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140 Days to Hiroshima: The Story of Japan’s Last Chance to Avert Armageddon
by David Dean BarrettDuring the closing months of the Second World War, as America’s strategic bombing campaign incinerated Japan’s cities, two military giants were locked in a death embrace of cultural differences and diplomatic intransigence. The leaders of the United States called for the ‘unconditional surrender’ of the Japanese Empire while developing history’s deadliest weapon and weighing an invasion that would have dwarfed D-Day. Their enemy responded with a last-ditch call for the suicidal resistance of every able-bodied man and woman in ‘The Decisive Battle’ for the homeland. But had Emperor Hirohito’s generals miscalculated how far the Americans had come in developing the atomic bomb? How close did President Harry Truman come to ordering the invasion of Japan? Acclaimed historian David Dean Barrett recounts the secret strategy sessions, fierce debates, looming assassinations and planned invasions that resulted in history’s first use of nuclear weapons in combat, and the ensuing chaos as the Japanese government struggled to respond to the reality of nuclear war.
The 15: The True Story Of A Terrorist, A Train And Three American Heroes
by Anthony Sadler Alek Skarlatos Spencer StoneThe 15:17 to Paris is the amazing true story of friendship and bravery, and of near tragedy averted by three heroic young men who found the unity and strength inside themselves when they – and 500 other innocent travellers – needed it most.
17 Carnations: The Windsors, The Nazis and The Cover-Up
by Andrew MortonThe true story of Edward Windsor and Wallis Simpson’s involvement with the Nazi regime, and the post-war cover-up.The story of the love affair between Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII, and his abdication, has provoked endless fascination. However, the full story of their links with the German aristocracy and Hitler has remained untold.* 17 Carnations chronicles Hitler’s attempts to matchmake between Edward and a German noblewoman, and Wallis’s affair with the German foreign minister, who sent her a carnation for every night they had spent together. *Pro-German sympathizers, the couple became embroiled in a conspiracy to install Edward as a puppet king after the Allies’ defeat.* The Duke’s letters were hidden for years as the British establishment attempted to cover up the connection between the House of Windsor and Hitler.Thoroughly researched, 17 Carnations reveals the whole fascinating story, throwing sharp new light on this dark chapter of history.
The 1711 Expedition to Quebec: Politics and the Limitations of British Global Strategy (Bloomsbury Studies in Military History)
by Adam LyonsIn 1711, the newly formed Great Britain launched its first attempt to conquer French North America. The largest military force ever assembled to fight on the continent was dispatched and combined with colonial American units in Boston before proceeding up the St Lawrence River for Quebec. An additional colonial force set out from Albany to march on Montreal - but neither Briton nor colonist reached their respective targets.Adam Lyons looks at the expedition as a product of the turbulent political environment at the end of Queen Anne's reign and as a symbol of a shift in politics and strategy. Its failure proved to be detrimental to the reputation of the expedition's naval commander, Rear-Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker, but Lyons shows how true blame should lie with his political master, Secretary of State Henry St John, who ensured the expedition's failure by maintaining absolute control and secrecy. The 1711 Expedition to Quebec demonstrates how the expedition helped to alter British policy by renewing an interest in 'blue water', or maritime, operations that would gain dominance for Britain in commerce and at sea. This strategy would later see huge success, ultimately resulting in the fall of Quebec to Wolfe and the eventual conquest of French North America in the Seven Years War.
The 1711 Expedition to Quebec: Politics and the Limitations of British Global Strategy (Bloomsbury Studies in Military History)
by Adam LyonsIn 1711, the newly formed Great Britain launched its first attempt to conquer French North America. The largest military force ever assembled to fight on the continent was dispatched and combined with colonial American units in Boston before proceeding up the St Lawrence River for Quebec. An additional colonial force set out from Albany to march on Montreal - but neither Briton nor colonist reached their respective targets.Adam Lyons looks at the expedition as a product of the turbulent political environment at the end of Queen Anne's reign and as a symbol of a shift in politics and strategy. Its failure proved to be detrimental to the reputation of the expedition's naval commander, Rear-Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker, but Lyons shows how true blame should lie with his political master, Secretary of State Henry St John, who ensured the expedition's failure by maintaining absolute control and secrecy. The 1711 Expedition to Quebec demonstrates how the expedition helped to alter British policy by renewing an interest in 'blue water', or maritime, operations that would gain dominance for Britain in commerce and at sea. This strategy would later see huge success, ultimately resulting in the fall of Quebec to Wolfe and the eventual conquest of French North America in the Seven Years War.
