A History of the British Cavalry 1817-1919 Vol. 2 1851-1871 (1975) By Marquess of Anglesey
 
In the second volume of his definitive history of the final hundred years of the British Cavalry, Lord Anglesey deals with a considerably more active period than that which he covered in his first. During the two decades now investigated, the stagnation which had settled on the military scene for the thirty-five years following Waterloo came to an abrupt end.

The army and especially its mounted arm were rudely shaken from their slumbers by the traumatic experiences of the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny. Lord Anglesey describes in absorbing detail the part by the cavalry in both. Of the battle of Balaklava, particularly, he writes as fully as has ever been done before. He believes that ‘inaccuracies of detail and of interpretation have created myths which needed if not exploding, at least revising so as to resemble more closely what actually happened and to explain “the Reason Why”.’

Throughout the volume, Lord Anglesey had relied upon considerable numbers of hitherto unpublished documents, mostly letters and diaries.

He examines with the greatest thoroughness the social life of both officers and men, unearthing much obscure but intriguing material from a large variety of sources. He spent many months quarrying in the Blue Books of the period, coming up with facts touching on every conceivable aspect of barrack-room life both home and abroad—especially in India. Much of this had lain hidden amongst millions of unread, unheeded words for over a century. The picture which results is as vivid as it is startling. It forms a really significant contribution to mid-Victorian social history.

Once again Lord Anglesey pays tribute to the extraordinary bravery and to the immense powers of endurance of officers, other ranks and, last but not least, their long-suffering horses.
 
Hard Cover with Dust Jacket
220 pages
In Good Condition