Frederick the Great

Four Books

review by Ken Bunger

The team of the author Joachim Engelmann and artist Gunter Dom have produced four large format (30cm x 21 cm) volumes in German dealing with the army of Frederick the Great. Two of these volumes are now available in English. They are:

The Infantry Regiments of Frederick the Great 1756-1763 and The Cavalry Regiments of Frederick the Great 1756-1763. Both volumes are available in English from Schiffer Publishers Ltd., 1469 Morstein Road, W. Chester, PA 19380 at $99.00 each. These volumes have been around several years, albeit in German. Each volume has 160 pages with many full page color plates showing almost all of Frederick's regiments. Each full page plate shows a figure in uniform (mounted oron foot), the regimental colors or standard and various inserts with additional uniform detail. The plates are well done, but don't provide any new information.

Die Friderizianischen Uniformen 1753-1786 by Hans Bleckwenn in four paperback volumes is far more comprehensive and a better value for one's money with regard to uniform and "flag" information.

However, the two books under review each contain a full page of each regiment's history. The English translation of this material makes these volumes quite valuable. I highly recommend the English version of these two volumes.

Die Schlachten Friedrichs des Grassen, 1986 at 148 DM. It contains 176 pages and 34 full page color plates showing troops in action during the battle. There are maps and orders of battles during the First and Second Silesian Wars, and the Seven Years War. The battle scenes are particularly stirring and, for the most part, accurate. The quality of art is not quite up to Knotel or Rochling. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this volume even if one can't read an umlaut of German.

The newest volume is Friederich der Grosse and seine Generals, 1988, at 98 DM. Its 160 pages contain two full page biographies of each of fifty Prussian generals. each biography also has a small black and white portrait of its subject. For the non-German speaking reader the real bonus is the set of sixteen full page color prints of various generals depicted leading in battle or in a council of war. An extremely useful five page appendix lists all Prussian generals from 1740 to 1786. I recommend this volume as well.

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