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The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War
by Fred AndersonThe globe's first true world war comes vividly to life in this "rich, cautionary tale" (The New York Times Book Review) The French and Indian War -the North American phase of a far larger conflagration, the Seven Years' War-remains one of the most important, and yet misunderstood, episodes in American history. Fred Anderson takes readers on a remarkable journey through the vast conflict that, between 1755 and 1763, destroyed the French Empire in North America, overturned the balance of power on two continents, undermined the ability of Indian nations to determine their destinies, and lit the "long fuse" of the American Revolution. Beautifully illustrated and recounted by an expert storyteller, The War That Made America is required reading for anyone interested in the ways in which war has shaped the history of America and its peoples.
The War That Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium
by Barry StraussA &“splendid&” (The Wall Street Journal) account of one of history&’s most important and yet little-known wars, the campaign culminating in the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, whose outcome determined the future of the Roman Empire.Following Caesar&’s assassination and Mark Antony&’s defeat of the conspirators who killed Caesar, two powerful men remained in Rome—Antony and Caesar&’s chosen heir, young Octavian, the future Augustus. When Antony fell in love with the most powerful woman in the world, Egypt&’s ruler Cleopatra, and thwarted Octavian&’s ambition to rule the empire, another civil war broke out. In 31 BC one of the largest naval battles in the ancient world took place—more than 600 ships, almost 200,000 men, and one woman—the Battle of Actium. Octavian prevailed over Antony and Cleopatra, who subsequently killed themselves. The Battle of Actium had great consequences for the empire. Had Antony and Cleopatra won, the empire&’s capital might have moved from Rome to Alexandria, Cleopatra&’s capital, and Latin might have become the empire&’s second language after Greek, which was spoken throughout the eastern Mediterranean, including Egypt. In this &“superbly recounted&” (The National Review) history, Barry Strauss, ancient history authority, describes this consequential battle with the drama and expertise that it deserves. The War That Made the Roman Empire is essential history that features three of the greatest figures of the ancient world.
The War That Saved My Life
by Kimberly Brubaker BradleyTen-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada's twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn't waste a minute--she sneaks out to join him. So begins a new adventure for Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan--and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. But in the end, will their bond be enough to hold them together through wartime? Or will Ada and her brother fall back into the cruel hands of their mother?
War, the American State, and Politics since 1898
by Robert P. Saldin"This book examines major foreign conflicts from the Spanish-American War through Vietnam, arguing that international conflicts have strong effects on American political parties, elections, state development, and policymaking. First, major wars expose and highlight problems requiring governmental solutions or necessitating emergency action. Second, despite well-known curtailments of civil liberties, wars often enhance democracy by drawing attention to the contributions of previously marginalized groups and facilitating the extension of fuller citizenship rights to them. Finally, wars affect the party system. Foreign conflicts create crises - many of which are unanticipated - that require immediate attention, supplant prior issues on the policy agenda, and engender shifts in party ideology. These new issues and redefinitions of party ideology frequently influence elections by shaping both elite and mass behavior"--
The War The Infantry Knew, 1914-1919: A Chronicle Of Service In France And Belgium
by Capt. J. C. DunnMemoirs of British medical officer J. C. Dunn during World War I: "The first duty of a battalion medical officer in War is to discourage the evasion of duty...not seldom against one's better feelings, sometimes to the temporary hurt of the individual, but justice to all other men as well as discipline demands it.""Sometimes, through word of mouth and shared enthusiasm, a secret book becomes famous. The War the Infantry Knew is one of them. Published privately in a limited edition of five hundred copies in 1938, it gained a reputation as an outstanding account of an infantry battalion's experience on the Western Front."--Daily Telegraph"I have been waiting for a long time for someone to republish this classic. It is one of the most interesting and revealing books of its type and is a genuinely truthful and fascinating picture of the war as it was for the infantry"--John Keegan'A remarkably coherent narrative of the battalion's experiences in diary form...a moving historical record which deserves to be added to the select list of outstanding accounts of the First World War"--Times Literary Supplement"A magnificent tour de force, the length of three ordinary books."--London Review of Books