1777: Tipping Point at Saratoga
by Dean SnowIn the autumn of 1777, near Saratoga, New York, an inexperienced and improvised American army led by General Horatio Gates faced off against the highly trained British and German forces led by General John Burgoyne. The British strategy in confronting the Americans in upstate New York was to separate rebellious New England from the other colonies. Despite inferior organization and training, the Americans exploited access to fresh reinforcements of men and materiel, and ultimately handed the British a stunning defeat. The American victory, for the first time in the war, confirmed that independence from Great Britain was all but inevitable. Assimilating the archaeological remains from the battlefield along with the many letters, journals, and memoirs of the men and women in both camps, Dean Snow's 1777 provides a richly detailed narrative of the two battles fought at Saratoga over the course of thirty-three tense and bloody days. While the contrasting personalities of Gates and Burgoyne are well known, they are but two of the many actors who make up the larger drama of Saratoga. Snow highlights famous and obscure participants alike, from the brave but now notorious turncoat Benedict Arnold to Frederika von Riedesel, the wife of a British major general who later wrote an important eyewitness account of the battles. Snow, an archaeologist who excavated on the Saratoga battlefield, combines a vivid sense of time and place with details on weather, terrain, and technology and a keen understanding of the adversaries' motivations, challenges, and heroism into a suspenseful, novel-like account. A must-read for anyone with an interest in American history, 1777 is an intimate retelling of the campaign that tipped the balance in the American War of Independence.
1777: Tipping Point at Saratoga
by Dean SnowIn the autumn of 1777, near Saratoga, New York, an inexperienced and improvised American army led by General Horatio Gates faced off against the highly trained British and German forces led by General John Burgoyne. The British strategy in confronting the Americans in upstate New York was to separate rebellious New England from the other colonies. Despite inferior organization and training, the Americans exploited access to fresh reinforcements of men and materiel, and ultimately handed the British a stunning defeat. The American victory, for the first time in the war, confirmed that independence from Great Britain was all but inevitable. Assimilating the archaeological remains from the battlefield along with the many letters, journals, and memoirs of the men and women in both camps, Dean Snow's 1777 provides a richly detailed narrative of the two battles fought at Saratoga over the course of thirty-three tense and bloody days. While the contrasting personalities of Gates and Burgoyne are well known, they are but two of the many actors who make up the larger drama of Saratoga. Snow highlights famous and obscure participants alike, from the brave but now notorious turncoat Benedict Arnold to Frederika von Riedesel, the wife of a British major general who later wrote an important eyewitness account of the battles. Snow, an archaeologist who excavated on the Saratoga battlefield, combines a vivid sense of time and place with details on weather, terrain, and technology and a keen understanding of the adversaries' motivations, challenges, and heroism into a suspenseful, novel-like account. A must-read for anyone with an interest in American history, 1777 is an intimate retelling of the campaign that tipped the balance in the American War of Independence.
17N's Philosophy of Terror: An Analysis of the 17 November Revolutionary Organization (PSI Guides to Terrorists, Insurgents, and Armed Groups)
by Ioanne K. LekeaThis book uses a cross-disciplinary approach to examine the creation, development, ideology, and practice of the Marxist terrorist group 17N.Were the members of 17N individuals with high moral principles, as they claimed, who did their best to protect the civilians who happened to be within their field of operations? Or were they simply violent guerillas who prioritized successful assassinations of their targets at any cost? The textual analysis of this book addresses these questions and studies 17N from inception to the time when its members were arrested, providing a uniquely thorough examination of the organization manifestos and its correlation to the group's ideology and actual practices.17N's Philosophy of Terror: An Analysis of the 17 November Revolutionary Organization first outlines the political and ideological framework of 17? and then describes their terrorist strategy and tactics. The authors consider these operations in the context of the manifestos that followed the terrorist acts, and conclude the work by addressing the events following the apprehension of 17N members—the trial, the verdicts, the appeal trial, and the conclusion of appeal trial.
