Peter Hoskins

The defeat of John Talbot and his Anglo-Gascon army on 17 July 1453 at Castillon on the River Dordogne, 25 miles east of Bordeaux, was the last of the great battles of the Hundred Years War. The battle was a catastrophic defeat for Talbot and heralded the rapid collapse of the last vestiges of English power in south-west France. Three months later the last English troops left Bordeaux. The end of interest rule in Gascony brought to an end a period during which, in a little over four years, the French had driven the English from all their lands in Normandy and Gascony, leaving the Calais Pale as the only surviving possession in France - which the English Crown would hold for another century. The battle also marked an important step in the evolution of warfare. King Charles VII had brought about major reforms in the French army, establishing a standing army, and, thanks to the technical and tactical innovations of the Bureau brothers, artillery played a decisive role on the battlefield for the first time. To put the Battle of Castillon in perspective the book summarizes the origins of the Hundred Years War and the ebb and flow of fortunes during the war until the Treaty of Tours in 1444. It then describes the military reforms of King Charles VII and the innovations of the Bureau brothers in the development of artillery. John Talbot, who died in the battle, had a long and successful military career, and was one of the few English commanders to emerge from the final years of the 100 Years War with his reputation intact. He fought during the reconquest of Normandy and, as the commander of the English army attempting to stem the French tide in Gascony, was a key figure in the later years of the war. His military career is described and the book then recounts in detail the campaigns in Normandy in 1449-50 and in Gascony in 1451 and 1452-3. The battle of Castillon, the decisive action in the final French reconquest of Gascony, is described in detail. The book concludes with an account of the aftermath of the battle and the final expulsion of the English after the surrender of Bordeaux three months to the day after the defeat of John Talbot at Castillon.

Tony Hunter-Choat had a long and distinguished career in the British Army, including as CO of 23rd SAS Regiment. This book tells the story of his formative years as a paratrooper with the elite 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment (1st REP) of the French Foreign Legion between 1957 and 1962 before he joined the British Army. In March 1957 the 21 years old Tony Hunter-Choat took the momentous decision to abandon his architectural studies which he was close to completing and join the Foreign Legion. He pawned his few possessions of value and used the proceeds to pay for his passage to Paris to enlist. In the training that followed he excelled and was selected for para training before joining the 1st REP, considered an elite unit not just in the Foreign Legion but throughout the French Army. Thus began an adventure which thrust him into the forefront of perhaps the most savage of post Second World War wars of decolonisation and end of the European empires. He quickly proved his worth and became the youngest NCO in the Foreign Legion. In little more than two and a half years he had been promoted to Sergeant. The period of Tony's service saw him involved in ferocious combat; combat which resulted in three awards of the Croix de la Valeur Militaire, the M daille Militaire and in due course appointment as Commander of the L gion d'Honneur - a singular achievement for a Briton. Tony served during a turbulent time for France, with the return to power of General de Gaulle in the face of the threat of a military coup d' tat and the Generals' Putsch against de Gaulle in 1961. Tony was heavily involved in the Putsch with his regiment, which was disbanded as a consequence of its key role. The book is based on Tony's memoir. A memoir which is modest but paints a vivid picture of combat in the Algerian War, it also gives a most interesting, and at times amusing, insight into the values of the Legion and the everyday life of a legionnaire. As a French general said at Tony's memorial service it was during his life in the Legion that: '... through hardship and comradeship he learnt the hard way to be a man you can rely on: loyal, faithful, terrible to his enemies, generous to his friends.'However, to understand Tony's story it needs to be seen within the context of the Algerian War. Thus, Tony's memoir is woven into an account of the political and military events of the time. Also, since many of the officers and NCOs with whom Tony served were battle-hardened veterans who came to the Algerian War fresh from the disastrous French defeat in Indochina, the book summarise the exploits of the regiment in Indochina, Suez and Algeria up until Tony joined it in late 1957.

Histories of the Hundred Years War have been written, and accounts of the famous battles, but until now no book has concentrated on the sieges that played a decisive role in the protracted struggle between England and France. Edward III's capture of Calais in 1347 was of crucial importance for the English, and the failure of the English siege of Orl ans in 1429 was a turning point for the French after the disaster of Agincourt. Throughout the war, sieges were a major weapon in the strategic armouries of both sides, and Peter Hoskins's perceptive and graphic study is a fascinating analysis of them. He describes the difficulties faced by besieger and besieged, examines the logistics and resource implications of sieges, and provides a comparative assessment of siege warfare alongside set-piece battles and the English strategy of chevauch es. Key sieges are reconstructed in vivid detail, other sieges are summarized, and the book is fully illustrated with photographs and plans.

What were the essential qualities for a military commander during the Hundred Years War? How important were strategic vision, tactical skill and powers of leadership in medieval warfare? These are the questions that Peter Hoskins explores in this perceptive study of the careers of Edward, the Black Prince who led the English army to victory at the Battle of Poitiers and the opponent he defeated, the French King Jean II. Their contrasting characters and backgrounds are considered as is the military tradition of their time, but the primary focus of the book is a close comparison of their strengths and weaknesses as soldiers as they were revealed on campaign and on the battlefield. The Black Prince was one of the most admired generals of his generation, a charismatic leader, a shrewd tactician and strategist and a decisive commander. In contrast King Jean was impulsive, driven more by pride, his sense of honour and personal objectives than strategic priorities. When he was put to the ultimate test at Poitiers he lost control of his army, while the Black Prince took the initiative personally to secure victory against the odds. Peter Hoskins analyses the leadership qualities of the prince and the king according to the principles of war enunciated by Sun Tzu and Vegetius as well as the modern principles of war of the United Kingdom armed forces. He gives readers a fascinating insight into the nature of command and the conduct of war in the Middle Ages.

The Battle of Agincourt on 25 October, 1415, remains one of the most glorious victories in British history, with a legacy that endures today. A pivotal moment in the Hundred Years War between France and England, it reinvigorated the English campaign in France and bolstered the English crown's hereditary claims to French land. Published to mark the 600th anniversary of this famous victory, The Agincourt Companion presents the captivating story of the battle; how Henry V led an outnumbered army to glory, the skill of the archers, and the core military tactics that proved so successful for the English army. Moreover it tells a wider story about warfare in the middle ages. Delving into the development and advances in weaponry, armour and tactics during this period and the impact this had on the battlefield, this is a richly detailed look at the world of medieval warfare.

The author has retraced on foot the routes taken by the Black Prince during the French campaigns of 1355-1356, enabling him to provide an entirely new dimension to the events. In 1355 the Black Prince took an army to Bordeaux and embarked on two chevauchées (mounted military expeditions, generally characterised by the devastation of the surrounding towns and countryside), which culminated in hisdecisive victory over King Jean II of France at Poitiers the following year. Using the recorded itineraries as his starting point, the author of this book walked more than 1,300 miles across France, retracing the routes of the armies in search of a greater understanding of the Black Prince's expedition. He followed the 1355 chevauchée from Bordeaux to the Mediterranean and back, and that for 1356 from Aquitaine to the Loire, to the battlefield at Poitiers, and back again to Bordeaux. Drawing on his findings on the ground, a wide range of documentary sources, and the work of local historians, many of whom the author met on his travels, the book provides a unique perspective on the Black Prince's chevauchées of 1355 and 1356 and the battle of Poitiers, one of the greatest English triumphs of the Hundred Years War, demonstrating in particular the impact of the landscape on the campaigns. Peter Hoskins is a former Royal Air Force pilot, now living in France. He combines his interest in exploration of his adopted country with his research into the Hundred Years War.