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Make for the Hills: The Autobiography of the World's Leading Counter Insurgency Expert
by Sir Robert ThompsonWhen Robert Thompson left Cambridge to join the Malayan Civil Service in 1938 the sun still shone on the British Empire for 24 hours a day. The outbreak of war in the Pacific found him in Hong Kong from which he was obliged to make a hurried and dramatic exit. From that point most of his working life was spent in military and political circles as one of the world's leading experts on counterinsurgency measures, on which subject he has written a number of highly regarded works. Now, with wit and modesty, he tells the story of his own eventful life, After the war, during which he served in both operations in Burma, he returned to Malaya and it was there, during the Emergency, that he gained the experience in anti-terrorist operations which was eventually to lead him, as special adviser, to Vietnam and on to Washington. En route he was privileged to meet many of the most influential and controversial figures of his time from Wingate and Templer to Kennedy, Nixon and Kissinger. His comments on these and many others, are candid and revealing. Make for the Hills is both a fascinating autobiography and an important addition to the history of the post-war world, especially that of South-East Asia.
Make Mine a Marine
by Candace HavensSubject: Lieutenant Colonel Matt Ryan Mission: Keep things professional...no matter how hard-or hot-it gets! Matt Ryan wants to settle down to a peaceful life as a helicopter instructor at the local base. When he meets free-spirited antiques dealer Chelly Richardson and finds out she's homeless, well, he has to help. But her living in his pool house means the wild-at-heart woman who is stealing his dreams each night is just a bit too close... Chelly is determined to pay back the man who helped her during one of the toughest points in her life. She will also save the straitlaced Marine from the disaster that is her by keeping her hands off his hot, hot body. But the more she tries to stay away, the more fate seems to shove them together.
Makers of Ancient Strategy: From the Persian Wars to the Fall of Rome
by Victor Davis HansonTimeless lessons from the military strategies of the ancient Greeks and RomansIn this prequel to the now-classic Makers of Modern Strategy, Victor Davis Hanson, a leading scholar of ancient military history, gathers prominent thinkers to explore key facets of warfare, strategy, and foreign policy in the Greco-Roman world. From the Persian Wars to the final defense of the Roman Empire, Makers of Ancient Strategy demonstrates that the military thinking and policies of the ancient Greeks and Romans remain surprisingly relevant for understanding conflict in the modern world.The book reveals that much of the organized violence witnessed today—such as counterterrorism, urban fighting, insurgencies, preemptive war, and ethnic cleansing—has ample precedent in the classical era. The book examines the preemption and unilateralism used to instill democracy during Epaminondas's great invasion of the Peloponnesus in 369 BC, as well as the counterinsurgency and terrorism that characterized Rome's battles with insurgents such as Spartacus, Mithridates, and the Cilician pirates. The collection looks at the urban warfare that became increasingly common as more battles were fought within city walls, and follows the careful tactical strategies of statesmen as diverse as Pericles, Demosthenes, Alexander, Pyrrhus, Caesar, and Augustus. Makers of Ancient Strategy shows how Greco-Roman history sheds light on wars of every age. In addition to the editor, the contributors are David L. Berkey, Adrian Goldsworthy, Peter J. Heather, Tom Holland, Donald Kagan, John W. I. Lee, Susan Mattern, Barry Strauss, and Ian Worthington.
Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age: from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age
by Russell F. WeigleyThe classic reference volume on the theory and practice of warThe essays in this volume analyze war, its strategic characterisitics, and its political and social functions over the past five centuries. The diversity of its themes and the broad perspectives applied to them make the book a work of general history as much as a history of the theory and practice of war from the Renaissance to the present. Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age takes the first part of its title from an earlier collection of essays, published by Princeton University Press in 1943, which became a classic of historical scholarship. Three essays are repinted from the earlier book while four others have been extensively revised. The rest—twenty-two essays—are new.The subjects addressed range from major theorists and political and military leaders to impersonal forces. Machiavelli, Clausewitz, and Marx and Engels are discussed, as are Napoleon, Churchill, and Mao. Other essays trace the interaction of theory and experience over generations—the evolution of American strategy, for instance, or the emergence of revolutionary war in the modern world. Still others analyze the strategy of particular conflicts—the First and Second World Wars—or the relationship between technology, policy, and war in the nuclear age. Whatever its theme, each essay places the specifics of military thought and action in their political, social, and economic environment. Together, the contributors have produced a book that reinterprets and illuminates war, one of the most powerful forces in history and one that cannot be controlled in the future without an understanding of its past.
