Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. List of Illustrations and Maps ix
4. List of Abbreviations xii
5. Acknowledgements xv
6. Introduction: ‘A Science Covered with Darkness’: British Military Knowledge in the Eighteenth Century 1
7. 1 ‘Grasping in the Dark’: Defeat and Humiliation, Adaptation and Innovation, 1745–1758 15
8. 2 ‘I Was Come to Take Canada’: Louisbourg, Quebec and Montreal, 1758–1760 50
9. 3 The ‘Great Book of War’: Forms of British Military Knowledge in the Eighteenth Century 82
10. 4 ‘No Idea of Any Other Than a Direct Attack’: William Howe in America, 1774–1777 118
11. 5 ‘Indirect Manoeuvres’: The Failure of Henry Clinton’s American Strategy, 1775–1781 154
12. 6 ‘Advance and Be Forward’: Military Knowledge and Adaptation in India, 1750–1790 186
13. 7 ‘Decisive Victory Will Relieve Us from All Our Distresses’: The Lessons of War with Mysore, 1790–1803 206
14. 8 ‘Totally Unfit for Service’: Defeat and Humiliation, 1793–1799 233
15. 9 The ‘Wandering Army’: The Rebirth of the British Army, 1799–1801 257
16. 10 The ‘Universal Soldier’: Shorncliffe and the Light Division, 1803–1812 287
17. 11 ‘The Scientifics’: High Wycombe and the British Way of Warfare, 1803–1815 316
18. 12 ‘The Dread of Innovation’: From Enlightenment to Ignorance, 1815–1856 342
19. Conclusion: ‘Every Fertile Genius’: Britain’s Accidental Military Enlightenment Explained 369
20. Notes 389
21. Bibliography 445
22. Index 473