The conflict on the Eastern Front in World War II was colossal in both scale and intensity, as the two infamous dictators of the twentieth century Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin vied for supremacy in Eastern Europe. On 22 June 1941 it was Hitler's fateful decision to launch the largest invasion ever seen, Operation Barbarossa, when 138 German divisions attacked the Soviet Union. Four years later, some two million German and eleven million Russian soldiers had ben killed in the course of the...

The German invasion of Russia was Hitlers biggest gamble in his quest for Lebensraum in the East and it was at Stalingrad that his gamble failed. Stalingrad is a comprehensive history of the greatest battle of World War II, a defining moment in the struggle on the Eastern Front, which has been called the Verdun of World War II.From an About.Com review of the illustrated print edition:"[Anthony Beevors] Stalingrad is wholly worthy of its fame. Fortunately for publishers, there are many ways...

Widely regarded the greatest composer of the twentieth century, Igor Stravinsky was central to the development of modernism in art. Deeply influential and wonderfully productive, he is remembered for dozens of masterworks, from The Firebird and The Rite of Spring to The Rake's Progress, but no dependable biography of him exists. Previous studies have relied too heavily on his own unreliable memoirs and conversations, and until now no biographer has possessed both...

In 1912, the Balkan states formed an alliance in an effort to break free from the crumbling Ottoman Empire.Forming an army of some 645,000 troops from Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, they took on a force of 400,000 Turkish soldiers. Both sides were equipped with the latest weapons technology.This book looks at the diverse and sometimes colourful uniforms worn by both sides, paying special attention to insignia, weapons and equipment. It also gives ...

Defeated in the Sino-Japanese War 1894–95 and the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, Imperial China collapsed into revolution and a republic was proclaimed in 1912.From the death of the first president in 1916 to the rise of the Nationalist Kuomintang government in 1926, the differing regions of this vast country were ruled by endlessly forming, breaking and re-forming alliances of regional generals who ruled as 'warlords'. These warlords acted essentially as local kings and...

A comprehensive guide to the armies that fought a devastating and decisive conflict in the Eastern Mediterranean between the two World Wars of the 20th century.From the initial Greek invasion, designed to "liberate" the 100,000 ethnic Greeks that lived in Western Turkey and had done for centuries, to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's incredibly efficient formation of a national government and a regular army, this was a war that shaped the geopolitical landscape of the Medite...

Debussy's life is of extraordinary interest because, like Wagner and Stravinsky, he crossed artistic boundaries, associating as much with poets and artists as with musicians. His father was active in the 1871 Paris Commune and the composer's childhood was thus unsettled, his musical preparation erratic, and his subsequent lifestyle somewhat bohemian by the bourgeois norms of the French musical establishment. He never went to a proper school, but was enough of a pianist to enter the Paris C...

Neuropsychology: The Brain and Relational Approaches provides a clinically oriented introduction to neuropsychology through a relational lens. Covering historical and theoretical foundations, neuropsychological function and dysfunction, and clinical practice, this text is an essential resource for understanding and treating brain injury. Its emphasis on a relational approach to neuropsychology also helps students understand the profound impact of social and environmental factors o...

The Spanish Civil War was the curtainraiser to World War II and involved a complex collection of forces, particularly on the Republican side.This title illustrates how diverse the Republican forces were, drawn from loyal elements of the Spanish army that rejected the appeal of the rebel generals, a wide range of volunteer regional units and political militias, and supported by volunteers from many other countries, including Great Britain, France and Germany, in uni...

When the USA entered World War I in April 1917 her Regular Army counted just 128,000 men and lacked all the necessary equipment and training for modern trench warfare.By the Armistice of November 1918, General John J. Pershing's American Expeditionary Force in France had more than 2 million men and was holding 25 per cent of the Western Front. They had helped smash Ludendorff's brilliant Operation "Michael" in the lines before Paris; had turned onto the offensive t...

Germany's 30–year colonial episode in Africa, the Pacific, and her enclave in China is a relatively unexplored aspect of the country's history.Under the young Kaiser Wilhelm II, rivalry with the old colonial powers saw the protectorates, originally established by trading companies, transformed into crown colonies garrisoned by the newly raised Schutztruppe, with support from the Imperial Navy's Seebataillone. This book explains the organization and the operations i...

This book details the uniforms and weapons of the American, Spanish, Cuban and Filipino forces involved in the United States Army's first overseas war.In 1898 the USA took the decision to intervene in the Cuban war of independence against Spain, and to expel the last vestige of European colonial rule from the Americas. This also led to the US acquiring rule over the Philippine Islands; and there, US troops were sent into the jungle to fight a “colonial” war of thei...