War Through Children's Eyes: The Soviet Occupation of Poland and the Deportations, 1939–1941 (Hoover Archival Documentaries)
by Jan T. Gross Irena Grudzinska-Gross Jan Tomasz GrossOn September 17, 1939, two weeks after the German invasion of Poland, Soviet troops occupied the eastern half of Poland and swiftly imposed a new political and economic order. Following a plebiscite, in early November the area was annexed to the Ukraine and Belorussia. Beginning in the winter of 1939–40, Soviet authorities deported over one million Poles, many of them children, to various provinces of the Soviet Union. After the German attack on the USSR in summer 1941, the Polish government in exile in London received permission from its new-found ally to organize military units among the Polish deportees and later to transfer Polish civilians to camps in the British-controlled Middle East. There the children were able to attend Polish-run schools.The 120 essays translated here were selected from compositions written by the students of these schools. What makes these documents unique is the perception of these witnesses: a child's eye view of events no adult would consider worth mentioning. In simple language, filled with misspellings and grammatical errors, the children recorded their experiences, and sometimes their surprisingly mature understanding, of the invasion and the Societ occupation, the deportations eastward, and life in the work camps and kolkhozes. The horrors of life in the USSR were vivid memories; privation, hunger, disease, and death had been so frequent that they became accepted commonplaces. Moreover, as the editors point out in their introductory study, these Polish children were not alone in their suffering. All the nationalities that came under Soviet rule shared their fate.
War Through Italian Eyes: Fighting for Mussolini, 1940-1943 (Routledge Studies in Second World War History)
by Alexander HenryThere is a popular notion that the Italian armed forces of the Second World War were an inferior fighting force. Despite the vast numbers taken prisoner, detailed studies of the experiences of these soldiers remain relatively uncommon and the value of this group to furthering our understanding of the Italian experience of war under Fascism is also rarely acknowledged. The existence in the National Archives of hundreds of pages of transcripts of covert British surveillance of Italian POWs has made it possible to engage with their experiences and opinions in much greater depth. The euphemistically termed ‘Special Reports’ present historians with a unique insight into how all levels of Italian soldiery viewed Fascist Italy’s experience of war, 1940-1943. This book examines reactions to Italian political leadership, the progress of the war, as well as Italian soldiers’ ‘everyday’ views on sex, war, the enemy, death, food, their allies, bravery, race, and killing. These fascinating documents reveal the complexity of the outlook of these men, which persistent – and influential – national stereotypes and historiographical trends fail to acknowledge.
War Time: First World War Perspectives on Temporality (Routledge Studies in First World War History)
by Louis Halewood Adam Luptak Hanna SmythThe International Society for First World War Studies’ ninth conference, ‘War Time’, drew together emerging and leading scholars to discuss, reflect upon, and consider the ways that time has been conceptualised both during the war itself and in subsequent scholarship. War Time: First World War Perspectives on Temporality, stemming from this 2016 conference, offers its readers a collection of the conference’s most inspiring and thought-provoking papers from the next generation of First World War scholars. In its varied yet thematically-related chapters, the book aims to examine new chronologies of the Great War and bring together its military and social history. Its cohesive theme creates opportunities to find common ground and connections between these sub-disciplines of history, and prompts students and academics alike to seriously consider time as alternately a unifying, divisive, and ultimately shaping force in the conflict and its historiography. With content spanning land and air, the home and fighting fronts, multiple nations, and stretching to both pre-1914 and post-1918, these ten chapters by emerging researchers (plus an introductory chapter by the conference organisers, and a foreword by John Horne) offer an irreplaceable and invaluable snapshot of how the next generation of First World War scholars from eight countries were innovatively conceptualising the conflict and its legacy at the midpoint of its centenary.
