Mark Urban

To write an engaging book about wars fought two hundred years ago is no easy task, but Mark Urban is up to the challenge. Using primary sources, he brings, along with the information, the personalities of the officers and men of the 95th, their virtues and vices, quirks and kindnesses into focus, and even sometimes, into one's heart. Urban brings the time and the place and even this 'new' method of fighting (learned, ahem, from fighting in North America) to life also. It helps that I had first read the less well organized book on the history of the founding of the 95th which begins in Pennsylvania with George Washington and his youthful battles, fighting alongside the British during the French and Indian Wars. He and many other Americans tried to convince the British officers to fight differently but they wouldn't. . . . and were, of course, slaughtered. Decades later new ideas have filtered in and become a reality. The military is allowing an experimental unit to prove itself. In this new regiment the men are treated with a little more respect, taught to aim (long story, wasn't worth it with muskets) and given freedom when in battle to make their own decisions about what to do. The 95th even encouraged the common soldiers to learn to read. This was revolutionary! Anyway, the focus here is on the Peninsular Wars and Waterloo and the role the 95th played in both. If you read Georgette Heyer you may know that Napoleon extended himself in many directions including trying to conquer all of the Iberian peninsula, which likely he would have done if he hadn't ALSO tried to conquer Russia. (So so crazy). Many of her male characters have been in the army and therefore were either on the Peninsula and/or at Waterloo. The project I am now focussed on made me want to actually know more so there is a foundation even to a few casual or maybe not so casual references I might make. I have some further reading to do -- some primary sources, memoirs by soldiers who survived (and about whom I already know quite a lot from this book) and I am looking forward to reading them. I felt surges of emotion here and there as I read about these men and their doings. As always mystified and unsettled by this aspect of human beings, but also in awe of acts of courage and determination. This period, one to which we are still closely connected, was one of immense changes, new ideas, new inventions and the military, while often very resistant (disastrously so, once again, in 1914) to change, did change as this regiment proved their value. ****1/2… (plus d'informations)

I picked this up from my local charity bookshop after dropping off a load of books that I salvaged from the trash. The cover made it look like the usual Iraq/Afghanistan soldier's memoirs. It is not, Mark Urban is in fact a journalist and this book is a look at the intelligence and political battles faced behind the scenes.

I found the book pretty interesting despite it not being the usual bombastic tale of gun fights, air support and ambushes. In particular I found the stuff about McChrystal very interesting as he has become a figure of some mystery in the media in recent years.

From the start it would appear that Urban is fairly pro-war and doesn't ask or answer some of the ethical questions behind the invasion of Iraq. There are references to Tony Blair but none dealing with the bit question about the intelligence behind the WMD claims. This is a big omission and even though it is not the focus of the book I think it should still have been given a chapter.

The prose is a bit boggy in places when compared to soldier's memoirs but I think that this is a bit of an unfair comparison. When looked at what it is, I think it is a fine book looking at some parts of warfare which are often overlooked in popular media. Perhaps Urban could have been a little more critical of decisions taken but I think two things should be borne in mind here. One, he developed a bond with the people involved, this is very clear. Two, he is not a soldier, casting aspersions without having been in the position would have been inappropriate… (plus d'informations)