17N's Philosophy of Terror: An Analysis of the 17 November Revolutionary Organization (PSI Guides to Terrorists, Insurgents, and Armed Groups)
by Ioanne K. LekeaThis book uses a cross-disciplinary approach to examine the creation, development, ideology, and practice of the Marxist terrorist group 17N.Were the members of 17N individuals with high moral principles, as they claimed, who did their best to protect the civilians who happened to be within their field of operations? Or were they simply violent guerillas who prioritized successful assassinations of their targets at any cost? The textual analysis of this book addresses these questions and studies 17N from inception to the time when its members were arrested, providing a uniquely thorough examination of the organization manifestos and its correlation to the group's ideology and actual practices.17N's Philosophy of Terror: An Analysis of the 17 November Revolutionary Organization first outlines the political and ideological framework of 17? and then describes their terrorist strategy and tactics. The authors consider these operations in the context of the manifestos that followed the terrorist acts, and conclude the work by addressing the events following the apprehension of 17N members—the trial, the verdicts, the appeal trial, and the conclusion of appeal trial.
1805: Number 6 in series (Nathaniel Drinkwater #Bk. 6)
by Richard WoodmanIt is the summer of 1804 and Napoleon is massing his vast army for the invasion of England. Nathaniel Drinkwater has command of HMS Antigone, and he and his men are sent to patrol the Channel coast, helping the Royal Navy maintain a blockade of the enemy's ports. As Nelson's and Napoleon's mighty fleets draw closer to one another, Drinkwater is unprepared for the role that destiny deals him when he becomes a prisoner of the French and suddenly finds himself on the wrong side of the British bombardment.
1812: The Navy's War
by George C. DaughanAt the outbreak of the War of 1812, America's prospects looked dismal. It was clear that the primary battlefield would be the open ocean-but America's war fleet, only twenty ships strong, faced a practiced British navy of more than a thousand men-of-war. Still, through a combination of nautical deftness and sheer bravado, the American navy managed to take the fight to the British and turn the tide of the war: on the Great Lakes, in the Atlantic, and even in the eastern Pacific. In 1812: The Navy's War, prizewinning historian George C. Daughan tells the thrilling story of how a handful of heroic captains and their stalwart crews overcame spectacular odds to lead the country to victory against the world's greatest imperial power. A stunning contribution to military and national history, 1812: The Navy's War is the first complete account in more than a century of how the U.S. Navy rescued the fledgling nation and secured America's future.
1812: The Navy's War
by George C DaughanAt the outbreak of the War of 1812, America's prospects looked dismal. It was clear that the primary battlefield would be the open ocean -- but America's war fleet, only twenty ships strong, faced a practiced British navy of more than a thousand men-of-war. Still, through a combination of nautical deftness and sheer bravado, the American navy managed to take the fight to the British and turn the tide of the war: on the Great Lakes, in the Atlantic, and even in the eastern Pacific. In 1812: The Navy's War, prizewinning historian George C. Daughan tells the thrilling story of how a handful of heroic captains and their stalwart crews overcame spectacular odds to lead the country to victory against the world's greatest imperial power. A stunning contribution to military and national history, 1812: The Navy's War is the first complete account in more than a century of how the U.S. Navy rescued the fledgling nation and secured America's future.
The 1830 Revolution in France
by P. PilbeamThis book explores the nature and scope of the 1830 French revolution. Recent developments in the study of history and in the world have done much to overturn established ideas, both of marxists who believed all revolutions led to socialism, and of liberals who feared violence, but who assumed democracy would triumph. Wedged between the revolutions of 1789 and 1848, the author asks was 1830 a minor bourgeois Parisian event? Although politically avoidable, Dr Pilbeam demonstrates that socially it was part of a long-running struggle of peasants and artisans to preserve their way of life.
1914: Key Dates and Events from the First Year of the First World War
by Saul DavidThis special ebook has been created by historian Saul David from his acclaimed work 100 Days to Vistory: How the Great War was Fought and Won, which was described by the Mail on Sunday as 'Inspired' and by Charles Spencer as 'A work of great originality and insight'. Through key dates from 4 August 1914, when Britain declared war, to the Christmas Truce of 24 December 1914, Saul David's gripping narrative is an enthralling tribute to a generation of men and women whose sacrifice should never be forgotten.