A War to be Won: Fighting the Second World War
by Williamson Murray Allan R. MillettIn the course of the twentieth century, no war looms as profoundly transformative or as destructive as World War II. Its global scope and human toll reveal the true face of modern, industrialized warfare. Now, for the first time, we have a comprehensive, single-volume account of how and why this global conflict evolved as it did. A War To Be Won is a unique and powerful operational history of the Second World War that tells the full story of battle on land, on sea, and in the air. Williamson Murray and Allan R. Millett analyze the operations and tactics that defined the conduct of the war in both the European and Pacific Theaters. Moving between the war room and the battlefield, we see how strategies were crafted and revised, and how the multitudes of combat troops struggled to discharge their orders. The authors present incisive portraits of the military leaders, on both sides of the struggle, demonstrating the ambiguities they faced, the opportunities they took, and those they missed. Throughout, we see the relationship between the actual operations of the war and their political and moral implications. A War To Be Won is the culmination of decades of research by two of America's premier military historians. It avoids a celebratory view of the war but preserves a profound respect for the problems the Allies faced and overcame as well as a realistic assessment of the Axis accomplishments and failures. It is the essential military history of World War II-from the Sino-Japanese War in 1937 to the surrender of Japan in 1945-for students, scholars, and general readers alike.
The War to End All Wars: The Story of World War I
by Jack BattenA brilliant, concise history of The War to End All Wars. In the decade leading up to 1914, Europe had never known such prosperity. But the times were not good enough for the continent's most powerful nations: Germany wanted a navy that matched England's; Russia wanted an army as large and as disciplined as Germany's; the Austro-Hungarian Empire wanted more respect; and England felt compelled to teach the others about civilized relations. How terrible could a war be? In this riveting account of a tragic episode in world history, author Jack Batten takes readers through a far bloodier conflict than mankind had ever before endured. Meet the soldiers who fought the deadly battles along the Western Front. Follow the trail of flying ace Billy Bishop as he tangles in the air with the Red Baron. Learn the strategy of Britain's Grand Fleet of warships as it heads into the biggest sea battle in history. Discover how civilians decoded virtually all the messages the Germans sent to their ships around the world. From the Battle of the Somme, Gallipoli, Passchendale, and Vimy Ridge to the war's final battles, The War to End All Wars evokes the heroism and suffering of men from every country, whose stories changed the face of the world forever. With index and selected bibliography.
The War To End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I
by Edward M. CoffmanA comprehensive history of the US military’s involvement in World War I, including soldiers’ experiences, the creation of the air force, and more.The War to End All Wars is considered by many to be the best single account of America’s participation in World War I. Covering famous battles, the birth of the air force, naval engagements, the War Department, and experiences of the troops, this indispensable volume is again available in paperback for students and general readers.Praise for The War to End All Wars“Will surely stand as the first source for anyone interested in the conflict.” —Stephen Ambrose“Coffman’s skilled use of archived materials, diaries and memoirs brings life and immediacy to his story.” —Virginia Quarterly Review“[Coffman] can explain complex matters in a few sharp paragraphs, illuminate technical discussions with personal vignettes, and use statistics to clarify rather than confuse. . . . Should become standard reading in twentieth century American history courses.” —Indiana Magazine of History
War Torn: The Personal Experiences of Women Reporters in the Vietnam War
by Tad Bartimus Denby Fawcett Jurate Kazickas Edith Lederer Ann Mariano Anne Morrissy Merick Laura Palmer Kate Webb Tracy WoodThis book is about our experiences as women reporters covering the Vietnam War from 1966 until the fall of Saigon in 1975. Each of us has written a chapter about what we saw and felt in Indochina--our adventures, fears, excitement, and the difficulties and loneliness. Vietnam was a unique war for all journalists, because there was no censorship. The U.S. military provided extraordinary access to combat operations. We could fly on bombing missions, parachute into hostile territory with an airborne unit, spend a week with the Special Forces in the jungle, hitch a ride on a chopper and land amid rocket and artillery as a battle raged, or be taken prisoner like a soldier. This access gave women reporters a chance to show that they could cover combat bravely and honorably, holding their own even under the most frightening and stressful circumstances.
