FIGHT FOR A THRONE: THE JACOBITE ’45 RECONSIDERED
◗ Christopher Duffy ◗ Helion & Company (2021) ◗ £35.00 ◗ 682 pages (softback) ◗ ISBN:9781914059155 ◗ helion.co.uk
This is a greatly revised version of Professor Duffy’s The ’45. Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Untold Story of the Jacobite Rising (W&N, 2007) as a result of his intensive study of a large quantity of previously ‘unexplored manuscript material’, additional primary sources, the growth of‘Jacobite Studies’and the publication of many new books on the Highland Army and its victories in the battles of Prestonpans and Falkirk, several of which I have reviewed in this magazine.
An explanation of the origins of Jacobitism is followed by a very detailed account of the events of the Rising, interspersed by analytical sections‘triggered by the movement of the narrative.’The repression of the Highlands after Culloden and the later enlistment of Walter Scott’s ‘romantically-tinged Highlander’in support of the Hanoverian regime are also described.
Chapter 15, The White Cockade, will be of particular interest to wargamers as it not only describes the weapons and traditional battle tactics of the Highlanders but also explains how the Prince’s army was very modern, being organised into divisions that were able to manoeuvre independently of each other to deceive the Government forces as to his intentions. The next chapter, The Black Cockade,
describes the Government forces before and at the time of Cumberland’s arrival. The Duke’s efforts to improve the provision of supplies and to strengthen the men’s morale to withstand a Highland charge are described in the chapters leading up to Culloden. Professor Duffy has found no contemporary sources confirming the often stated idea that Cumberland introduced a new bayonet drill in which each soldier would stab at the enemy to his right, whose own right side would be unprotected by his targe, rather than at the man immediately in front of him, relying upon his comrade to his left to engage that enemy.
The black and white illustrations include reproductions of contemporary portraits and modern photographs of places. Eighty-two black and white maps and diagrams show the manoeuvres of the opposing armies, their deployments for battles, fortresses and sieges.
There are five appendices. The Seas deals with naval operations during the Rising and French invasion plans, which could be the subject of an‘alternative history’wargame campaign. The Skies focuses on the weather during the Rising and includes twelve ‘weather-maps’using fine weather, rain, frost and wind direction symbols, not unlike the displays on television weather forecasts.
Through the Land of Chiefs and Lairds
describes the various clans and their chiefs’response to the appearance of Prince Charles. The Highland Army in Review describes clan or predominantly Highland units; mixed or predominantly Lowland units; mounted regiments; English volunteers, and regular units from the French service. Finally there is a useful Scottish, Northern English, and Period Vocabulary and Usage. Forty-three pages of endnotes, a twenty-page bibliography and an eighteen-page index conclude the book.
If one was only going to buy one book on the‘Forty Five, this would definitely be the one to choose for Professor Duffy’s lucid descriptions of the organisation, strategy and tactics of the opposing forces, his detailed narrative of the campaign, his discussion of aspects of Jacobitism not often covered in other books, and his analysis of the enduring appeal of the Jacobite Rising to the present day. It is a heavy book, but not at all‘heavy’to read, which will appreciated by anyone interested in the‘Forty Five.