The Makers of Rome
by PlutarchThese nine biographies illuminate the careers, personalities and military campaigns of some of Rome's greatest statesmen, whose lives span the earliest days of the Republic to the establishment of the Empire. Selected from Plutarch's Roman Lives, they include prominent figures who achieved fame for their pivotal roles in Roman history, such as soldierly Marcellus, eloquent Cato and cautious Fabius. Here too are vivid portraits of ambitious, hot-tempered Coriolanus; objective, principled Brutus and open-hearted Mark Anthony, who would later be brought to life by Shakespeare. In recounting the lives of these great leaders, Plutarch also explores the problems of statecraft and power and illustrates the Roman people's genius for political compromise, which led to their mastery of the ancient world.
The Makeshift Rocket
by Poul AndersonKnud Axel Syrup, chief engineer of the spaceship Mercury Girl, sat and drank his favourite beer and thought about the coming war he was so anxious to avoid. For Grendel - the planetoid on which he was stranded - had been occupied by a band of fiery Irish revolutionaries. And once the rival Anglians discovered this, there response would be speedy and violent.Then, as Herr Syrup shook up a bottle of brew and let the foam shoot out of its top, he realised suddenly what could be done to get him off Grendel.And so came about a marvellous spaceship - built of beer kegs, bound by gunk, upholstered with pretzel boxes, and powered by the mighty reaction forces of malted brew!
Making a Killing
by John L. Hart Olvia RupprechtThe CIA's most valuable assassin, Agent J.D. Mikel, wasn't supposed to fall in love with anyone - especially not Kate Morningside, a woman coveted by another powerful world player. When Kate is kidnapped, J.D. is pulled into a dangerous game of cat and mouse, and one false move could cost him everything. Indeed, there are players - and then there are the masters who make the rules only to break them. It's not an even match for those joining an epic search for Kate on a twisted dark hunt down the Mekong River in the midst of a bitterly disputed war: Izzy, a brilliant young psychiatrist assigned to the Army's 8th Field Hospital and counting the days until he can return home; and his best friend Gregg, a gifted psychologist who served his time only to be driven back to Vietnam by his own inner demons and a rivalry with Mikel that burns as intensely as napalm. There are other wars within wars in turbulent 1970. From the CIA to the American mafia to an International cartel helmed by a master of the sadistic, all eyes are on Southeast Asia's Golden Triangle. And when it comes to a certain cash crop flourishing under the dominion of the mysterious Poppy King, everyone wants a piece of the action. Money talks. The currency? Heroin. It's a spinning maze of intrigue, politics, and mind games; a hotbed where sex, drugs, and Janis Joplin aren't always a beautiful thing. But even when no one turns out to be quite who or what they seem, one rule remains fast across the Devil's chessboard: Winners live. Losers die. The sequel to the national bestseller THERE WILL BE KILLING, MAKING A KILLING artfully weaves a spellbinding tapestry of dark history, psychology, and seduction - the best and worst of our humanity . . . and the hunger of our hearts. PRAISE FOR THERE WILL BE KILLING: "A riveting journey into the perils of war and the darkness of the human heart - stylish and provocative." - Tara Janzen, New York Times bestselling author "There Will Be Killing is mesmerizing...a chilling and astonishing novel by authors who know their way around a story." - Peggy Webb, USA Today bestselling author of The Language of Silence "Make sure you have some time to spend because you won't want to put it down until you turn the last page." - Book Bug
Making Bombs for Hitler
by Marsha Forchuk SkrypuchLida thought she was safe. Her neighbors wearing the yellow star were all taken away, but Lida is not Jewish. She will be fine, won't she?But she cannot escape the horrors of World War II. Lida's parents are ripped away from her and she is separated from her beloved sister, Larissa. The Nazis take Lida to a brutal work camp, where she and other Ukrainian children are forced into backbreaking labor. Starving and terrified, Lida bonds with her fellow prisoners, but none of them know if they'll live to see tomorrow. When Lida and her friends are assigned to make bombs for the German army, Lida cannot stand the thought of helping the enemy. Then she has an idea. What if she sabotaged the bombs. . . and the Nazis? Can she do so without getting caught?And if she's freed, will she ever find her sister again?This pulse-pounding novel of survival, courage, and hope shows us a lesser-known piece of history -- and is sure to keep readers captivated until the last page.
