William P. Guthrie

While one might quibble about how this book is structured, you're not going to find a better survey of the orders of battle and deployments of the antagonists in the Thirty Years War, and how they contributed to the emergence of linear battle tactics. Another positive is that Guthrie is not that taken with the towering figures of Gustav and Wallenstein, and maintains a healthy skepticism towards their respective legends; though he does rather esteem the Imperial general Tilly.

Also, if you're going to read this work, you will certainly want to read Guthrie's second volume, which deals with the period of the war that is more the direct French endeavor to assault and undermine Habsburg power.… (mere)

To a large degree this is a tactical nuts-and-bolts survey of the period in question, as Guthrie places the major battles and campaigns in context; both to the war itself and to the evolving conduct of linear warfare. The major emerging theme is that the Imperial coalition lost as much due to consistently inferior field command as they did to structural factors. As for negative points, there are occasional stabs at adopting a popular tone that jar with the rest of the book. Also, if one is going to argue that factors of military leadership were the ultimate explanation of the conflict's outcome, why not be more up front about this from the start?… (mere)