1914: Poetry Remembers
by Carol Ann DuffyThe First World War holds a unique place in the nation's history; the poetry it produced, a unique place in the nation's hearts. To mark the centenary of the First World War in 2014, the Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, has engaged the most eminent poets of the present to choose the writing from the Great War that touched them most profoundly: their choices are here in this powerful and moving assembly. But this anthology is more than a record of war writing. Carol Ann Duffy has commissioned these same poets of the present to look back across the past and write a poem of their own in response to the war to end all wars. Whether as a reader your interest is in the Great War or the great war poets, or whether it is in the poetry of today, this anthology will hold a special place in your affections, as it remembers and recalls - a and through its commissioned work, renews and honours - the engagement between poetry and this terrible, unworldly of world conflicts.
1914: The Days Of Hope
by Lyn MacDonaldLyn MacDonald's acclaimed history 1914: The Days of Hope, is not so much the story of war as the story of an army.In this vivid account of the first months of the First World War, Lyn Macdonald draws on personal accounts of surviving veterans, bringing to life the disillusionment, the questioning and the heroism of the men of the British Army. The officers and men of 1914 were prepared to fight and ready to lay down their lives because it was their job. These men believed they were fighting the War to end War.'Once again Lyn Macdonald has collected an extraordinary mass of original accounts, some by old soldiers, some in the form of diaries and journals, even by French civilians . . . Her research has been vast, and in result is triumphant' Tablet'These poignant voices from the past conjure up a lost innocence as well as a lost generation' Piers Brendon, Mail on Sunday'A mammoth, vivid compendium of the first months of the war . . . What Lyn Macdonald captures is the extraordinary resilience of the British regulars faced with the brutal shattering of their expectations' Daily MailLyn Macdonald is one of the most highly regarded historians of the First World War. Her books tell the men's stories in their own words and cast a unique light on the experiences of the ordinary 'Tommy'. The Roses of No Man's Land, Somme and They Called it Passchendaele have been recently reissued by Penguin. She lives near Cambridge.
1914: Britain, the Army and the Coming of the First World War
by Allan Mallinson‘No part of the Great War compares in interest with its opening’, wrote Churchill. ‘The measured, silent drawing together of gigantic forces, the uncertainty of their movements and positions, the number of unknown and unknowable facts made the first collision a drama never surpassed…in fact the War was decided in the first twenty days of fighting, and all that happened afterwards consisted in battles which, however formidable and devastating, were but desperate and vain appeals against the decision of fate.’On of Britain's foremost military historians and defence experts tackles the origins - and the opening first few weeks of fighting - of what would become known as 'the war to end all wars'. Intensely researched and convincingly argued, Allan Mallinson explores and explains the grand strategic shift that occurred in the century before the war, the British Army’s regeneration after its drubbings in its fight against the Boer in South Africa, its almost calamitous experience of the first twenty days’ fighting in Flanders to the point at which the British Expeditionary Force - the 'Old Contemptibles' - took up the spade in the middle of September 1914: for it was then that the war changed from one of rapid and brutal movement into the more familiar vision of trench warfare on Western Front. In this vivid, compelling new history, Malliinson brings his experience as a professional soldier to bear on the circumstances, events, actions and individuals and speculates – tantalizingly – on what might have been...
1914-1918: The History of the First World War
by David Stevenson1914-1918, David Stevenson's history of the First World War, has been acclaimed as the definitive one-volume account of the conflictIn the summer of 1914 Europe exploded into a frenzy of mass violence. The war that followed had global repercussions, destroying four empires and costing millions of lives. Even the victorious countries were scarred for a generation, and we still today remain within the conflict's shadow. In this major analysis David Stevenson re-examines the causes, course and impact of this 'war to end war', placing it in the context of its era and exposing its underlying dynamics. His book provides a wide-ranging international history, drawing on insights from the latest research. It offers compelling answers to the key questions about how this terrible struggle unfolded: questions that remain disturbingly relevant for our own time.'It's harder to imagine a better single-volume comprehensive history of the conflict than this superb study' Ian Kershaw'Perhaps the best comprehensive one-volume history of the war yet written' New Yorker'David Stevenson is the real deal ... His defining characteristic is his outstanding rigour as an historian ... tremendously clever' Niall Ferguson'This history of the 1914-1918 conflict surpasses all others. It is tough, erudite and comprehensive' Independent
1914 The Year The World Ended: The Year The World Ended
by Paul HamIn August 1914, the European powers plunged the world into a war that would kill or wound 37 million people, tear down the fabric of society, uproot ancient political systems and set the world on course for the bloodiest century in human history.On the eve of the 100th anniversary of that terrible year, Ham takes the reader on a journey into the labyrinth, to reveal the complexity, the layered motives, the flawed and disturbed minds that drove the world to war. What emerges is a clear sense of what happened and why. 'To understand the past,' Ham concludes, 'and share that understanding, is the chief role of the historian. To understand the past is to liberate ourselves from its awful shadow and steel ourselves against it happening again.'