Making British Defence Policy: Continuity and Change (Routledge Advances in Defence Studies)
by Robert SelfThis book explores the process by which defence policy is made in contemporary Britain and the institutions, actors and conflicting interests which interact in its inception and continuous reformulation. Rather than dealing with the substance of defence policy, this study focuses upon the institutional actors involved in this process. This is a subject which has commanded far more interest from public, Parliament, government and the armed forces since the protracted, bloody and ultimately unsuccessful British military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. The work begins with a discussion of two contextual factors shaping policy. The first relates to the impact of Britain’s ‘special relationship’ with the United States over defence and intelligence matters, while the second considers the impact of Britain’s relatively disappointing economic performance upon the funding of British defence since 1945. It then goes on to explore the role and impact of all the key policy actors, from the Prime Minister, Cabinet and core executive, to the Ministry of Defence and its relations with the broader ‘Whitehall village’, and the Foreign Office and Treasury in particular. The work concludes by examining the increasing influence of external policy actors and forces, such as Parliament, the courts, political parties, pressure groups and public opinion. This book will be of much interest to students of British defence policy, security studies, and contemporary military history.
Making Friends with Hitler: Lord Londonderry, the Nazis and the Road to World War II
by Ian KershawCharles Stewart Henry Vane-Tempest-Stewart, the 7th Marquess of Londonderry, was born to power and command. Scion of one of Britain's most aristocratic families, cousin of Churchill and confidant of the king, owner of vast coal fields and landed estates, married to the doyenne of London's social scene, Londonderry was an ornament to his class, the 0. 1 percent of the population who still owned 30 percent of England's wealth as late as 1930. But history has not been kind to "Charley," as the king called him, because, in his own words, he "backed the wrong horse," and a very dark horse indeed: Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party. Londonderry was hardly the only British aristocrat to do so, but he was the only Cabinet member to do so, and it ruined him. In a final irony, his grand London house was bombed by the German Luftwaffe in the blitz. Ian Kershaw is not out to rehabilitate Lord Londonderry but to understand him and to expose why he was made a scapegoat for views that were much more widely held than anyone now likes to think. H. L. Mencken famously said that "for every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong. " The conventional explanation of the coming of World War II is a simple story of the West's craven appeasement of Hitler in the face of his bullying. Through the story of how Lord Londonderry came to be mixed up with the Nazis and how it all went horribly wrong for him, Ian Kershaw shows us that behind the familiar cartoon is a much more complicated and interesting reality, full of miscalculations on both sides, miscalculations that proved to be among the most fateful in history.
Making Georgia Howl!: The 5th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry in Kilpatrick's Campaign & the Diary of Sgt W.H. Harding
by Dave DoughertyThe 5th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry Regiment fought over three years, from March 1862 to General Johnson’s surrender in April 1865. It played a major role in Kilpatrick’s Cavalry Corps on Sherman’s March to the Sea; told as an overview of operations and through the diary of Sergeant William H. Harding. Confederate histories have often reported the regiment decimated and defeated in every battle, but this study presents the truth of the matter for the first time. Fighting in Judson Kilpatrick’s 3rd Cavalry Division during Sherman’s campaign through Georgia and the Carolina’s doing everything that could be expected of them and acquitted themselves honorably against the Confederate commanders – Joseph Wheeler and Wade Hampton. This volume is the definitive study of the 5th Ohio and Kilpatrick’s campaign in Sherman’s army from Atlanta to the end of the war. Bonuses include the diary and letters of Commissary Sergeant William H. Harding present in Company K of the 5th OVC from August 1862 to July 1865.
Making Home From War: Stories of Japanese American Exile and Resettlement
by Brian DempsterMany books have chronicled the experience of Japanese Americans in the early days of World War II, when over 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, two-thirds of whom were American citizens, were taken from their homes along the West Coast and imprisoned in concentration camps. When they were finally allowed to leave, a new challenge faced them—how do you resume a life so interrupted? For most, going home meant learning to live in a hostile, racist environment. Some returned to find they had lost their homes and had little choice but to bide their time in transitional housing, including community halls, churches, housing projects, and tent camps. Their employment options were also limited; they often worked as domestics, dishwashers, and field laborers to help support their families. The effects of these experiences reverberate to this day, and Making Home from War reaches into the past, melds together what was once hidden, and tells the often neglected or hushed story of what happened after the war. <P><P>With honesty and an eye for detail, Making Home from War is the long-awaited sequel to the award-winning From Our Side of the Fence. Written by twelve Japanese American elders who gathered regularly at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, Making Home from War is a collection of stories about their exodus from concentration camps into a world that in a few short years had drastically changed. In order to survive, they found the resilience they needed in the form of community, and gathered reserves of strength from family and friends. Through a spectrum of conflicting and rich emotions, Making Home from War demonstrates the depth of human resolve and faith during a time of devastating upheaval.
