From the invasion of Britain by the Danes through the battle ofHastings, Agincourt and Waterloo up to the present day, thisfascinating dictionary includes entries on battles, campaigns and famous commanders, as well as ranks, regiments, uniforms and weapons. The reader will find an outline of the British army since its formation in the 17th century, together with brief histories of battles and biographies of great military leaders. A handy reference s...

"A richly textured and deeply moving portrait of greatness" ( Los Angeles Times).In this masterful book, prize-winning historian and authorized Churchill biographer Martin Gilbert weaves together the research from his eight-volume biography of the elder statesman into one single volume, and includes new information unavailable at the time of the original work's publication.Spanning Churchill's youth, education, and early military career, his journa...

The Great War was the first truly global conflict, and it changed the course of world historyIn this magnum opus, critically-acclaimed historian Peter Hart examines the conflict in every arena around the world, in a history that combines cutting edge scholarship with vivid and unfamiliar eyewitness accounts, from kings and generals, and ordinary soldiers. He focuses in particular on explaining how technology and tactics developed during the conflict - and determines which battles w...

The true story of how Britain won the First World War.The popular view of the First World War remains that of BLACKADDER: incompetent generals sending brave soldiers to their deaths. Alan Clark quoted a German general's remark that the British soldiers were 'lions led by donkeys'. But he made it up.Indeed, many established 'facts' about 1914-18 turn out to be myths woven in the 1960s by young historians on the make. Gordon Corrigan's brilliant, witty histor...

For the first time showcasing a unique and extensive range of Australian War Memorial photographs, Gallipoli: a Ridge too far describes the pivotal events of that momentous year as they affected all the countries involved. The book combines fresh perspectives from the worlds leading authorities, including Turkish and German historians, together with soldiers letters and diary accounts. In early August 1915, after months of stalemate in the trenches on Gallipoli, British and Dominion troops...

In a campaign part sponsored by First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915 remains one of the most resounding Allied defeats of the First World War, with both the Allied and Ottoman armies suffering in excess of 200,000 casualties.Despite this, many believed it would be a sure-fire success due to the preceding naval campaign, but increased losses at sea prompted the Allies to send in ground troops. Comprising a large ANZAC contin...

On 1 July 1916, after a five-day bombardment, 11 British and 5 French divisions launched their long-awaited 'Big Push' on German positions on high ground above the Rivers Ancre and Somme on the Western Front. Some ground was gained, but at a terrible cost. In killing-grounds whose names are indelibly imprinted on 20th-century memory, German machine-guns – manned by troops who had sat out the storm of shellfire in deep dugouts – inflicted terrible losses on the British infantry.The ...

Saul David's 100 DAYS TO VICTORY is a totally original, utterly engaging account of the Great War - the first book to tell the story of the 'war to end all wars' through the events of one hundred key days between 1914 and 1918.100 DAYS TO VICTORY is a 360 degree portrait of a global conflict that stretched east from the shores of Britain to the marshes of Iraq, and south from the forests of Russia to the bush of German South East Africa. Throughout his gripping narrative we hear th...

Through the first year of the First World War, Allied strategy had relied upon a series of small-scale assaults, which in reality achieved little or no ground gained. The Battle of Loos was to be different. Kitchener's Army was deployed in strength for the first time and an ambitious plan aimed to take ground over a 20-mile front.However, the battlefield was not the Allies' ideal site and the battle plans did not account for the lack of ammunition and artillery. It...

Unlike its near neighbour, working-class Salford, Manchester proved able to raise eight Pals battalions. Initially, these battalions were composed of middle-class men who experience before the war years was within the commercial, financial and manufacturing interests which formed the foundations of Edwardian Manchesters life and prosperity. Manchester was undeniably proud of its pals battalions; that the area was capable of raising. Seven months after their arrival in France the battle of ...

At all costs avoid blame. Such is the creed of dictators and politicians, tycoons and company chairmen, media celebrities and spin doctors the world over. But what about men at war, where the penalties for errors of judgement can be devastating? History is full of tales of those who have been wrongly castigated in the rush to find a culprit; only later, sometimes much later, when the real truth comes out, is the scapegoat exonerated. Exposed here are the real stories behind the myths that ...

This WW2 military history "combin[es] a look at the background to the battle . . . and the ground level memories of the participants with great skill." ( History of War.org)After two years' extensive research, John Hall Spencer has written a thorough account of the political and military background to the German invasion of Crete and the bitter fighting that followed the first airborne assault on an island in history. Battle for Crete tells of conf...