By Force of Arms, Vol. II of the Austrian Army in the Seven Years War (review)

Christopher Duffy is a name that I have known my since I entered graduate school in 1989. If one was interested in almost anything to do with tactical and operational military history in Central Europe between the Wars of Austrian Succession and the end of the Napoleonic Wars, it was likely that one had read at least one of his books. Further, Duffy's two books on the nuts-and-bolts of early modern siege warfare are essential reading on the topic. This new work, the second of two volumes, By Force of Arms, is a continuation of Duffy's long interest in the Austrian Army during the Eighteenth Century. It is, I am very sad to say, his least useful, especially if you have read his excellent The Army of Maria Theresa and The Army of Frederick the Great.

In the two-page introduction Duffy makes clear what he intends. He wishes for this work to restore the value of "…campaign and battle history…" (p. 8), something he will achieve, we assume, through a chronological detailing of the Seven Years War. Duffy asserts that in studying the background to the Napoleonic Wars: "The story of the Seven Years War in Central Europe has been entirely left out of the account…" (p. 8). From the introduction, then, the reader is given, it appears, the notion that Duffy will set out a detailed history of the events of the war as well as showing the greater innovations and modernity of this "new" Austrian Army.

Since the book is a second volume, it dispenses with events prior to 1756 and, with a few words about the supposed genius of the Austrian Staatscanzler Count Kaunitz, architect of the "Diplomatic Revolution," he dives right into the first campaign. The reader is thrust into the Prussian invasion of Saxony, given the details of the Austrian inability to bring sizable forces to bear in order to save their ally, the failed battle of Lobositz (October 1, 1756), and the botched relief at Pirna. For those who enjoy the details of battle, especially for the immediate concerns of the tactical, the descriptions of the fighting are vivid and can be engrossing. However, Duffy has sacrificed clear operational pictures in lieu of more space for the tactical. For the uninitiated, meaning those that do not know the general make up of the Austrian and Prussian operational movements in 1756, or the rest of the war, it would be easy to get lost. Many maps are provided, but were clearly taken from Duffy's previous works on the Austrian and Prussian armies. A new addition over previous works are pictures, we assume taken by the author, of many of the sites where the battles took place. This is visually interesting, but it is not always clear how much has or has not changed in the past 250 years. As mentioned above, anyone new to the topic would really need to have read those earlier works to keep up. And struggle to keep up the reader must, because the pace in covering the endless details can be exhausting.

In the realm of actual style, the book could have used a more disciplined editor. Although always given to a certain amount of flowery prose, here Duffy indulges himself. One of dozens of examples can be seen in his lengthy description of the Battle of Kundersdorf, where the reader is treated to "The green-clad desperados of the Loudon Grenadiers (sic) had indeed 'fought like lions,' as Campitelli exclaimed…" (p. 167). The use of a term from the American West seems an odd choice considering the setting and the person speaking. Further, certain place names are occasionally given in bold print (like Leipzig and Torgau on page 181...