Making Jet Engines in World War II: Britain, Germany, and the United States
by Hermione GiffardOur stories of industrial innovation tend to focus on individual initiative and breakthroughs. With Making Jet Engines in World War II, Hermione Giffard uses the case of the development of jet engines to offer a different way of understanding technological innovation, revealing the complicated mix of factors that go into any decision to pursue an innovative, and therefore risky technology. Giffard compares the approaches of Britain, Germany, and the United States. Each approached jet engines in different ways because of its own war aims and industrial expertise. Germany, which produced more jet engines than the others, did so largely as replacements for more expensive piston engines. Britain, on the other hand, produced relatively few engines--but, by shifting emphasis to design rather than production, found itself at war's end holding an unrivaled range of designs. The US emphasis on development, meanwhile, built an institutional basis for postwar production. Taken together, Giffard's work makes a powerful case for a more nuanced understanding of technological innovation, one that takes into account the influence of the many organizational factors that play a part in the journey from idea to finished product.
Making A Killing: The Explosive Story of a Hired Gun in Iraq
by James AshcroftIn September 2003, James 'Ash' Ashcroft, a former British Infantry Captain, arrived in Iraq as a 'gun for hire'. It was the beginning of an 18-month journey into blood and chaos.In this action-packed page-turner, Ashcroft reveals the dangers of his adrenalin-fuelled life as a security contractor in Baghdad, where private soldiers outnumber non-US Coalition forces in a war that is slowly being privatised. From blow-by-blow accounts of days under mortar bombardment to revelations about life operating deep within the Iraqi community, Ashcroft shares the real, unsanitised story of the war in Iraq - and its aftermath - direct from the front line.
The Making of a Civilian Soldier in the Civil War: The First Diary of Private WIlliam J. McLean Along the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal and the Affair of Edwards Ferry
by Dennis D. UrbanThis Union soldier&’s diary recounts his journey from enlistment to postwar life, with extensive historical and biographical context provided by the editor. When war broke out between the states, William J. McLean left his home in Fairfield, NY, and joined the 34th New York Infantry. He kept a diary that tells of his many wanderings and adventures, from his time in Washington, D.C. to picket duty along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. William also describes the first death of a soldier in his regiment, the excitement over Bull Run, and an incursion into rebel-infested Virginia. Offering much more than a simple diary transcription, editor Dennis D. Urban sheds light on the actions of the 34th at Edward&’s Ferry during the Battle of Balls Bluff; McLean&’s effort to correct his military and pension records; and the post-war years of William, his brother, and his father, all of whom served the Union cause. Extensive chapter notes also provide biographical information about the regimental friends and other individuals William mentions in his entries.
The Making of a Leader: The Formative Years of George C. Marshall
by Josiah BuntingA portrait of one of the greatest leaders of modern history, George Catlett Marshall (1880–1959), and a distillation of the essential lessons his formative years offer to the leaders of today and tomorrowGeorge Marshall&’s accomplishments are well known: after helping to guide the Allies to victory during World War II, he set Europe on the postwar path to recovery with the plan that bears his name and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953. But how did he become such an effective leader?By eschewing the years and accomplishments for which Marshall is most often remembered and focusing instead on the decisive moments that preceded them, The Making of a Leader provides the most detailed look yet at the mettle of Marshall&’s character, from his arrival as a cadet at the Virginia Military Institute and his Fort Leavenworth days—where he &“learned how to learn&”—to his instructive time as John J. Pershing&’s aide-de-camp and his critical experiences during World War I. Josiah Bunting III, a lifelong educator and former superintendent of Marshall&’s alma mater, highlights the importance of Marshall&’s activity between the wars, when he led &“the single most influential period of military education&” at Fort Benning, eventually culminating in his appointment as Army Chief of Staff in 1939.In this illuminating portrait, Bunting cuts through the legend of Marshall to the man—his frustrations, passions, loves, and brilliance—revealing a humble commander who knew not only how to lead but how to see the leader in others.