War, Torture and Terrorism: Rethinking the Rules of International Security (Contemporary Security Studies)
by Anthony F. Lang Jr. Amanda Russell BeattieThis book seeks to demonstrate how rules not only guide a variety of practices within international politics but also contribute to the chaos and tension on the part of agents in light of the structures they sustain. Four central themes- practice, legitimacy, regulation, and responsibility- reflect different dimensions of a rule governed political order. The volume does not provide a single new set of rules for governing an increasingly chaotic international system. Instead, it provides reflections upon the way in which rules can and cannot deal with practices of violence. While many assume that "obeying the rules" will bring more peaceful outcomes, the chapters in this volume demonstrate that this may occur in some cases, but more often than not the very nature of a rule governed order will create tensions and stresses that require a constant attention to underlying political dynamics. This wide-ranging volume will be of great interest to students of International Law, International Security and IR theory.
War Tourism: Second World War France from Defeat and Occupation to the Creation of Heritage
by Bertram M. GordonAs German troops entered Paris following their victory in June 1940, the American journalist William L. Shirer observed that they carried cameras and behaved as "naïve tourists." One of the first things Hitler did after his victory was to tour occupied Paris, where he was famously photographed in front of the Eiffel Tower.Focusing on tourism by German personnel, military and civil, and French civilians during the war, as well as war-related memory tourism since, War Tourism addresses the fundamental linkages between the two. As Bertram M. Gordon shows, Germans toured occupied France by the thousands in groups organized by their army and guided by suggestions in magazines such as Der Deutsche Wegleiter fr Paris [The German Guide for Paris]. Despite the hardships imposed by war and occupation, many French civilians continued to take holidays. Facilitated by the Popular Front legislation of 1936, this solidified the practice of workers' vacations, leading to a postwar surge in tourism.After the end of the war, the phenomenon of memory tourism transformed sites such as the Maginot Line fortresses. The influx of tourists with links either directly or indirectly to the war took hold and continues to play a significant economic role in Normandy and elsewhere. As France moved from wartime to a postwar era of reconciliation and European Union, memory tourism has held strong and exerts significant influence across the country.
War & Trade with the Pharaohs: An Archaeological Study of Ancient Egypt's Foreign Relations
by Garry J. ShawThe ancient Egyptians presented themselves as superior to all other people in the world; on temple walls, the pharaoh is shown smiting foreign enemies people from Nubia, Libya and the Levant or crushing them beneath his chariot. Officially, foreigners represented disorder and chaos the opposite of Egypts perfect land of justice and order. But despite such imagery, from the beginning of their history, the Egyptians also enjoyed friendly relations with neighboring cultures; both Egyptians and foreigners crossed the deserts and seas exchanging goods gathered from across the known world. They shared knowledge and technology, and sometimes settled abroad, marrying and acculturating. Through such interactions, the Egyptians influenced other cultures, and at the same time were themselves shaped by foreign contacts and external events.War & Trade with the Pharaohs explores Egypts connections with the wider world over the course of 3,000 years, introducing readers to ancient diplomacy, travel, trade, warfare, domination, and immigration both Egyptians living abroad and foreigners living in Egypt. It covers military campaigns and trade in periods of strength including such important events as the Battle of Qadesh under Ramesses II and Hatshepsuts trading mission to the mysterious land of Punt and Egypts foreign relations during times of political weakness, when foreign dynasties ruled parts of the country. From early interactions with traders on desolate desert tracks, to sunken Mediterranean trading vessels, the Nubian Kingdom of Kerma, Nile fortresses, the Sea Peoples, and Persian satraps, there is always a rich story to tell behind Egypts foreign relations.
