Brabant, Artur
trans. and ed. by Alister Sharman and Neil Cogswell,
2 vols., 1998, LTR-Verlag GMBH, D-21244 Bucholz, Germany, ISBN 3-88706-771.
For prices and orders tel. 00484181-6775, fax 0049-4191-29 13 72.

Based on extracts from Brabant's Das Heilige Römische Reich Teutscher Nation im Kampf mit Friedrich dem Grossen, 3 vols., 1904-33.

This is a significant landmark in the development of the SYWA. Two of our most active members have come together with an enlightened German publisher to open to a wider readership substantial parts of Artur Brabant's classic history of the Army of the Empire in the Seven Years War.

Although only a part of the Army of the Empire was engaged at Rossbach (5 November 1757), its character and importance have usually been gauged with reference to its showing on that unfortunate day. Not the least of Brabant's services has been to set the work of the Reichsarmee in a wider context, by presenting its contribution to the campaigning in the Saxon theater in the following year.

The highlights of the present work include the measures to counter Driesen's raid into the Empire in May and June, Hadik's failed coup de main against Pirna on 5/6 June, the capture of the Sonnenstein on 5 September, and the interaction with the main Austrian army under Daun in the neighborhood of Dresden in the same month.

However an enumeration of events fails to do justice to the enjoyment which can be derived from Brabant's richly textured history. Artur Brabant (1870-1936) worked for some time as an archivist in Nuremberg, then from 1907 held the post of State Archivist to the Royal Saxony Capital City Archives in Dresden - in other words he shared much the same background as the Viennese archivist Alfred von Arneth, whose monumental History of Maria Theresa is even now the starting point of any serious study of the Austrian army in the Seven Years War. Brabant, Arneth - and indeed their French counterpart Richard Waddington - wrote history in the round, in which verifiable events, and the influence of politics, culture and personality are all given their due, and the anecdotes and character sketches are employed to telling effect. These people must have been excellent company.

In the opinion of the present reviewer, at least, they represent a tradition of humane historiography which is in danger of being eroded beyond recognition. The scholar-archivist has become a rare bird, now that the recruitment and training of archivists and librarians is dictated by the demands of conservation (however necessary in itself) and information technology.

Likewise in the increasingly corrupt academic world it is becoming very hard to tell whether such-and-such a work is the product of genuine enthusiasm and scholarship, or motivated by nothing more than ticket-punching careerism. It is refreshing to return to Brabant and his kind.

Although the full three-volume run of Brabant's history (covering the years 1757-9) has been available in a German reprint since 1984, even readers who are conversant with the German language will find the present edition a good deal more accessible. The old German typeface was always a bit of a trial, and translations into English are on average about one-third shorter than German originals. In this case we have the added bonus of Alister Sharman's familiarity with the subject matter, which has enabled him to render Brabant's text in a way which makes it seem that the great man had been thinking in English from the outset.

The editors have supplemented the original text by a wealth of tables, biographical sketches, orders of battle, and lists of personalities, places and units, and Neil Cogswell's magnificent run of eighty-six plates including scenes that will be familiar to many of us from our tours. Typical of the care which has been devoted to the production is the placing of all the maps and topographical sketches in the second volume, which enables the reader to place the illustrative material alongside the relevant text in the first volume, thus obviating much tedious turning of pages. The Brabant-Sharman-Cogswell co-production may therefore be considered a source book of value for the study of the war as a whole.

We are grateful to Alister and Neil, who have put us in their debt, and established such a strong claim on our support.

(Editor's Note: The above book can be ordered directly from the publisher. The price is $125.00 in the US plus shipping. In the UK, the price is £74 plus p&p. Payment may be made either by check, Visa, or Mastercard.) Send your orders to: LTR-VERLAG (PUBLISHERS) Haidbarg 4d, D-2144 Bucholz Germany Or FAX: 0049-4181-291372 Phone: 0049-4181-6775

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