Military success has many fathers and numerous chroniclers; failure and disaster are all too frequently the forgotten orphans. Despite Scotland's worldwide reputation for producing first-class soldiers, generals and naval leaders such as William Wallace and John Paul Jones, the nation's military disasters have all too often been glossed over in mainstream histories.

The Scots have never been immune from bad leadership or simple bad luck. They have been sent on disastrous missions more inspired by senior officer's greed for plunder than military necessity and political leaders have used Scotland's fighting men against unarmed civilians and prisoners of war. The consequences of these transgressions are still being felt today. All too often, death on the battlefield was the least of a Scottish soldier's worries. Britain's worst train crash near Gretna killed and injured more than 450 members of the Royal Scots in 1915. The famed 51st Highland Division lost almost 100 men to childhood disease before it even crossed the English Channel to fight in the First World War. hundreds of Scots died as prisoners of the English after their defeat at the hands of Oliver Cromwell. Many became shark food after their ill-equipped ship foundered off the coast of South Africa in 1852 and a who;e regiment ended up in jail after an ill-advised attempt to invade South America in 1806. Some Scots kidnapped by ruthless mercenary recruiters were massacred by Norwegian peasant farmers in 1612 and Robert the Bruce's younger brother tried to conquer Ireland and made a complete mess of it. And how can we forget the disasters that were Flodden and Culloden? Ignoring these disasters does a disservice to the brave Scots who fought against the odds and lost and Paul Cowan shows in this book that being on the losing side frequently involved showing more courage and valour than fighting for the victors.