Anschluss is proud to present the 5th book in the W.J. Rawkins Napoleonic Uniform Guide series.
The definitive uniform guide on this neglected army... with 8 pages of coloured Knotel plates and all you will need to produce finely painted an accurate model figures.
To whet your appetite... here is the blurb.
The Prussian Army of 1798-1806 was in many respects an institution living on the reputation gained by Frederick the Great in the Seven Years War. But by the time of the revolution in France and the subsequent rise of Napoleon and the, for the time new tactics being used on the battlefield the Prussian Army was a shadow, militarily of its ancestry. The battles in which Prussia took part on the French border during the Revolutionary Wars should have offered plenty of examples of the requirements for change, but the command structure and leadership, both ossified by years of neglect and indifference was not the agency required for change.
With the end of the Revolutionary Wars Prussia surrendered territory to France and withdrew from the ‘Allied’ First Coalition. (The Primary continental Allies being Austria and Russia) Rather than modernising, the Prussian army continued to degrade with the artillery being of distinctly 18th Century quality and equipment. The Prussian musket, which was considered to be the poorest quality weapon of any of the major armies was not replaced or improved, and by the time of the War of the Fourth Coalition in 1806, when, under intense diplomatic pressure from Russia and Austria Prussia joined, there was little or no change in the field army.
Joining the Fourth Coalition proved a military and political disaster for Prussia, major defeats at Saalfeld, Jena and Auerstadt in 1806 demoralising both the men of the army as well as the command, and resulted in a collapse of morale and massed surrenders.
By 1807 and the Treaty of Tilsit the Prussian Army was reduced to 42000 men from the previous 320000 and territories lost. The humiliation of the heirs of Frederick the Great seemed complete. But a Phoenix was about to rise from the ashes...