The Armies of Europe Illustrated

On Saturday I received the very welcome gift of a facsimile book from Mark Cordone. The book is entitled THE ARMIES OF EUROPE ILLUSTRATED and was translated by Count Gleichen* from the original German book by Fedor von Köppen. The book was illustrated by Richard Knötel and contains a mixture of both coloured and black & white images.

Besides a Contents page, a Preface, and a Translator's Preface, the book is split into twelve chapters and an appendix.

• Army of the British Empire
• The German Army
• Austro-Hungary
• Italy
• France
• Russia
• Denmark
• Sweden and Norway
• Spain and Portugal
• Switzerland
• Holland and Belgium
• Turkey and the States of the Balkan Peninsular
• Appendix (Navies)

Each of the above chapters gives a fairly detailed snapshot of the army or armies it covers, including the organisation of units and formations, the length of training undertaken by officers and men, the numbers serving with the Colours and available for wartime service, the terms of service (e.g. universal conscription, voluntary service) etc.

This is a very useful book for anyone interested in the armies of the Belle Époque ... and the illustrations will provide plenty of inspiration for those of us who like to have colourful armies on our tabletops.

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* Count Gleichen was in fact Major-General Lord Albert Edward Wilfred Gleichen KCVO CB CMG DSO (15th January 1863 to 14th December 1937). He joined the Grenadier Guards in 1881 and eventually became a Major General. He served with the Guards Camel Corps in the Sudan campaign during 1884 to 1885 and with the Egyptian army during the Dongala campaign in 1896. He served as a military attaché in Berlin (1903 to 1906) and then Washington (1906 to 1907). He commanded the 15th Brigade from 1911 to 1915 and 37th Division during 1915 and 1916. He then became an Intelligence Bureau director at the Department of Information from 1917 to 1918 and then served as Chairman of the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names from 1919 onwards.

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THE ARMIES OF EUROPE ILLUSTRATED was originally translated by Count Gleichen. This facsimile edition was published by The Naval & Military Press Ltd (ISBN 978 1 78331 175 0).