This book presents a major re-evaluation of the standard view of revolutionary armies, the range of attitudes towards the role of heroic individuals, the formation and leadership of armies, and comparisons between such armies.

Introduction; Chapter 1 The New Model Army in the English Civil War, 1645-6; Chapter 2 The Continental Army in the War of American Independence, 1775-82; Chapter 3 The armies of the French Republic and the War of the First Coalition, 1792-7; Chapter 4 The armies of Bolívar and the war for the liberation of Gran Colombia, 1811-24; Chapter 5 The Voortrekkers, Blood River, and the Zulu War of 1838-40; Chapter 6 The armies of the Heavenly Kingdom and the Taiping Rebellion in China, 1850-68; Chapter 7 Sepoys in the Indian Mutiny, 1857-9; Chapter 8 The International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-9; Chapter 9 The Waffen-SS in the Second World War, 1939-45; Chapter 10 The Viet Cong in the Second Indochina War, 1960-75; Conclusion; Notes; Index;