A guide to the battlefields of Europe (bevezetés)
Almost a century ago General Hamley wrote in his introduction to the Operations of War that 'no kind of history so fascinates mankind as the history of wars'. This fascination has steadily developed, and in recent years there has been a perceptible increase in popular interest in military history. A glance at the book lists of many publishing houses reveals a remarkable growth over the last decade in the number of titles relating to the military affairs of the past. This growing awareness of the interest and importance of the subject has been long overdue; too many historians have tended to dismiss military history as rather a trivial 'poor relation' of the great constitutional, economic and social fields of study, or at best a subject only suitable for study by soldiers in the furtherance of their professional knowledge. Today it would appear that the close connection between military and other historical subjects is becoming more fully appreciated.
The purpose of this book is three-fold. In the first place it plans to provide the reader with a series of glimpses into the past, giving him some idea of the ways in which warfare has changed as weapons and tactics have developed down the ages, of how the essential attributes of leadership have remained unaltered, and at the same time offering him the opportunity of widening his knowledge through sampling the recommended reading. Secondly, the book is designed to furnish a store of valid factual information which will assist the serious student as a minor work of reference. Lastly, but by no means least, it is hoped that the following pages will encourage more travellers to visit the sites of historic battlefields at home and abroad for nostalgic or educational reasons, there to indulge in the fascinating and instructive pastime of attempting to reconstruct the events of the past and solving some of its many remaining mysteries: the study of history does not need to be confined to reading alone.
Owing to printing considerations, A Traveller's Guide to the Battlefields of Europe is being published in two parts, the division being determined on a purely geographical basis. Thus volume one relates to those European countries situated west of the Rhine; volume two covers those states lying to its east. In round terms, 23 national sections are incorporated (8 in the first part, 15 in the second), the colony of Gibraltar being included as a separate entity for reasons of editorial convenience. The allotment of space varies considerably from country to country, ranging from forty subjects in the case of Great Britain to only one in the case of Gibraltar. Two countries in each part receive a generous allocation of space —namely Great Britain and France (Vol. One) and Italy and Germany (Vol. Two)—and these states consequently form the focal points for the complete Guide.
To keep this two-part Guide to manageable proportions, it has proved necessary to confine its scope to the description of 245 battles. The task of selection has not by any means been easy, for owing to the regrettably blood-stained history of Europe over the past two millenia more than 2,000 possible subjects are available. In making the final choice, a series of considerations have been balanced against one another. As one prime purpose of the book is to provide a Guide in the practical as well as the philosophical sense, foremost among these ranked the regional distribution and present availability of battlefield sites, and the interest of the subjects for expert and amateur alike. In consequence of practical considerations of this kind, it was obvious that the countries of western Europe were more amenable for this purpose than their eastern neighbours, where a different interpretation might be placed upon foreigners armed with binoculars and maps examining the countryside. At the same time, however, it was impossible to exclude these regions completely and still present a reasonably comprehensive picture of battles through the ages. Next, the particular interests of the team of contributors had to be taken into account, and another form of balance maintained. The practical difficulties of pin-pointing the sites of many ancient and mediaeval battlefields—besides the problem of finding accurate information about the contests—also suggested a strong weighting of the chronological allocation in favour of the comparatively well-documented period from 1500 onwards. It was also decided to associate each country with particular periods and great generals; thus in the case of England, the Scots, Baronial and Civil Wars receive fuller attention, whilst the German and central European countries record the battles of Gustavus Adolphus, Frederick the Great and Napoleon; Belgium follows Marlborough's fortunes, France is seen as the location of the Hundred Years' War and the three great struggles of 1870, 1914–18 and 1939–45 against Germany—and so on. However, provision has also been made to include representative battles from other periods in each National Section. Inevitably, any limited selection leaves important gaps unfilled; indeed, in the interests of economy, the Scandinavian countries have been totally omitted, although the deeds of the greatest Swedish soldiers emerge in the pages on Germany and Russia. The causes of the conflicts and the events leading up to the battles are often only briefly sketched, but it is hoped that the selection of suggested reading on each subject, and the more general list relating to the art of war appended below, will between them help the reader to remedy these obvious deficiencies.
This Guide, therefore, is designed for the use of three categories of people who are all, in their various ways, interested in exploring the dim corridors of the past. First are the serious students, whether at work in the library or out in the field equipped with binoculars, compasses, map and notebook. Secondly, we hope to cater for the traveller, whether at home or abroad, whose interest is aroused by the non-committal symbol of crossed-swords and date found on his map, or whose attention is attracted to a roadside monument; this volume should go some way towards answering the natural questions of 'Who?', 'Why?' and 'How?'. Lastly, there is the arm-chair campaigner, who enjoys browsing and speculating by the comfort of his own hearth, recreating and analysing in his mind the events of yesteryear which have done so much to shape the present and may well forecast part of the future. No one would deny that all wars and battles are regrettable acts of human folly, causing unjustifiable agony and distress to combatants and non-combatants alike—but these considerations should not preclude their serious study, if only to avoid the mistakes of the past which made such tragedies inevitable. If battles can be described as the punctuation marks on the pages of history then the study of their causes, course and results must be vital to any understanding of our common European heritage. It is hoped that this Guide to the Battlefields of Europe will in its own way make a small contribution to that comprehension, and prove both interesting and useful.
D.G.C.
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| KATALÓGUS | TARTALOM |
