Military Flags of the World, 1618–1900

Terence Wise, Guido Rosignoli

Military Flags of the World, 1618–1900, Terence Wise, Guido Rosignoli.

Military Flags of the World in Colour (1618–1900) fills a surprising gap in the international study of flags, for most flag books deal exclusively with national flags, while those specialising in military flags each concentrate on one major power. Furthermore, these relatively few books remain in their native languages and have mostly been out of print for decades. This book, therefore, gathers together for the first time in handy reference form, the flags borne by the armies of the world, from the Thirty Years War in the seventeenth century to the colonial wars of the late nineteeth century.

Throughout the book the emphasis has been placed on the Colours, Standards and Guidons carried in battle; not those employed solely for display or ceremonial purposes; while the period covered enables the story of the military flag to be told from the time when the military formation known as a regiment first began to appear, to the date when flags were no longer carried in action as a general rule.

Terence Wise, the author, is a professional military writer and this, his twelfth book, is the culmination of many years of research. He is a member of the Heraldry Society, Flag Research Center of Massachusetts, librarian of the Military Heraldry Society, member of the Flag institute of Britain and chairman of the Victorian Military Society.

Guido Rosignoli, the artist, is also prominent in the field of heraldry, having so far contributed five books as both author and illustrator on army, air force, and civil badges and insignia to the Blandford list.

Contents

  • Title: Military Flags of the World, 1618–1900
  • Period: 17. bis 19. Jahrhundert
  • Type: Vexillology
  • Author: Terence Wise, Guido Rosignoli
  • Format: 184-page Book with 64 Colour Plates
  • Language: English
  • Publisher: Blandford Press Ltd., Poole, Dorset
  • ISBN: 0713708247
  • Published: 1977

Chapters

  1. Introduction
  2. Sources
  3. Glossary
  4. Historical Background
  5. The Colour Plates
    • Thirty Years War 1618–1648
    • Polish Wars 1600–1677
    • English Civil War 1642–1651
    • First Northern War 1655–1668
    • War of Devolution 1667–1668
    • Third Dutch and Scanian Wars 1672–1679
    • War of the Grand Alliance 1688–1697
    • Great Northern War 1700–1721
    • War of the Spanish Succession 1701–1713
    • War of the Polish Succession 1733–1738
    • War of the Austrian Succession 1740–1748
    • Jacobite Rebellion 1745–1746
    • French Indian Wars 1754–1763
    • Seven Years’ War 1756–1763
    • British Wars in India 1757–1826
    • Polish Struggle for Independence 1768–1794
    • American War of Independence 1775–1783
    • French Revolutionary and Napoleonic War 1792–1815
    • War of 1812
    • Latin American Wars of Independence 1800–1825
    • Mexican Wars 1810–1848
    • Crimean War 1853–1856
    • Italian Wars of Independence 1848–1862
    • American Civil War 1861–1865
    • Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian Wars 1866 and 1870–1871
    • Colonial Wars 1870–1900
  6. The Plate Descriptions
  7. Index

Military Flags of the World offers an excellent introduction to military colours, standards and guidons from the Thirty Years’ War to the Colonial Wars. Figure painters and Wargamers will find many rare and valuable illustrations of flags for their chosen armies, but there are also many gaps in the collection which require reference to other sources. While the internet has become an important source of downloadable military flags for wargamers and miniature collectors, printed vexillology books like Military Flags of the World are still an important reference for serious modellers concerned about the historical accuracy of electronically distributed accessories for their troops.

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