Keith Roberts

Newbury 1643 is one of the decisive campaigns of the English Civil War, marking a turning point in the course of the conflict. This work shows that the battle of Newbury represented the last realistic chance for the king to win a military victory over Parliament. When on 10 August 1643, King Charles summoned the City of Gloucester to surrender, the city's only hope lay in a relief expedition from London and the Earl of Wessex was forced to send his weakened army to face the king. The two forces met at Newbury and the Londoners more than held their own against the best of the king's cavalry. After a battle both the armies withdrew in good order, the King returning to Oxford. The capital was secure, her people committed to Parliament and the King's cavalry were no longer invincible - the balance of power had shifted irretrievably.

The Matchlock Musketeer follows the lives of soldiers armed with this weapon from its adoption by the English in Queen Elizabeth's reign until its replacement with the flintlock at the end of the seventeenth century. The role of the matchlock musketeer changed as improved design and better tactical systems turned the musketeer in infantry formations from a support role into an infantry pikeman. Finally, with the adoption of the bayonet the role of pikeman disappeared altogether with infantry formations armed only as musketeers. The musketeer's experience in battle, skirmish, siege and camp saw both change and continuity during this period, with the common factors of firing and fighting hand to hand, the hardships of sieges, digging trenches, storming a breach, and life on campaign.

The battle of Edgehill was the first major clash of the English Civil Wars, and the general belief in 1642 was that the developing tension between King and Parliament would be resolved in a single battle. On 23 October 1642 the Royalist and Parliamentary Armies met at Edgehill. Much of the Parliamentary cavalry was driven off, but units under Sir William Balfour's command remained behind and, protected by the infantry, slammed into the Royalist infantry. The battle did not prove as decisive as anticipated, setting the stage was set for a prolonged and bloody civil war.

The definitive alternate history - an engrossing future that never was.

When civil war erupted in England in 1642, it quickly involved every level of society throughout the British Isles. On one side the King and his supporters fought for traditional government in Church and State. On the other, the supporters of Parliament sought radical changes in religion and economic policy, and a greater share of power at the national level. This is the first of two volumes in the Elite series exploring the recruitment, organisation, and tactics of the soldiers of the English Civil War. This book opens with an account of the origins of the military theory used by both sides, before discussing the weapons, logistics and management of the infantry throughout the Civil War campaign.