Britain's 20 Worst Military Disasters

Britain's 20 Worst Military Disasters PDF Author: John Withington
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 075098127X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 295

Get Book Here

Book Description
Crecy, Agincourt, Blenheim, Trafalgar, Waterloo, El Alamein – the names trip off the tongue and resound through our history. Great British military victories, often won against the odds. But what of the defeats and disasters – from our conquest by Roman armies to the fall of Singapore in 1942, described by Churchill as the 'worst disaster' in our military history. This is the story of those disasters, and the ones in between. From famous battles like Hastings and Yorktown, to those that are less well-known but had far-reaching consequences, such as Castillon. Others, like the Battle of the Medway in 1667, which were deeply shameful – 'a dishonour never to be wiped off' – but had relatively little long term impact. Sometimes, a brilliant retreat helped prevent an even greater calamity, as at Gallipoli and Dunkirk. It is an epic story following British armies and navies across the world to France, Africa, North and South America and the Far East. It is a tale of bungling, miscalculation, unpreparedness and heroism.

Britain's 20 Worst Military Disasters

Britain's 20 Worst Military Disasters PDF Author: John Withington
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 075098127X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 295

Get Book Here

Book Description
Crecy, Agincourt, Blenheim, Trafalgar, Waterloo, El Alamein – the names trip off the tongue and resound through our history. Great British military victories, often won against the odds. But what of the defeats and disasters – from our conquest by Roman armies to the fall of Singapore in 1942, described by Churchill as the 'worst disaster' in our military history. This is the story of those disasters, and the ones in between. From famous battles like Hastings and Yorktown, to those that are less well-known but had far-reaching consequences, such as Castillon. Others, like the Battle of the Medway in 1667, which were deeply shameful – 'a dishonour never to be wiped off' – but had relatively little long term impact. Sometimes, a brilliant retreat helped prevent an even greater calamity, as at Gallipoli and Dunkirk. It is an epic story following British armies and navies across the world to France, Africa, North and South America and the Far East. It is a tale of bungling, miscalculation, unpreparedness and heroism.

London's Disasters

London's Disasters PDF Author: John Withington
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752476246
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 294

Get Book Here

Book Description
From AD 61, when Queen Boudicca – outraged at her treatment at the hands of the Romans – marched on the city and burned it to the ground, London has been hit by wave upon wave of destruction. This fascinating and unique book tells the story of over 2000 years of disaster – fire, water, disease, pollution, accident, storm, riot, terrorism and enemy action. It chronicles well-known episodes like the Great Plague of 1665 and the Blitz, as well as lesser-known events such as whirlwinds and earthquakes. This new edition also includes the recent terrorist attack on 7 July 2005, as well as a new section on the crises which have plagued the financial City, including the near-collapse of Britain's banks during 2008 and 2009. London's Disasters ultimately celebrates the spirit of the people of London who have risen above it all and for whom London is still a great city in which to live and work.

The 100 Worst Military Disasters in History

The 100 Worst Military Disasters in History PDF Author: John T. Kuehn
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 112

Get Book Here

Book Description
The 100 Worst Military Disasters in History is a fascinating collection that educators, students, and historians will all find useful in helping them understand the causes and consequences of the most infamous military failures in history. The dynamics of military disaster are equally, if not more, important as understanding how to achieve success on the battlefield. This comprehensive book covers the complete gamut of human history as it tells the compelling stories of the worst military debacles of all time. It covers battles, campaigns, and wars, starting with the ancient Persians and Greeks and finishing with the U.S. conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Not limited to land warfare, however, the book also includes a number of the most disastrous naval engagements and campaigns in world history. The 100 Worst Military Disasters in History opens with a detailed introduction illuminating the role military strategy and politics played in some of the worst battlefield failures throughout history. The entries are augmented with several engaging sidebars related to various military disasters. This eclectic collection includes coverage of many lesser known military disasters such as the Taiping Rebellion, during which 20 times more Chinese died than the number of people killed in the American Civil War.

The Japanese Empire Disaster

The Japanese Empire Disaster PDF Author: Jean Sénat Fleury
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1664138692
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Get Book Here

Book Description
The book demonstrates that, even if during the first period of the Shwa era (1931–1945) the real driving force to war was the Japanese military, Hirohito, as supreme commander, gave full support to the army. On multiple occasions, as an emperor, he sanctioned many government policies. Accordingly, he was responsible for the war and for the atrocities that the Japanese troops committed in Asia during the Pacific War. Japan’s Empire Disaster is a book of information and training; a reference document that should be read as an educational tool on the history of the modernization of Japan and the war launched by Emperor Meiji and Hirohito to build Japan Empire in the Pacific and East Asia. The book shares the view of the author on Hirohito’s responsibility on the events that marked Japan’s entry into the war that began when Japanese troops invaded Manchuria on September 19, 1931, and culminated with Japan’s surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941.

