Vanished Armies

I have read about several Funny Little Wars enthusiasts that have enthused about A. E. Haswell's ‘notes and memories of the days before “the lights went out in Europe” in the year 1914’. The book contains beautifully sketched illustrations of uniforms worn by a variety of European nation's armies of the period 1908-1914.

The work was done by A. E. Haswell - a Scottish artist and soldier - while he partook in a grand tour of Europe in the years prior to the outbreak of The Great War.

I picked this book up on Amazon Marketplace for less than £10 and it is very well worth the price. As a graphic artist what I find fascinating is not just the wonderfully charming sketches themselves but also the little doodles which surround the main plates of details of interest.

Another reason that this book is so valuable for anyone interested in uniforms of this period - which I should think would be the majority of Funny Little Wars enthusiasts - is that it includes some of the nations who were not directly involved in the then looming war of 1914-18.

Normally modern books about uniforms tend to be campaign or conflict based, surmising that most 'military enthusiasts' are interested in war. As such those nations which did not take part in conflagrations are likely to be overlooked and their forces, their uniforms and formations have faded away and are generally undocumented. So it is nice to see countries like Spain, Portugal and Sweden being represented in Mr. Haswell's book.

The colour and variety of uniforms, even within one nation's army, are a delight to behold and this is sure to be a font of inspiration for any FLW 'Field Marshal' who is mustering his forces!

Vanished Armies by A. E. Haswell available from Amazon retailers