Following the death of the Yugoslavian President Tito in 1980, the semi-autonomous republics and provinces that he had welded into a multi-cultural nation in 1945 slid gradually towards separation.For ten years following 1991, the world watched in horror as a series of bloody wars ripped a modern European state apart, and the intolerable spectacle eventually forced international intervention.Illustrated with rare photos and colour uniform plates, this secon...

Despite the huge pressure of fighting on three fronts, ever-worsening shortages of manpower and equipment, and Allied command of the skies, Germany's decimated divisions fought on with impressive skill and determination.This period also saw a fascinating mixture of obsolescent, newly designed, and field-made combat clothing which gave the German soldier a radically different appearance from his predecessor of just five years before.Featuring illustrations t...

When at age 51, Joshua Éclair—victim of a pygmalianism gone awry—emerges from amnesia in a hospital in Montreal, he must explore what makes him want to erase his identity, and must undertake the process of exorcising what has brought him to this pass. This is the gripping story of a man’s search for sanity set in the fictional Caribbean Isabella Island and the various places Joshua has fled to: Montreal, New York, Tallahassee, London, Paris and Madrid.This is a finely accomplished ...

In 1918 war broke out for Poland's independence, involving the the Poles, the Red and White Russian armies, at least two different Ukrainian forces, and Allied intervention troops.The armies that fought these campaigns were extraordinarily varied in their uniforms and insignia, equipment and weapons, and when peace was signed in 1921, Poland had achieved recognised nationhood for the first time since 1794.Featuring specially commissioned full-colour artwork...

All aboard for an engine adventure!This Thomas and Friends audio collection contains a fun selection of Engine Adventures stories including the little green engine, Percy!With tales from Thomas and his Sodor friends, sound effects and music, this audio collection is sure to provide endless fun, with beloved stories that your child will want to listen to time and time again!Featuring stories about:PercyGordonFlynnToby

In March 1941, an anti-German coup in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia prompted Hitler to order an invasion using allied Italian, Hungarian, Bulgarian and Romanian forces. Operation Marita was an invasion of Yugoslavia and simultaneously Greece.At the same time, the constituent region of Croatia broke away from Yugoslavia and joined the Axis powers. Royal Yugoslav armed forces, despite advancing against the Italians in Albania were forced to surrender after 11 da...

Hitler first considered an invasion of Great Britain in autumn 1940, then scheduled Operation Barbarossa, the conquest of the European part of the Soviet Union, for May 1941.Anxious to emulate Hitler's successes, the Italian dictator Mussolini embarked upon unnecessary military adventures in North Africa and the Balkans, which forced Hitler's intervention, diverting and depleting precious German resources, and a six-week postponement of Barbarossa.In this s...

Afghanistan is not Canada’s first war in Asia. We’ve been there before, a half century ago … in Korea. And it was a meat grinder, scarcely remembered now … a war in which on one hilltop, on one April night, freshly-minted Canadians soldiers made a desperate stand that prevented catastrophe. In all, twenty-five thousand Canadians fought in Korea. By the time the shooting stopped, more than five hundred had been killed on lonely hilltops and in desolate ravines. Five hundred … in only two ye...

'One of the most brilliantly inventive writers of this, or any, country' Independent'Deliciously creepy'SUNDAY TIMES'Irresistible'MAIL ON SUNDAY'Manically ingenious'GUARDIANThe chilling seventh novel from the critically acclaimed author of Cloud AtlasTurn down Slade Alley - narrow, dank and easy to...

The New York Times bestseller that inspired the documentary Shanghai 1937: Where World War II Began on Public Television.At its height, the Battle of Shanghai involved nearly a million Chinese and Japanese soldiers while sucking in three million civilians as unwilling spectators—and often victims. It turned what had been a Japanese imperialist adventure in China into a general war between the two oldest and proudest civilizations of the Far East. U...

LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2014By the author of Four Letters of Love, the international bestseller now a major film starring Helena Bonham Carter and Pierce Brosnan'A love letter to literature and storytelling' Eimear McBride'I am utterly obsessed with Niall Williams' Ann PatchettIn her attic room, with the rain rushing down ...

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour.Bringing together the military mights of the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United Nations States, the Korean War raged for three years from 1950 to 1953. Not only the result of a carving of Korean territories following the Pacific conflicts of the Second World War, it was also a battle of ideologies as General MacArthur’s American military forces occupied the southern half and Stalin’s...