The Vainglorious War 1854-56

by A.J. Barker

1st edn. 8vo. Original gilt lettered black cloth, top edge red (lightly bumped at head of spine - otherwise near Fine), dustwrapper (small nicks at edges - in protective wrapper, not price clipped). Pp. xix + 348, illus with b&w plates and maps (no inscriptions).

Genres: War

348 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Lieutenant Colonel Arthur James Barker

Reviews

[Christopher Saunders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Workmanlike volume on the Crimean War. Barker's account is good as a straight military history: he provides extremely detailed tactical accounts of the war's major battles, which help elucidate what other books leave unclear (especially the Alma). Otherwise, he recites familiar facts, figures and fights without particular insight or originality, giving short shrift to the political aspects while relegating Florence Nightingale to a brief side chapter. An unremarkable book compared to standard popular histories by Cecil Woodham-Smith, Christopher Hibbert and Orlando Figes.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every war is to some degree a senseless waste of human life, but the Crimean War might be an especially pointless exercise in wastefulness. A struggle of shockingly incompetently led armies, ith a shameful disregard for logistics, strategy, and the well being of the troops actually doing the fighting. A war where all of the lessons learned from the horrifying mistakes were promptly ignored or forgotten by their armies which resolved with no meaningful change of territory or political shifts. If not for the Tennyson poem and the rise of Florence Nightingale, the pile of dead and mangled soldiers would barely warrant a footnote in history.

Barker does a decent job, as far as older style academia can, of covering the war. Annotations and footnotes are scant, the book lacks decent maps, and he has a bad habit of making value judgements without much in the way of citations to support his assertions, but he covers most of the main campaign with a solid amount of detail. The book loses a bit of steam near the end of the campaign, where engagements are reduced to brief mentions and casualty numbers, but when he digs in he conveys both the high level and ground level view of the battles and strategic struggle.