War Trials: Investigation of a Soldier and the Trauma of Iraq
by Will YatesWar Trials tells the gripping and in-depth true story of a British soldier’s role in the drowning of an Iraqi teenager in May 2003, the devastating investigation and resulting court martial. This narrative non-fiction tracks the soldier’s life from tight-knit broken family home in Merseyside through deadly urban conflict in the Middle East, to a different battle fought against PTSD while he awaited a military tribunal back in the UK. The military court case in 2006 marked the first of its kind relating to the Iraq war and a case that opened the flood gates of multiple investigations and inquiries into the conduct of soldiers overseas. Based upon rigorous new research, this book’s untold personal story explores the horrors of battle and the chaos of a post-war city and a young soldier’s struggle against depression, suicide attempts and deep sense of being let down by the army he sought to serve. This soldier would eventually endure numerous investigations and face the threat of the International Criminal Court for war crimes but these are the shocking events that started it all. It is the compelling story of a contentious military campaign with little preparation for the disastrous fall out; the soldiers pushed to the limit who maintained a wall of a silence after doing the unthinkable; and a floating body of dead child who came to symbolize a generation lost to war.
War Under the Red Ensign, 1914–1918: 1914-1918
by Bernard Edwardshe Kaisers determination to starve Britain into surrender and the development of his Navy and the U-boats in particular meant that Britains merchant navy was in the front line throughout the Great War.This book charts the progress of the war at sea which began with the sinking of the oil tanker San Wilfrido off Cuxhaven only eight hours after the official declaration of war. The merchantman Glitra was the first victim of a German U-boat (U–17) on 20 October 1914 she was to be joined by many, many more. As the war on land intensified so the naval struggle grew ever more bitter. As vividly described there were many incidents of atrocious behavior, amounting to war crimes, by the attackers against their hapless victims; sinking of lifeboats, machine-gunning of survivors, attacks without any warning designed to cause maximum casualties.We learn of instances where the weak gallantly fought back such as the duel between Captain Bissett-Smiths Otaki (with one gun) and the heavily armed German surface raider Mwe. Although he went down with his ship, Captain Smith was posthumously awarded the VC, and remains the only merchant seaman so honored.War under the Red Ensign contains many inspiring and shocking accounts of war at sea and is a gripping read.
War Under Waves
by Fred WarshofskyWar Under the Waves, first published in 1962, is a non-technical overview of the history of the military submarine. Beginning with the Turtle of the American Revolutionary War, the Hunley of the Civil War, and continuing on to famous World War One and Two submarines (such as the USS Growler and USS Harder), War Under the Waves provides a look at look at the crews and their submarines as they engaged the enemy and helped make the submarine one of the most important tools of naval warfare.
War Underground: The Tunnellers of the Great War
by Alexander BarrieThis is the definitive history of tunneling and mining operations on the Western Front in World War I. A truly fascinating and little appreciated aspect of that terrible conflict that only now is being properly understood.
War Veterans and Fascism in Interwar Europe (Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare #50)
by Ángel AlcaldeThis book explores, from a transnational viewpoint, the historical relationship between war veterans and fascism in interwar Europe. Until now, historians have been roughly divided between those who assume that 'brutalization' (George L. Mosse) led veterans to join fascist movements and those who stress that most ex-soldiers of the Great War became committed pacifists and internationalists. Transcending the debates of the brutalization thesis and drawing upon a wide range of archival and published sources, this work focuses on the interrelated processes of transnationalization and the fascist permeation of veterans' politics in interwar Europe to offer a wider perspective on the history of both fascism and veterans' movements. A combination of mythical constructs, transfers, political communication, encounters and networks within a transnational space explain the relationship between veterans and fascism. Thus, this book offers new insights into the essential ties between fascism and war, and contributes to the theorization of transnational fascism. Offers a Europe-wide transnational perspective on the complex phenomenon of fascism Analyzes the cultural, sociological and political origins of fascism and its proliferations across Europe Transcends the traditional paradigm of the 'brutalization' thesis and challenges conventional views of war veterans' identities and history
War Veterans and the World after 1945: Cold War Politics, Decolonization, Memory (Routledge Studies in Modern History)
by Ángel Alcalde Xosé M. Núñez SeixasThis book examines war veterans’ history after 1945 from a global perspective. In the Cold War era, in most countries of the world there was a sizeable portion of population with direct war experience. This edited volume gathers contributions which show the veterans’ involvement in all the major historical processes shaping the world after World War II. Cold War politics, racial conflict, decolonization, state-building, and the reshaping of war memory were phenomena in which former soldiers and ex-combatants were directly involved. By examining how different veterans’ groups, movements and organizations challenged or sustained the Cold War, strived to prevent or to foster decolonization, and transcended or supported official memories of war, the volume characterizes veterans as largely independent and autonomous actors which interacted with societies and states in the making of our times. Spanning historical cases from the United States to Hong-Kong, from Europe to Southern Africa, from Algeria to Iran, the volume situates veterans within the turbulent international context since World War II.