1915: Key Dates and Events from the Second Year of the First World War
by Saul DavidThis special ebook has been created by historian Saul David from his acclaimed work 100 Days to Vistory: How the Great War was Fought and Won, which was described by the Mail on Sunday as 'Inspired' and by Charles Spencer as 'A work of great originality and insight'. Through key dates from the Battle of Dogger Bank on 24th January 1914, to the Gallipoli landings, Saul David's gripping narrative is an enthralling tribute to a generation of men and women whose sacrifice should never be forgotten.
1915: The Death of Innocence (ISBN Group)
by Lyn MacDonaldOver two decades' research puts Lyn Macdonald among the greatest popular chroniclers of the First World War. In 1915: The Death of Innocence, from the poignant memories of participants, she has once again created an unforgettable slice of military history. By the end of 1914, the battered British forces were bogged down, yet hopeful that promised reinforcements and spring weather would soon lead to a victorious breakthrough. A year later, after appalling losses at Aubers Ridge, Loos, Neuve Chapelle, Ypres and faraway Gallipoli, fighting seemed set to go on for ever. Drawing on extensive interviews, letters and diaries, this book brilliantly evokes the soldiers' dogged heroism, sardonic humour and terrible loss of innocence through 'a year of cobbling together, of frustration, of indecision'. 'It is rare to find a history of the First World War which manages to convey the front-line soldiers' experiences and to describe what it was that enabled those who survived to get through it. Lyn Macdonald has done just that' Sunday TimesOver the past twenty years Lyn Macdonald has established a popular reputation as an author and historian of the First World War. Her books are based on the accounts of eyewitnesses and survivors, told in their own words, and cast a unique light on the First World War. Most are published by Penguin.
1916: The Rising Handbook
by Lorcan CollinsA handbook to the events and locations of the Easter 1916 Rising. There are so many different versions of the story of Easter Week 1916. Lorcan Collins, an acknowledged expert on the subject and founder of the 1916 Rebellion Walking Tour, decided that it was time to put together a truthful and factually correct reference book in one handy volume. This ‘1916 bible’ will be invaluable to anyone with an interest in recent Irish history who wants to separate the facts from the fiction. 1916: The Rising Handbook offers bite-sized details about the organisations involved in the Rising, the positions occupied during Easter week, the weapons the rebels and army used, the documents that were passed around, and the speeches that were given. It details the women who came out to fight and profiles the sixteen executed leaders, as well as looking at the rebellion outside of Dublin. It also utilises three different resources to give the most comprehensive list yet of all of those involved in the Rising. If a relative of yours fought during Easter 1916, you’ll find their name in here.
1916: Key Dates and Events from the Third Year of the First World War
by Saul DavidThis special ebook has been created by historian Saul David from his acclaimed work 100 Days to Victory: How the Great War was Fought and Won, which was described by the Mail on Sunday as 'Inspired' and by Charles Spencer as 'A work of great originality and insight'. Through key dates from the introduction of conscription in Britain on 27 January 1916, to the first day of the Somme on 1 July 1916, Saul David's gripping narrative is an enthralling tribute to a generation of men and women whose sacrifice should never be forgotten.
1916: A Global History
by Keith JefferyThe mud-filled, blood-soaked trenches of the Low Countries and North-Eastern Europe were essential battlegrounds during the First World War, but the war reached many other corners of the globe, and events elsewhere significantly affected its course. Covering the twelve months of 1916, eminent historian Keith Jeffery uses twelve moments from a range of locations and shows how they reverberated around the world. As well as discussing better-known battles such as Gallipoli, Verdun and the Somme, Jeffery examines Dublin, for the Easter Rising, East Africa, the Italian front, Central Asia and Russia, where the killing of Rasputin exposed the internal political weakness of the country's empire. And, in charting a wide range of wartime experience, he studies the 'intelligence war', naval engagements at Jutland and elsewhere, as well as the political consequences that ensued from the momentous US presidential election. Using an extraordinary range of military, social and cultural sources, and relating the individual experiences on the ground to wider developments, these are the stories lost to history, the conflicts that spread beyond the sphere of Europe and the moments that transformed the war.