First published in 1980, Skill and the English Working Class, 1870–1914 investigates the nature of work and the significance of skill in industrial manual labour during late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Britain. The book places particular emphasis on apprenticeship while also examining industries like steelmaking, which required skill but did not employ apprentices. Additionally, it investigates the role of technical education in shaping the workforce during this period...

"A detailed and fascinating account" of a little known WWII showdown in Belgium between the British Expeditionary Force and the German army ( Barnsley Chronicle).This is an important reassessment of a critical period in the British Expeditionary Force's fight against the German armies invading France in 1940. On May 25, Lord Gort, the British commander, took the decision to move 5th Division north in order to plug a growing gap in his army's eastern defens...

In a century of rapid social change, the British people have experienced two world wars, the growth of the welfare state and the loss of Empire.Charles More looks at these and other issues in a comprehensive study of Britains political, economic and social history throughout the twentieth century. This accessible new book also engages with topical questions such as the impact of the Labour party and the role of patriotism in British identity.

A scholarly exploration of the British armoured regiment and its part in the Allied campaign to liberate Europe during World War II.On June 14, 1944, the tanks of the 144th Regiment Royal armored Corps disembarked on Gold Beach during the Normandy landings. A long and bitter campaign began, taking them across Northwest Europe into the heart of Germany.During that advance the regiment took part in several important actions. These included Operation Pomegrana...

This first volume of Margaret Thatcher's memoirs encompasses the whole of her time as Prime Minister - the formation of her goals in the early 1980s, the Falklands, the General Election victories of 1983 and 1987 and, eventually, the circumstances of her fall from political power. She also gives frank accounts of her dealings with foreign statesmen and her own ministers.

The British Empire, wrote Adam Smith, 'has hitherto been not an empire, but the project of an empire' and John Darwin offers a magisterial global history of the rise and fall of that great imperial project. The British Empire, he argues, was much more than a group of colonies ruled over by a scattering of British expatriates until eventual independence. It was, above all, a global phenomenon. Its power derived rather less from the assertion of imperial authority than from the fusing togeth...

At the outset of 1918 Germany faced certain defeat as a result of Allied technical innovation in tanks and aircraft, and the American entry into the war. Victory could only be gained by the immediate application of overwhelming force in new tactical form; the 'fire-waltz' artillery barrage and the storm-trooper infantry attack.1918 examines both the Germans' tactics and the Allies' preferred solution to fighting this war, the combination of artillery, tanks, infantry and a...

On 22 April 1915, the men of the 1st Canadian Division faced chlorine gas, a new lethal weapon against which they had no defence. In defiance of a particularly horrible death, or, at the very least, severe lung injury, these untested Canadians fought almost continuously for four days, often hand-to-hand, as they clung stubbornly against overwhelming odds to a vital part of the Allied line after the French units on their left fled in panic. By doing so, they saved 50,000 troops in the Ypres...

Nicknamed 'The Desert Fox' for his cunning command of the Afrika Korps, Erwin Rommel remains one of the most popular and studied of Germany's World War II commanders.He got his first taste of combat in World War I, where his daring command earned him the Blue Max, Germany's highest decoration for bravery. He followed this up with numerous successes early in World War II in both Europe and Africa, before facing his biggest challenge – organizing the defence of Franc...

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...

Ypres was a medieval town known for its textiles; however, it became infamous during the Great War with trench warfare, poison gas and many thousands of casualties.As the German Army advanced through Belgium, it failed to take the Ypres Salient. On 13 October 1914, German troops entered Ypres. On looting the city, the Germans retreated as the British Expeditionary Force advanced. On 22 November 1914, the Germans commenced a huge artillery barrage killing many civil...

Forty years ago, Britain joined the club of European nations. The idea was to guarantee peace and prosperity on the continent through 'ever closer union' following centuries of terrible wars. But after four decades of membership, costing the UK more than ?200 billion, public disenchantment with the European Union has never been so great. In Au Revoir, Europe David Charter, Europe Correspondent for The Times, looks at what went wrong - and what happens next. It charts Britain's increasing d...