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1864 - Tom Buk-Swienty

Men of the Danish 8th Brigade during the unit's disastrous counter-attack on the final day of the Battle of Dybbøl; approximately half the brigade were killed or wounded trying to stop the German breakthrough


By Nick-D

1864 is a history of the Second Schleswig War, which was fought between Denmark and an alliance of Prussia and the Austrian Empire, by Danish historian Tom Buk-Swienty. It focuses mainly on the war's key engagement, the Battle of Dybbøl, which ended in a disastrous defeat for the Danish forces. Unusually for a military history book, it led to a big budget TV series, 1864, which first screened in 2014.

This is an unconventional military history in a number of ways. An obvious difference is that the book is structured as if it was a novel - it starts with a lengthy description of the war as it stood the second to last day of the siege of Dybbøl on 17 April, and then jumps back in time to provide a chronology of the conflict. It's also unusual in that it focuses mainly on the personalities of the key figures of the war and biographies of some common soldiers, and devotes little space to what led to the fighting or the composition of the opposing forces. As someone who was unfamiliar with this obscure conflict, I found this to be a bit disorienting, and considered giving up on the book.

However, I'm glad that I stuck with it. Once Buk-Swienty gets into the campaign of 1864 he provides a gripping and very moving account of the fighting, with a strong focus on the human cost of the war. His sympathies are clearly with the common soldiers who fought in this eminently avoidable conflict, but his assessment of the senior officers is also fair. Buk-Swienty is scathing about the foolishness of the Danish government, and makes a convincing case that the Danes ultimately had no-one to blame but themselves for their defeat. At times his judgements seem a bit strong, which may limit the book's value as a reference, but he's never boring.

Publishing details: Buk-Swienty, Tom; Buk-Swienty, Annette (translator) (2015). 1864: The Forgotten War That Shaped Modern Europe. London: Profile Books. ISBN 9781781252765. {{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)

Recent external reviews

Kahn, Yasmin (2015). The Raj at War: A People’s History of India’s Second World War. London: Bodley Head. ISBN 1847921205.

Roberts, Mary Louise (2014). D-Day Through French Eyes: Normandy 1944. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 022613699X.

Gildea, Robert (2015). Fighters in the Shadows: A New History of the French Resistance. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 057128034X.

Southard, Susan (2015). Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War. New York City: Viking. ISBN 0670025623.

Colt, Margaretta Barton (2015). Martial Bliss : The Story of The Military Bookman. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 1508849447.

Scott, Michael (2013). Scapegoats: Thirteen Victims of Military Injustice. London: Elliott & Thompson. ISBN 1908739681.

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