascinating history on the purpose, design, and progress of fortifications and siegecraft across Europe, from the height of military engineering to the introduction of rifled artillery.Christopher Duffy's brilliant history of fortifications and siegecraft is the best general work available on the subject. It covers the classic age of military engineering, which was heralded by the work of Vauban, chief engineer to the French King Louis XIV. There was astonishingly little change in the way fortresses were perceived and used for the next 200 years until the advent of rifled artillery brought dramatic new ideas into play. Duffy examines the purpose of fortresses across Europe and the debates of the time concerning their offensive and defensive uses. He analyses the strategic and structural considerations that dictated their locations and describes how they were planned, designed and built and by whom. He then explains how a siege progressed from start to finish: plans and preparations, the investment of the fortress, the ways in which a fortress could be reduced short of a formal siege, and the siege itself at every stage, from the choice of the frontal attack to the storm of the breaches and capitulation. The differences in siting, design and techniques of attack and defense for coastal fortifications are also covered. Using excerpts from the accounts of people who took part in actual sieges or were themselves besieged, Duffy brings out the human side of siege warfare as well as its purely technical aspects. In order to give the overall picture, he traces four great sieges in their entirety: Namur in 1692 and again in 1695, with Vauban and his Dutch counterpart Coehoorn pitting their wits against one another; the French attack on Antwerp in 1832, which showed how little siegecraft had changed since Namur; and the Anglo-Dutch naval bombardment of Algiers in 1816. Duffy's clear perspective and skillful handling of details make Fire and Stone an enthralling book to read and an invaluable source of information.

In July 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie and a tiny group of companions arrived in Scotland. The Highland Army continued to out-fight the redcoats in every encounter, except its very last. These were not the achievements of a backward-looking cause, and this ground-breaking study is the first to explain exactly why.

Originally published: London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985.

What was war like in the Age of Reason, for those who fought in it? Duffy answers this question using research from archives, notebooks, letters, diaries and memoirs.

Tells the story of the Soviet offensive in April 1945 which led to the loss of German territory and the slaughter of German civilians.

This classic text is the first integrated survey of the phenomenon of siege warfare during its most creative period. Well illustrated, this book is a valuable companion for enthusiasts of military history as well as early modern historians.