Armies of the Italian Wars of Unification 1848-70 (1): Piedmont and the Two Sicilies

Today Sue and I went out to lunch with some friends. We arranged to meet them in the Bluewater branch of the Loch Fyne chain of restaurants at 2.00pm, and because we got there a little early, I paid a visit to the branch of Waterstones bookshop that is next door to the restaurant. As a result I found and bought a copy of ARMIES OF THE ITALIAN WARS OF UNIFICATION 1848-70 (1): PIEDMONT AND THE TWO SICILIES that was written by Gabriele Esposito, illustrated by Giuseppe Rava, and recently published by Osprey Publishing (ISBN 978 1 4728 1949 9) as part of their Men-at-Arms series (No.512).

What interested me about the book is that it deals with one of the series of wars that were fought at a time when warfare was on the cusp of great change. The Napoleonic era was finally coming to an end, and the new age of mass armies and rifled weapons was just beginning. The book is full of illustrations that show uniforms that would not have looked out of place in 1815 alongside those that look as if they were worn during the American Civil War and Franco-German War.

I look forward to reading this book over the next few days ... and no doubt getting inspiration from it.