I have to admit a passion for the cracks, cul de sacs and generally obscure or lesser known bits of military history be it the Great Paraguyan War in South America, the Chaco War on the same continent or even the War of Jenkins Ear (its a real war -  look it up!).  Therefore this offering from Osprey, authored by Philip S Jowett and illustrated by Stephen Walsh, not only pushes the right buttons but gives you two wars for the price of one!

The book follows the classic format for the Osprey Men at Arms Series (the series tag line being The uniforms, equipment, history and organization of the worlds military forces, past and present) text and photos with eight colour plates in the centre of the book.

The text starts with a very brief history of the causes of the two Balkan wars and why and who took part followed by a chronology.  This is really all you get in terms of the actual action. The rest of the book is dedicated to organisation, uniforms and equipment.  As regards organisation each nation is dealt with in turn Ottoman, Bulgarian, Greeks (including Cretan volunteers), Italian Legion, Serbian, Montenegrin, Romanian, Macedonian irregulars and Albanian volunteers.  Weapons and equipment are then covered by type rather than by nation so; small arms, machine guns, artillery, military transport and air arms.  Uniforms are covered next.  This done as a very brief summary as the colour plates are the main vehicle for showing this aspect.

Turning to these I have to say that I thought they were excellent.  Mr. Walsh is a new (Osprey) artist for me personally although I see he has illustrated a number of other books for them.  In a book this size (48 pages including Index) these illustrations are not going to be comprehensive but give an idea of the general appearance of the typical troops of the participants armies (plus one or two of the more exotic types).  Two plates are dedicated to the Ottomans, two to the Bulgarians, the Greeks and Serbians have a plate each while the Romanians and Montenegrins share one and finally there is a plate for the irregular volunteer forces.  The pictures capture the atmosphere of the period.  What is surprising (given that only a year or two later the French went to war wearing blue greatcoats and bright red trousers) is how prevalent the subdued tones of green, brown and khaki are.  Some reserves or paramilitaries wore blue but the prize to the least practical uniform goes to the volunteers in the Italian Legion who apparently wore bright red tunics and caps in memory of the Garabaldini of the nineteenth century Wars of Unification!

It may seem odd but what really captured me about the book were the black and white photographs which whilst only being the merest snapshot (no pun intended) in terms of quantity provide a good coverage (nationality wise) and are supremely atmospheric.  They range from two volunteers of the Bulgarian militia, one with an unfeasibly large fur hat, through the classic photographic studio shots of men about to go to war the subjects oozing the serious bravado of those who have yet to see the elephant to those of men who clearly have!

Overall this is a good book, well written and well illustrated both photographically and artistically.  But I have to caveat this by saying that whilst this is a good starting point for this particular set of conflicts it is far from comprehensive.  Also it lacks a Bibliography to help those wishing to find out more.  Still I think it will appeal to World War One buffs, particularly those with an interest in the Balkan and Middle Eastern theatres.

Available now in paperback from Osprey Publishing priced £9.99 or $17.95 (ISBN 9781849084185)