Allan Mallinson Books in Order

At Waterloo in 1815, young Cornet Matthew Hervey is swept into the last great struggle against Napoleon. Split-second choices in battle, and in love, set the course of the life ahead of him.

Fresh from Waterloo, Hervey leaves his fiancée behind and sails to India on a secret mission. Court intrigue, shifting loyalties, and the threat of war in Chintal test him far from home.

Back with the 6th Light Dragoons in 1817, Hervey clashes with a vain and cruel commanding officer. In Canada, that regimental tension meets frontier danger, and both threaten his future.

Hervey is ordered to raise a new troop and take men and horses to India at once. On the Burmese frontier, a punishing jungle march turns the expedition into a desperate trial.

Stationed in India in 1824, Hervey and the 6th Light Dragoons are drawn toward the looming storm around Bhurtpore. A formidable fortress, a usurper prince, and brutal siege work test both nerve and leadership.

Sent to Portugal in 1826, Hervey returns to ground marked by his earliest campaigning. The mission stirs memories of Corunna and pulls him toward fresh trouble in the Peninsula.

Imprisoned in Badajoz at Christmas 1826, Hervey plots escape while reliving earlier Peninsular campaigns. Past battles and present danger close in together, making this one of the series' more reflective war stories.

Looking for a new posting, Hervey heads to the Cape to raise a mounted force on the frontier. The South African plains, the Zulu threat, and the strain of command quickly turn the assignment into a hard campaign.

Mallinson traces the history of the regiments that became the Light Dragoons, from the eighteenth century to modern service. It is part regimental story, part long view of British military history.

Recovering in England after Africa, Hervey hopes to settle his personal life and return quietly to duty. Instead he is caught in family obligations, a looming inquiry, and the wider crisis that leads to Navarino.

Summoned back to the Cape in 1828, Hervey rides north as tension around King Shaka turns deadly. Civil war, brutal marches, and a perilous escort mission leave little room for error.

Spanning from Edgehill to Afghanistan, this history traces how campaigns, reforms, and personalities shaped the British Army. Mallinson writes on a big canvas, but keeps the focus on how institutions change under pressure.

With peace bringing cuts to the army, Hervey is sent as an observer to the Russian campaign against the Ottoman Empire. The assignment is meant to be detached, but battle and private loyalties pull him straight into danger.

Mallinson examines the roots of the First World War and the shock of its opening weeks. He follows the British Army from prewar reform to the early fighting in Flanders, when movement gave way to trenches.

In the bitter winter of 1830, Hervey takes command of the 6th Light Dragoons amid unrest at home. A trip to Brussels for the Waterloo anniversary soon turns dangerous as Belgium rises against Dutch rule.

This study asks why the First World War took so long and cost so much. Mallinson challenges easy excuses, argues that bad doctrine and weak leadership mattered, and reopens the debate over generals and politicians.

Out of favour after the Bristol riots, Hervey gets a new chance when the 6th Light Dragoons are sent to Coorg. There he faces revolt, hard campaigning, and personal stakes that make the mission even more dangerous.

Mallinson tells the First World War month by month, from the opening shots to the armistice. It is a clear, wide-angle history that keeps sight of both grand strategy and the human passage of time.

After the Coorg campaign, Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Hervey expects a quieter spell in India. Instead he is sent against Thuggee and dacoity gangs, and the mission grows into a brutal warning of larger trouble to come.