Campaign desk - Citizendia

A Campaign desk is an antique desk of normal size which was used by officers and their staffs in rear areas during a military campaign. A desk is a Furniture form and a class of table often used in a work or Office setting for reading or Writing on or using a Computer In the Military sciences a military campaign is a term applied to large scale, long duration significant Military strategy plan incorporating

The campaign desk was usually the private property of the officer, as was his uniform and other military implements. It was in general handcrafted by a master cabinet maker according to the officer's wishes or following traditions for such desks. Cabinet making is the practice of utilizing various Woodworking skills to create cabinets shelving and Furniture. The desk forms varied greatly, but nearly all had as a common trait several features which made it easy to transport them from one campaign posting to another.

For instance, a campaign desk version of a traditional pedestal desk form would have strong but removable fittings making it easy to break up the desk in three pieces: Two pedestals and one desktop surface. A pedestal desk is usually a large free-standing Desk made of a simple rectangular working surface resting on two pedestals or small Cabinets of stacked Each piece would have brass or iron handles mounted on it to facilitate handling.

Campaign desk variations of the antique Writing table seem to have been rather frequent. A writing table (French bureau plat) has a series of drawers directly under the surface of the table to contain writing implements so that it may serve as a Desk This form was usually in one piece, with strong handles and two pairs of foldable legs.

A smaller version of such a transportable writing table could be considered to be more a field desk than a campaign desk, since it could be moved frequently from one battlefield's rear area to another's as the war went on. A field desk is a Portable desk which is meant to be used in rear areas not too far from a battlefield and moved around rather frequently in difficult conditions

Any campaign desk is in a sense also a portable desk. The portable Desk has not one but many forms In a sense the portable desk is a long-lost ancestor of the Portable computer, and the modern Laptop

See also