My Second Obsession - Historical Study
Ever since my school days I have had an interest in military history. In many ways my interest, some would say obsession, with wargaming is secondary to my love of history.
My first interest was in the American Civil War and I have a large library of Civil War books, but as time passed my interests broadened to encompass much of the nineteenth century, but specifically the Franco-Prussian and Austro-Prussian wars, with more than a passing interest in the Crimean and Franco-Austrian Wars.
In 1992 my interests in the Franco-Prussian War saw me commence work on a study of the Battle of Spicheren, fought on 6 August, 1870. I struggled with this work because of a lack of access to good reference collections here in New Zealand, and all work ceased when my computer, with all my work on it, was stolen in 1997.
The project languished when I married and changed careers, but was given fresh life when on a visit to France in 2005 I purchased some second hand books. I also discovered that since I had put the project on hold there had been a rapid expansion of the number of digitised books available on the internet. Suddenly all the works that had been unavailable to me in the early 1990s, were accessible. Between 2006 and 2012 my research raced along and the small work on Spicheren expanded into a study of the opening battles - Wissembourg, Spicheren and Froeschwiller. By mid-2012 the work was completed and ready for proof reading.
That is where the project stands today. The expected publication date is sometime.
Hi Mark. I know how you feel. After penning a couple of volumes on the French Army in 1870 for Osprey some 30 years ago, I have found it difficult to get new projects done, what with work, family and all the rest. Now I have a little more time on my hands, I am (still slowly) pushing on with some smaller monographs, that I assumed would be quicker - hmmmm. These are on the Imperial Guard in 1870, the Mitrailleuse and von Bredow's Death Ride. Still a fair bit to do and trying to decide whether to publish as single studies or in a collection of 6-10. Either way, it is still more at the stage of "to do" than "work in progress"! Hope you succeed in getting yours over the finishing line - it sounds very interesting. If you fancy exchanging notes any time, my email address is steveshann@blueyonder.co.uk Cheers. Steve
ReplyDeleteHi Steve, my monograph has morphed into a monolith and sits at 468 pages. One day I will publish this, but it is quite a leap of faith to put it out there.
DeleteHi Steve, my monograph has morphed into a monolith and sits at 468 pages. One day I will publish this, but it is quite a leap of faith to put it out there.
Delete