This book is a comprehensive study of the Prussian army from its
inception in the first standing troops, raised as his personal guards by
the Elector Johann Georg of Brandenburg in 1571, to the dramatic defeat
of the Emperor Napoleon I at Waterloo in 1815. It was an army whose
character and capabilities were formed by the Prussian kings Frederick
William I and, crucially, by Frederick the Great. The history of each
regiment is presented with details of the uniforms worn, down to the
regimental lace decorations and the many grenadier cap plates, the
various colonels in chief who owned the regiment and the battles and
clashes in which each took part. Not only uniform and saddlery details
are to be found here; there is also comprehensive information on the
colours and standards carried by each regiment, and their fate if lost
in battle. The book is copiously illustrated with over a hundred colour
and black and white plates, the majority now published for the first
time since they were first executed over two hundred years ago.
Photographs of contemporary items have been included, many of them from
the Military Museum in Rastatt, Germany. Only the best and most reliable
German language sources have been used in putting this work together.
