La bataille de Saint-Cast (Bretagne, 11 septembre 1758)

At first glance, the Battle of Saint-Cast might not appear to be a promising subject for historical investigation. A minor combat between French and British soldiers fought on a beach near St. Malo in Brittany in 1758, the battle was a small one even by the standards of the Seven Years’ War: an inconsequential engagement in a secondary theatre of conflict during a period of ‘limited’ warfare. Even locals, despite the column erected to celebrate the battle’s centenary, scarcely remember it. A survey of secondary school students in Saint-Cast conducted by the authors in 2008 indicated that only 11 per cent knew the battle had been between English and French and only three per cent could situate it approximately in the eighteenth century. Nevertheless, taking their inspiration from historians who, from John Keegan to Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau, have given new life to the historical study of battle, the authors of this book have produced a work of extraordinary richness. By painstakingly reconstructing the Battle of Saint-Cast on the basis of a critical analysis of sources from both sides of the English Channel and by placing that event in its many contexts—military, political, social, economic, cultural—they provide a vivid picture of eighteenth-century warfare and of the ways it was experienced, comprehended and interpreted. The range of sources utilized is impressive, extending from the correspondence of generals to the diaries and memoirs of ordinary soldiers; from Royal Navy log-books to parish registers. Through these sources, we see the war from multiple points of view, including those of British soldiers driven to casual acts of brutality as they foraged for food, Breton civilians fleeing the invasion with as much of their livestock and possessions as they could manage, and French militia and soldiers eager to gain reputation and revenge by coming to grips with the enemy.

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