Quebec, 1759: The Siege and the Battle
Revised edition, edited and with new material by Donald E. Graves
The fall of Quebec, the fortified capital of New France, to British forces in 1759 led to the ultimate defeat of French power in North America. The dramatic battle on the Plains of Abraham which secured final victory for Major General James Wolfe not only set the course for the future of Canada, it also opened the door to the independence of the thirteen American colonies some twenty years later.
The sheer drama of the campaign and the lionization of the doomed Wolfe, however, have diverted attention from the pertinent questions that the military historian must ask of this famous event. When were the critical decisions taken? Who made the plans? Why did they succeed or fail? What sort of man was Wolfe? Was Montcalm a bad commander or just an unlucky commander? The late C.P. Stacey, one of Canada's foremost military historians, provides the answers to these and other questions in a beautifully-written study on the art of generalship that has long been regarded as the best book on the siege of Quebec.
In this major new edition, Stacey's original text appears in its entirety. Editor Donald E. Graves has, however, included updated source references and more than 120 period and modern illustrations of personalites, scenes (both period and modern), events, weapons, troops, ships including uniform art by such leading illustrators as Eugene Leliepvre of France and G.A. Embleton of Britain. Six additional appendices describe new information on the siege, the complete orders of battle for the oppposing forces on land and sea, the military heritage of the battle, the operations of the Royal Navy in 1759 -- and even the songs sung on both sides. An expanded bibliography includes archival sources and published works relating to the original edition but also material on the Seven Years' War in North America, the armies and navies of the period and the role of the aboriginal peoples.
The fall of Quebec, the fortified capital of New France, to British forces in 1759 led to the ultimate defeat of French power in North America. The dramatic battle on the Plains of Abraham which secured final victory for Major General James Wolfe not only set the course for the future of Canada, it also opened the door to the independence of the thirteen American colonies some twenty years later.
The sheer drama of the campaign and the lionization of the doomed Wolfe, however, have diverted attention from the pertinent questions that the military historian must ask of this famous event. When were the critical decisions taken? Who made the plans? Why did they succeed or fail? What sort of man was Wolfe? Was Montcalm a bad commander or just an unlucky commander? The late C.P. Stacey, one of Canada's foremost military historians, provides the answers to these and other questions in a beautifully-written study on the art of generalship that has long been regarded as the best book on the siege of Quebec.
In this major new edition, Stacey's original text appears in its entirety. Editor Donald E. Graves has, however, included updated source references and more than 120 period and modern illustrations of personalites, scenes (both period and modern), events, weapons, troops, ships including uniform art by such leading illustrators as Eugene Leliepvre of France and G.A. Embleton of Britain. Six additional appendices describe new information on the siege, the complete orders of battle for the oppposing forces on land and sea, the military heritage of the battle, the operations of the Royal Navy in 1759 -- and even the songs sung on both sides. An expanded bibliography includes archival sources and published works relating to the original edition but also material on the Seven Years' War in North America, the armies and navies of the period and the role of the aboriginal peoples.
This handsome new edition of a classic work of military history is the most complete, attractive and authoritative book on the operation that changed the course of world history.
Publisher: Robin Brass Studio, Toronto, 2002
ISBN: 1-896941-26-5
Details: Quality softcover, 9" x 8", (landscape format); 272 pages; cover art by Peter Rindlisbacher; 9 maps;appendices; source notes; expanded bibliography.
Publisher: Robin Brass Studio, Toronto, 2002
ISBN: 1-896941-26-5
Details: Quality softcover, 9" x 8", (landscape format); 272 pages; cover art by Peter Rindlisbacher; 9 maps;appendices; source notes; expanded bibliography.
Sample Pages
Reviews
|
"For students of military history who continuously fret over the usual lack of maps, illustrations, details about the orders of battle and the weights of ammunition -- fear not. {Brass Studio's work provides considerable relief from your run-of-the-mill history texts. ...... Of particular interest in this book is the attention paid to the naval and amphibious aspects of the siege and battle. ...... Graves's introduction does a superb job of providing the context for and a critique of Stacey's original manuscript ...... [and] ...... among the notable improvements over the original, this new edition has included in the appendices an article written by Stacey in 1966 ...... which offered details of new documentation that came to light after the publication of the original manuscript. ...... many have used Stacey's original publication as a battlefield guide, but it was time for an updated reference with better illustrations and maps. Fortunately, Donald Graves and Robin Brass Studio have delievered exactly that."
Andrew Godefroy, Canadian Military Journal, Spring 2003
"The author's crisp style, military insight and abundantly fair measurements of Wolfe and Montcalm make this a highly readable and important addition to any book-collector's shelves."
Winnipeg Tribune
". . . in spite of the fact that many supporters of both the Wolfe and Montcalm schools of thought are going to find their cherished dreams about their heroes cast aside so abruptly, I am sure that the honest ones will agree that here is the best analysis of the Siege of Quebec that has yet appeared."
Rick Hart, CBC Assignment
|
"Students of the 1759 campaign, of the Seven Years' War, and , indeed, of Canadian history generally are therefore fortunate that Donald E. Graves and Robin Brass Studio have produced a new edition of C.P. Stacey's 1759 classic. Although it leaves the original text intact, this new edition introduces Staceys classic anew and sets it within a revised and greatly expanded scholarly apparatus that adds significantly to the utility of the work. ....... Graves writes in his introduction that it is his hope that his work "has not damaged what is a minor classic" as he has sought "simply [to] decant fine old wine into a new and attractive bottle." He has succeeded in this admirably, as one would expect of an historian of the editor's reputation. "
John Houlding, Army Doctrine and Training Bulletin
Winter 2002-2003 "For my money this is the most important book on Canadian military history to have yet been written... Quebec, 1759 is a splendid, stirring, factual account of what took place during those critical weeks in the history of our nation. It explodes a hundred myths and throws out the fallacies with which the campaign has been beset for too long."
J.R. Walker, Globe and Mail
"Colonel Stacey has shown, in the remarkable feat of historical reconstruction, that new light may be shed on a celebrated historical event even when it has been lavishly written up and, some may think, overwritten."
The Times Literary Supplement
|
|
|
|