The Making of a Navy Seal: My Story of Surviving the Toughest Challenge and Training the Best
by John David Mann Brandon WebbBorn Ready for Action Boot Camp Training Becoming a Navy SEAL One of America's Deadliest Snipers Duty Calls Continuing to Protect and Defend
The Making of a World Order: Global Historical Perspectives on the Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles (Routledge Studies in Modern History)
by Albert Wu Stephen W. SawyerWhy does 1919 deserve further study and debate a hundred years later? What lessons for global history may we learn from the world order created at the end of the Great War? Drawing insight from the global turn of the past several decades that has forced us to reconsider the most important world events and processes since the French Revolution and especially the growing interest in World War I as a global conflict that extended far beyond the borders of Europe, this volume explores the global political ramifications of the treaties prepared at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 by focusing on key topics: how the Paris Peace Conference re-shaped the geo-political configurations of the Middle East, the importance of transformations in Asia and particularly China in the immediate postwar period, the shifts in Southeastern Europe, new feminist movements in Central Europe, and the pre-history of neoliberalism. Read together, the papers demonstrate how the peace treaties signed in 1919 and 1920 marked a profound transformation on local, national, continental, and global scales.
The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece: A novel
by Tom HanksNEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • From the legendary actor and best-selling author: a novel about the making of a star-studded, multimillion-dollar superhero action film...and the humble comic books that inspired it. Funny, touching, and wonderfully thought-provoking, while also capturing the changes in America and American culture since World War II."Wild, ambitious and exceptionally enjoyable." —Matt Haig, best-selling author The Midnight Library, The Humans and Reasons to Stay AlivePart One of this story takes place in 1947. A troubled soldier, returning from the war, meets his talented five-year-old nephew, leaves an indelible impression, and then disappears for twenty-three years.Cut to 1970: The nephew, now drawing underground comic books in Oakland, California, reconnects with his uncle and, remembering the comic book he saw when he was five, draws a new version with his uncle as a World War II fighting hero. Cut to the present day: A commercially successful director discovers the 1970 comic book and decides to turn it into a contemporary superhero movie.Cue the cast: We meet the film&’s extremely difficult male star, his wonderful leading lady, the eccentric writer/director, the producer, the gofer production assistant, and everyone else on both sides of the camera.Bonus material: Interspersed throughout are three comic books that are featured in the story—all created by Tom Hanks himself—including the comic book that becomes the official tie-in to this novel&’s "major motion picture masterpiece."
The Making of Billy Bishop: The First World War Exploits of Billy Bishop, VC
by Brereton GreenhousIt’s a war story that is told every time the career of Billy Bishop is discussed: On June 2, 1917, the young pilot single-handedly took out a German airfield in an early morning raid at the height of the Great War. For this, he was awarded the Victoria Cross, and a place in Canadian history. And yet, the attack never happened. In this explosive new biography, Brereton Greehous exposes the myth of Billy Bishop. While his bravery never comes into question (Bishop was as courageous as any of the men who risked their lives in those early warplanes) his credibility as a storyteller does. From exaggerations and half-truths to flat-out lies, stories of Bishop’s legendary exploits contain as much fiction as they do fact. Greenhous reveals many startling truths: he presents evidence that some of the medals Bishop wore late in his career were unearned, uncovers a number of examples of Bishop embellishing or inventing combat stories, and, most significantly, shows that the only account of the ace’s raid on the German airfield came from Bishop himself. Even official German records of casualties fail to corroborate the Canadian’s claims. The Making of Billy Bishop is a book certain to stir up controversy. Twenty years ago, a documentary film questioning Bishop’s credentials as a hero was considered so blasphemous that a senate investigation was launched in an attempt to restore the pilot’s name. Now, Greenhous’s research vindicates the claims of the filmmakers, and re-ignites an argument once thought settled.
