Editing Historical revisionism (section)

===French attack formations in the Napoleonic wars===
The military historian [[James R. Arnold]] argues:
{{blockquote|The writings of Sir [[Charles Oman]] and Sir [[John William Fortescue|John Fortescue]] dominated subsequent English-language Napoleonic history. Their views [that the French infantry used heavy columns to attack lines of infantry] became very much the received wisdom.... By 1998 a new paradigm seemed to have set in with the publication of two books devoted to Napoleonic battle tactics. Both claimed that the French fought in line at Maida and both fully explored French tactical variety. The 2002 publication of ''The Battle of Maida 1806: Fifteen Minutes of Glory'', appeared to have brought the issue of column versus line to a satisfactory conclusion: "The contemporary sources are... the best evidence and their conclusion is clear: General [[Louis Fursy Henri Compère|Compère]]'s brigade formed into line to attack [[James Kempt|Kempt]]'s Light Battalion." The decisive [[action at Maida]] took place in less than 15 minutes. It had taken 72 years to rectify a great historian's error about what happened during those minutes.<ref>Arnold, James R. ''[https://www.napoleon-series.org/military/organization/maida/c_maida.html A Reappraisal of Column Versus Line in the Peninsular War Oman and Historiography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200210221158/http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/organization/maida/c_maida.html |date=February 10, 2020 }}'', [[The Napoleon Series]], August 2004.</ref><ref>James R. Arnold, "A Reappraisal of Column Versus Line in the Napoleonic Wars" ''[[Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research]]'' LX no. 244 (Winter 1982): pp. 196–208.</ref>}}