18th Century FORUM
Havana 1762 - Raid or Campaign???
AdamC
Raid or Campaign??? That is the question!
Afternoon all!
I couldn’t help noticing that one of the Raid titles due for release later this year covers the British capture of Havana from the Spanish in 1762. This got me thinking about what actually constitutes a “raid”. To my way of thinking the capture of Havana is defiantly more of a Campaign than a raid.
Why? Well to my mind a raid would, ordinarily, be a relatively small military action involving no more than a couple of thousand men at most, and more likely a couple of hundred at most. It should last no more than a few days or weeks, again at most, and should have fairly limited objectives i.e. the capture or destruction of a small tactical objective, the capture or elimination of an individual or a smallish group of individuals or the rescue or relief of the same. Most of the other Raid titles easily fall into this description but Havana seems to be a bit of a Black Sheep.
The capture of the place took the best part of five months and involved thousands of British troops and a significant Royal Navy fleet. Its aims were certainly strategic in that they were aimed at reducing Spanish naval power in the Caribbean, off the North American coast and in the western Atlantic not to mention dealing a crippling financial blow to Spain’s war economy (the capture of Havana cost the Spanish crown a fair few million in gold).
What does everybody and Osprey thing about this one? What criteria are used by the folks at Osprey when deciding whether to call an action a Campaign or a Raid?
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RESPONSES
| kuvaszsleepybear |
1
Where did you see info on title?
Posted: 27-Jan-2010 18:19
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| AdamC |
2
It was originally mentioned on the Osprey Blog a while back but has just recently appeared on amazon.com.
Posted: 28-Jan-2010 08:31
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| Phil @ Osprey |
3
One of the great challenges presented by Osprey books is which series best fits a topic – Elites often cover non-elite units, Campaigns often cover individual battles, and New Vanguards have several really old weapons amongst their number! While we do aim for the content to match the series (and vice versa!), it doesn’t always follow that the series title will fit the topic like a glove – just look at Elite 106: Wehrmacht Combat Helmets 1933–45! In the case of Raid, while the focus is on special forces, small-unit actions and the like, it is a versatile series, and allows us to look at topics that might go overlooked by other series. For Havana, while it is an example of a large operation, we thought it contained the excitement and action that would be a good fit for the Raid series. It could well have fit into Campaign too, but that series’ more ‘nuts-and-bolts’ approach might not have done it justice.
So, fitting Havana into the Raid series has given us a chance to look at a fascinating, exciting military operation – one that we might not otherwise have had the chance to cover – I hope you like it!
Posted: 28-Jan-2010 09:46
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| AdamC |
4
Hi Phil
Thanks for that explanation. I bet there are a few heated debates at Osprey about what topics to put where, lol. I'm certainly looking forward to the Havana title. The Raid series is a nice companion to the Campaign titles. Keep up the good work folks.
Cheers
Adam
Posted: 28-Jan-2010 13:46
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