The Making of Détente: Eastern Europe and Western Europe in the Cold War, 1965-75 (Cold War History)
by Wilfried LothContaining essays by leading Cold War scholars, such as Wilfried Loth, Geir Lundestad and Seppo Hentilä, this volume offers a broad-ranging examination of the history of détente in the Cold War. The ten years from 1965 to 1975 marked a deep transformation of the bipolar international system of the Cold War. The Vietnam War and the Prague Spring showed the limits of the two superpowers, who were constrained to embark on a wide-ranging détente policy, which culminated with the SALT agreements of 1972. At the same time this very détente opened new venues for the European countries: French policy towards the USSR and the German Ostpolitik being the most evident cases in point. For the first time since the 1950s, Western Europe began to participate in the shaping of the Cold War. The same could not be said of Eastern Europe, but ferments began to establish themselves there which would ultimately lead to the astounding changes of 1989-90: the Prague Spring, the uprisings in Gdansk in 1970 and generally the rise of the dissident movement. That last process being directly linked to the far-reaching event which marked the end of that momentous decade: the Helsinki conference. The Making of Détente will appeal to students of the Cold War, international history and European contemporary history.
The Making of Détente: Soviet-American Relations in the Shadow of Vietnam
by Keith L. NelsonOriginally published in 1995. In the early 1970s, largely as a result of the debilitating struggle in Vietnam, the United States began to reassess and redefine its basic approach to East-West relations. At the same time, the Soviet Union was awakening to the liabilities that a continuing and unregulated state of hostility would impose on its own internal and external agenda. Keith Nelson details the circumstances and traces the steps that led to the first significant accommodation and easing of tension between the superpowers during the Cold War. "In this important study, Keith Nelson explains the detente period in an imaginative, convincing, and impressively scholarly manner. Although there have been scores of books and memoirs on the subject, none have done the job quite like Nelson's. In particular, he has used post-glasnost Russian memoirs and monographs—and, especially, his own interviews with such key players as Dobrynin and Arbatov—to present one of the most intelligent Kremlinological studies I have ever seen." —Melvin Small, Wayne State University
The Making of Strategy
by Williamson Murray Macgregor Knox Alvin BernsteinMost writing about strategy has focused on individual strategic theorists or great military leaders. This book focuses instead on the messy processes by which rulers and states have framed strategy in the past - a subject of vital practical importance to strategists, and of great interest to students of strategy and statecraft. It consists of 17 case studies that range from fifth-century Athens and Ming China to Hitler's Germany, Israel, and the post-1945 United States. The studies analyse, within a common interpretive framework, precisely how rulers and states have made strategy. The introduction emphasises the constants in the rapidly shifting world of the strategist; the concluding essay tries to understand the forces that have driven the transformation of strategy since 400 BC and seem likely to continue to transform it in the future.
The Making Of The British Army
by Allan MallinsonEdgehill, 1642: Surveying the disastrous scene in the aftermath of the first battle of the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell realized that war could no longer be waged in the old, feudal way: there had to be system and discipline, and therefore - eventually - a standing professional army.From the 'New Model Army' of Cromwell's distant vision, former soldier Allan Mallinson shows us the people and events that have shaped the British army we know today. How Marlborough's momentous victory at Blenheim is linked to Wellington's at Waterloo; how the desperate fight at Rorke's Drift in 1879 underpinned the heroism of the airborne forces at Arnhem in 1944; and why Montgomery's momentous victory at El Alamein mattered long after the Second World War was over . . . From the British Army's origins at the battle of Edgehill to the recent conflict in Afghanistan, The Making of the British Army is history at its most relevant - and most dramatic.
The Making of the Indian Princes
by Edward John ThompsonIndia’s political framework was made in twenty years: in 1799-1819, between the death of Tipu Sultan and the elimination of the Peshwa. The period opens with the destruction of the Muslim kingdom of Mysore and ends with the disintegration of the Maratha Confederacy into a series of separate chieftaincies. These two conquests gave the British the control of India.After Tipu’s destruction the Marathas remained. When they were finally beaten down, Modern India was formed and its map in essentials drawn. The arrangement was to stay until the slow process of time and the coming of new systems of political thinking made it an anachronism, calling for Round Table Conferences, White Papers, and their sequel in constitutional legislation and political offers. India, as we knew it yesterday and the world has known it, was made in the space of these twenty years, first by the shattering of what Lord Wellesley styled ‘the Mahratta Empire’ and then, after a brief period of uncertain and faltering doctrine, by Lord Hastings’ firm establishment of the States which had survived, each in the niche and status which was to be legally accepted as its own until our day. The Indian ‘Prince’ emerged in 1806, arising, like the Puranic Urvasi, from the churning of the Ocean by the Gods and Demons, and received his position in India’s polity in 1819.