Treatise on Partisan Warfare

by Johan Ewald, Robert A. Selig, David Curtis Skaggs

Overview

This translation of Johann Ewald's classic essay, Abhandlung Uber den kleinen Krieg, published in 1785, describes light infantry tactics in an era of heavy infantry formations. Robert Selig and David Skaggs comment on Ewald's treatise on partisan warfare and its relevance to current military doctrine. They also provide extensive scholarly notations with the text, explaining people, places, and events during the Seven Years' War and the American Revolution, where Ewald had extensive experience as a company commander in the Hessian Field Jaeger Corps. This first English translation should be of real interest to historians of American Revolution and pre-Napoleonic warfare and of special use to military professionals today in the Army and Marine Corps.

Captain Ewald, eventually a Major General in the Danish Army, describes the recruiting and training of light infantry troops, and discusses their use both in the Seven Years' War and the American Revolution at length. He provides illuminating insights into light infantry tactics and doctrine.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313273506
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	12/30/1991
Series:	Contributions in Military Studies , #11
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	1610L (what's this?)

About the Author

ROBERT A. SELIG is Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Hope College. He has published a number of scholarly articles dealing with eighteenth-century German-American history. German is his first language.

DAVID CURTIS SKAGGS is Professor of Military History and Strategy at the Air War College. He has written a number of publications on the history of the American Revolutionary era and on military history. He also served as Command Historian, U.S. European Command, Stuttgart, Germany. His books include Roots of Maryland Democracy, 1753-1776 (Greenwood, 1973), and he is co-editor of In Defense of the Republic: Readings in American Military History.

Table of Contents

Preface
A Note on the Translation
Introductory Essay
Treatise on Partisan Warfare: Preface
On the Recruitment and Discipline of a Light Corps Composed of Infantry and Cavalry
Of the Strength and Arms of a Light Corps
Of the Drill of the Infantry and the Cavalry
How Such a Corps or Detachment, Composed of Cavalry and Infantry, Ought to Act Upon a March and When It Meets the Enemy
Of the Selection of an Outpost, and How the Leader of a Light Corps or a Detachment, Composed of Infantry and Cavalry, Has to Conduct Himself in This Case
What the Leader of a Corps or a Detachment, Composed of Cavalry and Infantry, Has to Do When He Needs to Occupy and Defend a Fortified Town
On the Rules to Be Observed in Reconnaissance
On Raids in an Open Terrain and Against Walled Towns
How the Commanding Officer of a Corps or a Detachment, Composed of Cavalry and Infantry, Who Holds the Advance Post of an Army Has to Act if the Enemy Retreats
On Ambushes
On Retreats
Appendix on the Three Most Important Tasks That an Officer of Light Cavalry Has to Perform in the Field
Select Bibliography
Index