The author of Wellington at Waterloo delivers an in-depth history of the military commander's tactics and strategy in the Peninsular War.After gaining strategic and tactical experience in Colonial India, Arthur Wellesley went to battle against French forces in the Peninsular War. With his decisive victories there, he ascended to the peerage of the United Kingdom as the 1st Duke of Wellington. In this volume, historian Jac Weller delivers a complete account ...

The author of Wellington in the Peninsula presents an in-depth study of the British military commander's early career in Colonial India.Before Arthur Wellesley, the future 1st Duke of Wellington, faced Napoleon's armies, he developed his skills as a military commander in the far reaches of the British Empire. In India, Wellesley led his men to victory against the Tipu Sultan at the Battle of Mallavelly, and suffered injury at the Battle of Seringapatam. He...

This authoritative military reference provides detailed analysis of the various armed forces that fought in the Napoleonic Wars.The Napoleonic Wars were some of the most devastating and consequential in modern European history. Yet for all the attention paid to these dramatic conflicts, little focus is given to the composition, organization and fighting efficiency of the armies who fought them. Each force tends to be examined in isolation, either in the context of a...

this brand new 2011 edition features Alexander Cavalié Mercers account of the battle of Waterloo. As an artillery officer at the sharp end Mercer was there at the defining moments of the battle; this is his eye-witness account of the events that lead to Napoleons final defeat in June 1815. Featuring original engravings and paintings from the period plus later images from the Illustrated London News and the Graphic, this primary source was edited and collected into the famous book "Wel...

On 16 May 1811, the small town of Albuera was the setting for one of the Peninsular War’s most bloody and desperate battles. A combined Spanish, British and Portuguese force of more than 30,000 men, under the command of Lord Beresford, stubbornly blocked the march of the French field marshal Soult, who was trying to reach the fortress of Badajoz, 12 miles north.Beresford, who defended himself with his bare hands against a Polish lancer, was victorious, but at the cost of 6,000 Alli...

From the author of Talavera, an extensive history of the Battle of Waterloo from the losing side's point of view.The story of the Battle of Waterloo—of the ultimate defeat of Napoleon and the French, the triumph of Wellington, Blücher, and their allied armies—is most often told from the viewpoint of the victors, not the vanquished. Even after 200 years of intensive research and the publication of hundreds of books and articles on the battle, the French pers...

The struggle of the Allied forces against the French at the crossroads of Quatre Bras set the stage for the battle of Waterloo that followed.To commemorate the 2015 bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo, one of the defining campaigns in European History, Osprey replaced its single volume Campaign title covering the whole of the battle with three highly detailed volumes.Based on new research drawn from unpublished first-hand accounts these volumes will provi...

From an expert on the Eastern Front of World War II, this book chronicles the cataclysmic experience of the region that includes modern-day Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.The Baltic States suffered more than almost any other territory during World War II, caught on the front-line of some of the war's most vicious battles and squeezed between the vast military might of the German Wehrmacht and the Soviet Red Army.Combining new archival research and numerous f...

The struggle between Rome and Carthage in the Punic Wars was arguably the greatest and most desperate conflict of antiquity. The forces involved and the casualties suffered by both sides were far greater than in any wars fought before the modern era, while the eventual outcome had far-reaching consequences for the history of the Western World, namely the ascendancy of Rome. An epic of war and battle, this is also the story of famous generals and leaders: Hannibal, Fabius Maximus, Scipio Af...

Dutch SS accounts are very rare, particularly ones such as this, covering recruitment, training, and front-line service first with 5th SS Panzer Division 'Wiking', then later with SS Regiment Besslein. He not only informs and illustrates the general politics of the time, but also explains how Dutch views of the Third Reich changed so radically, discusses the founding of the Waffen-SS, the recruitment of Dutch volunteers into it and why so many non-German Europeans volunteered to fight and ...

The bestselling, highly-acclaimed and most famous account of the Falklands War, written by the commander of the British Task Force.On 5 April 1982, three days after Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, British armed forces were ordered to sail 8,000 miles to the South Atlantic. It soon became obvious they were sailing to war. But with no advantage in the air or on land and the vast distances involved, many felt that victory was at best unlikely – and at worst, impossible.

In July 1943, Hitler launched Operation Zitadelle, the last German offensive on the Eastern Front. It was an attempt to shorten the German lines by eliminating the Kursk salient and was designed to result in the encirclement of the Red Army. In reality, the German tanks came up against impenetrable Russian defences: minefields, artillery and anti-tank emplacements, spread through lines 250km deep and manned by Russian troops whose actions often verged on the suicidal. The ...