National Geographic the British World

National Geographic the British World PDF Author: Tim Jepson
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1426215533
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344

Get Book Here

Book Description
This fascinating heritage in breathtaking National Geographic style with gorgeous photographs and artwork, engaging narrative, information sidebars, and premium-quality maps specially commissioned for this book.

The Quintinshill Conspiracy

The Quintinshill Conspiracy PDF Author: Jack Richards
Publisher: Wharncliffe
ISBN: 1473831806
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 522

Get Book Here

Book Description
It was the railway's Titanic. A horrific crash involving five trains in which 230 died and 246 were injured, it remains the worst disaster in the long history of Britain's rail network.The location was the isolated signal box at Quintinshill, on the Anglo-Scottish border near Gretna; the date, 22 May 1915. Amongst the dead and injured were women and children but most of the casualties were Scottish soldiers on their way to fight in the Gallipoli campaign. Territorials setting off for war on a distant battlefield were to die, not in battle, but on home soil victims, it was said, of serious incompetence and a shoddy regard for procedure in the signal box, resulting in two signalmen being sent to prison. Startling new evidence reveals that the failures which led to the disaster were far more complex and wide-reaching than signalling negligence. Using previously undisclosed documents, the authors have been able to access official records from the time and have uncovered ahighly shocking and controversial truth behind what actually happened at Quintinshill and the extraordinary attempts to hide the truth.As featured in Dumfries & Galloway Life magazine, January 2014.

Churchill and the Lion City

Churchill and the Lion City PDF Author: Brian Farrell
Publisher: NUS Press
ISBN: 9971695529
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Get Book Here

Book Description
British imperialism helped shaped the modern world order. This same imperialism created modern Singapore, controlling its colonial development and influencing its post-colonial orientation. Winston Churchill was British imperialism's most significant twentieth century statesman. He never visited Singapore, but his story and that of the city-state are deeply intertwined. Singapore became a symbol of British imperial power in Asia to Churchill, while Singaporeans came to see him as symbolizing that power. The fall of Singapore to Japanese conquest in 1942 was a low point in Churchill's war leadership, one he forever labeled by calling it 'the worst disaster in British military history.' It was also a tragedy for Singapore, ushering in three years of harsh military occupation. But the interplay between these three historical forces, Churchill, Empire, and Singapore, extended well beyond this dramatic conjuncture. The Last Lion and the Lion City provides a critical examination of that longer interplay through an analysis of Churchill's understanding of empire, his perceptions of Singapore and its imperial role, his direction of affairs regarding Singapore and the Empire, his influence on the subsequent relationship between Britain and Singapore.

AAHS Journal

AAHS Journal PDF Author: American Aviation Historical Society
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aeronautics
Languages : en
Pages : 344

Get Book Here

Book Description


American Aviation Historical Society Journal

American Aviation Historical Society Journal PDF Author: American Aviation Historical Society
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aeronautics
Languages : en
Pages : 344

Get Book Here

Book Description


Somme

Somme PDF Author: Hugh Sebag-Montefiore
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674545192
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 680

Get Book Here

Book Description
The notion of battles as the irreducible building blocks of war demands a single verdict of each campaign—victory, defeat, stalemate. But this kind of accounting leaves no room to record the nuances and twists of actual conflict. In Somme: Into the Breach, the noted military historian Hugh Sebag-Montefiore shows that by turning our focus to stories of the front line—to acts of heroism and moments of both terror and triumph—we can counter, and even change, familiar narratives. Planned as a decisive strike but fought as a bloody battle of attrition, the Battle of the Somme claimed over a million dead or wounded in months of fighting that have long epitomized the tragedy and folly of World War I. Yet by focusing on the first-hand experiences and personal stories of both Allied and enemy soldiers, Hugh Sebag-Montefiore defies the customary framing of incompetent generals and senseless slaughter. In its place, eyewitness accounts relive scenes of extraordinary courage and sacrifice, as soldiers ordered “over the top” ventured into No Man’s Land and enemy trenches, where they met a hail of machine-gun fire, thickets of barbed wire, and exploding shells. Rescuing from history the many forgotten heroes whose bravery has been overlooked, and giving voice to their bereaved relatives at home, Hugh Sebag-Montefiore reveals the Somme campaign in all its glory as well as its misery, helping us to realize that there are many meaningful ways to define a battle when seen through the eyes of those who lived it.