War Veterans in Postwar Situations
by Nathalie DuclosThis edited volume deals with the reintegration and trajectories of intrastate or interstate war veterans. It raises the question of the effects of the war experience on ex-combatants with regards, in particular, to the perpetuation of a certain level of violence as well as the maintaining of structures, networks, and war methods after the war.
War Virtually: The Quest to Automate Conflict, Militarize Data, and Predict the Future
by Roberto J. GonzálezA critical look at how the US military is weaponizing technology and data for new kinds of warfare—and why we must resist. War Virtually is the story of how scientists, programmers, and engineers are racing to develop data-driven technologies for fighting virtual wars, both at home and abroad. In this landmark book, Roberto J. González gives us a lucid and gripping account of what lies behind the autonomous weapons, robotic systems, predictive modeling software, advanced surveillance programs, and psyops techniques that are transforming the nature of military conflict. González, a cultural anthropologist, takes a critical approach to the techno-utopian view of these advancements and their dubious promise of a less deadly and more efficient warfare. With clear, accessible prose, this book exposes the high-tech underpinnings of contemporary military operations—and the cultural assumptions they're built on. Chapters cover automated battlefield robotics; social scientists' involvement in experimental defense research; the blurred line between political consulting and propaganda in the internet era; and the military's use of big data to craft new counterinsurgency methods based on predicting conflict. González also lays bare the processes by which the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies have quietly joined forces with Big Tech, raising an alarming prospect: that someday Google, Amazon, and other Silicon Valley firms might merge with some of the world's biggest defense contractors. War Virtually takes an unflinching look at an algorithmic future—where new military technologies threaten democratic governance and human survival.
War Volunteering in Modern Times
by Christine G. Krüger Sonja LevsenExploring volunteering as a characteristic of modern wars, this book examines why individuals go to war. It studies the motivations, social backgrounds and military experiences of war volunteersin a wide range of conflicts since the French Revolution, and helps to interpret the relationship between war and society in modern times. "
The War We Lost: Yugoslavia's Tragedy and the Failure of the West
by Constantin FotitchIn the history of this century the Balkans, boundary between the East and the West, assume an importance far out of proportion to their geographical extent and the size of their population. The key spot in this troubled, conflict-ridden area is Yugoslavia. Here (in what was then Serbia) World War I began. Here the Hitler-Stalin alliance disintegrated. Here, during World War II, an angry popular revolution against a government committed to appeasement of Hitler, and the resistance which followed, delayed the German attack on Russia by six weeks, and according to official and authoritative German estimates, cost the Nazis the war. Here the Western Allies, guided by opportunistic political considerations rather than the principles which they had laid down in the Atlantic Charter, made one of the greatest mistakes of the war by shifting their support from Mihailovich to Tito. Here lie some of the gravest causes of post-war disagreement between the United States and Russia. Here international communism originally set up headquarters for the Cominform. Here, at the end of June 1948, occurred the first serious split between Soviet Russia and one of her satellite states. And here are some of the seeds of dissension from which World War III may be born.It is the purpose of this book to explain how these things happened by presenting the history of Yugoslavia during World War II and telling the story of the ordeal of the Serbian people and the price they paid for remaining faithful to their traditions of freedom and their loyalty to the Western democracies.