This is one of the most valuable books in the armoury of the serious student of British Military history. It is a new and revised edition of Arthur White's much sought-after bibliography of regimental, battalion and other histories of all regiments and Corps that have ever existed in the British Army. This new edition includes an enlarged addendum to that given in the 1988 reprint. It is, quite simply, indispensible.

The British army between 1783 and 1815 – the army that fought in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars – has received severe criticism and sometimes exaggerated praise from contemporaries and historians alike, and a balanced and perceptive reassessment of it as an institution and a fighting force is overdue. That is why this carefully considered new study by Kevin Linch is of such value. He brings together fresh perspectives on the army in one of its most tumultuous – and famous – eras, exploring the global range of its deployment, the varieties of soldiering it had to undertake, its close ties to the political and social situation of the time, and its complex relationship with British society and culture. In the face of huge demands on its manpower and direct military threats to the British Isles and territories across the globe, the army had to adapt. As Kevin Linch demonstrates, some changes were significant while others were, in the end, minor or temporary. In the process he challenges the ‘Road to Waterloo’ narrative of the army’s steady progress from the nadir of the 1780s and early 1790s, to its strong performances throughout the Peninsular War and its triumph at the Battle of Waterloo. His reassessment shows an army that was just good enough to cope with the demanding campaigns it undertook.