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Products tagged with: history
Walking the Streets of Eighteenth-Century London
This book will entertain and inform all who are interested in literature, history, and the city of London. Readers will take a walk along the dirty, crowded, and fascinating streets of eighteenth-century London in an unusual way. Nine experts offer accessible and stimulating interpretations of John Gay's poem Trivia: or the Art of Walking the Streets of London (1716). The text of this lively, funny poem about urban life accompanies the essays. Gay's wit, slang, stories, and. rhymes paint a vibrant picture of London in an exciting and thought-provoking way. - ;Walking the Streets of Eighteenth-Century London will entertain and inform all who are interested in literature, history, and the city of London. This unique book invites the reader to walk along the dirty, crowded, and fascinating streets of eighteenth-century London in an unusual way. Nine leading experts from the fields of literature, history, classics, gender, biography, geography, and costume, offer different interpretations of John Gay's poem Trivia: or, the Art. of Walking the Streets of London (1716). The poem - a lively, funny, and thought-provoking statement about urban life - accompanies the essays, in a new edition with comprehensive notes. The introduction paints a vibrant picture of London in 1716, depicting Gay's fascinating life and literary world, offering an. invaluable guide to the poem. Together, these elements allow the heat, grime, and smells of the underbelly of eighteenth-century London come alive in new ways. - ;There is much to enjoy in this volume. The text of the poem itself is a sound one, [and] the commentary, far fuller than anything currently available, will be useful. - Henry Power, Times Literary Supplement
Walter Benjamin and History
The first book to examine in detail Benjamin's Theses on the Philosophy of History Benjamin's collection of fragments, Theses on the Philosophy of History, play a determining role in how Benjamin's thought is understood, as well as in the debate about the interplay between politics, history and time. Walter Benjamin and History is the first volume to give access to the themes and problems raised by the Theses, providing valuable exegetical and historical work on the text. The essays collected here are all the work of noted Benjamin scholars, and pursue the themes central to the Theses.
Wanted Dead or Alive
Early May 2011, in a dramatic late-night appearance at the White House, President Obama declared that “justice has been done” as he announced that Osama bin Laden was dead. After more than a decade of military operations across Central Asia and the Middle East, the Al Qaida leader who orchestrated the 9/11 terrorist attacks was finally killed in a firefight with U.S. Navy SEALs in Pakistan. Although this daring raid marked the end of the longest strategic manhunt in American history, bin Laden was not the first individual targeted as the objective of a military campaign. From Geronimo to Pancho Villa, to Manuel Noriega, to Saddam Hussein, the United States has deployed military forces to kill or capture a single person nearly a dozen times since 1885. Part military history, part action thriller, and part strategic policy analysis, Wanted Dead or Alive chronicles the extraordinary efforts of the military and intelligence agencies to bring America’s enemies to justice.
War
A new and revised edition of Dyer’s classic book, widely regarded as one of the most compelling analyses of the history of armed conflict. “War is part of our history, but it is not in at all the same sense part of our prehistory. It is one of the innovations that occurred between nine and eleven thousand years ago when the first civilized societies were coming into being. What has been invented can be changed; war is not in our genes.” With this provocative statement, Gwynne Dyer launches his brilliant discussion of the history and nature of war. He traces the growth of organized warfare through history, showing conclusively that the basic tenet has remained unchanged — war is an act of mass violence applied against an enemy so that he will do what you want him to do. The only real change has been technological, permitting us to make war on a mass scale. At the height of the Cold War, just such a global conflagration seemed almost inevitable. But the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the ensuing political changes have forced a re-examination of the accepted fundamentals of history. Will open access to the channels of mass communication create enough shared values that we can move beyond mass warfare? Is the threat of terrorism a red herring designed to preserve the military status quo? Are our traditional military and administrative hierarchical structures still relevant? Now, more than ever in our post–September 11 world, we need Gwynne Dyer’s expertise to understand the greatest and most human drama — the act of war. Excerpt from War The Siamese twins, army and state, have never been separated since they were born some eight or nine thousand years ago — and most of the time the state is the stronger of the twins. Armies exist to serve the interests of the state that owns them and their legitimacy comes solely from the fact that they belong to states; similar groups of armed men, if self-employed, are generally known as rebels or bandits. This is the context in which warfare, as opposed to casual and illegitimate violence, must be seen: it is something states do, and have always done, because they believe it serves their interest. From the Hardcover edition.
War
War has been central to the rise and fall of civilizations since the dawn of time. The history of warfare first emerges from legend in Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization, around 3,000 years before the birth of Christ. The first armies that we know about fought in Sumeria, Ancient Egypt, and Syria. From these first battles, fought with spears or axes on horseback or on foot, War traces the campaigns and conflicts that have shaped world history and examines the evolution of military tactics and technology. The story of the development from these primitive battles to the global conflicts of the 20th century and the modern War on Terror' is the story of humanity itself, reflecting the same political, cultural and technological forces that have defined human history. From longbows to laser-guided missiles; from chariots to jet aircraft; and from Samurai warriors to SAS soldiers, War provides the definitive visual chronicle of this intense, brutal, and often heroic tale. War combines a coherent and compelling spread-by-spread historical narrative with a wealth of supporting features on weapons and technology, strategy and tactics, the experience of war, and history's fighting elites to recount the epic 5,000-year story of warfare and combat through the ages. CONTENTS Foreword and Introduction WAR IN THE ANCIENT WORLD The Earliest Armies Mesopotamian Military Empires The Greco-Persian Wars GALLERY: Projectile Weapons The Peloponnesian Wars The Conquests of Alexander COMMANDERS: Alexander Infantry in the Ancient World Rise of the Roman Empire GALLERY: Knives and Swords The Punic Wars COMMANDERS: Hannibal and Cannae Wars of the Late Republic Professional Armies Imperial Rome EYEWITNESS: Close Combat The Unification of China Indian Empires WAR IN THE MEDIEVAL WORLD Fall of the Western Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire The Rise of the Franks Norse and the Viking Raiders The Ascent of Islam Arab and Turkish Armies The Early Crusades EYEWITNESS: Cavalry Charge Medieval Siege Warfare The Decline of the Crusades COMMANDERS: Saladin and Hattin GALLERY: Helmets The Spanish Reconquista The Gempei Wars The Mongol Conquests EYEWITNESS: Mongol Raids Raiders and Settlers Kublai Khan and Yuan China Popes versus Emperors The Hundred Years War Knighthood and Chivalry GALLERY: Armor Heresy and Revolt in the Late Middle Ages Northern Wars EARLY MODERN WARFARE Conquest of the Aztecs and Incas The Ottoman Empire EYEWITNESS: Siege Warfare Moghul India African Empires France's Italian Wars GALLERY: Staff Weapons Wars of Religion Mercenaries The Thirty Years War COMMANDERS: Gustavus Adolphus The English Civil War Dynastic Wars The Spanish Wars of Succession COMMANDERS: Marlborough and Ouenarde GALLERY: Matchlocks and Flintlocks Early Modern Fortifications The Great Northern War Conflicts in North America Japanese Feudal Wars The Samurai Tradition EYEWITNESS: Samurai Honor Japanese Invasion of Korea Manchu Conquests The Seven Years War COMMANDERS: Frederi
War and Decision
“The vindication of a public figure engulfed in controversy doesn’t get more dramatic than that of the former undersecretary of defense, Douglas Feith. “. --New York Sun, 2/12/07. Of all the players in the planning and evolution of the Bush Administration’s war on terrorism, few were more integral—or more controversial—than Douglas Feith, the chief strategist on Donald Rumsfeld’s Pentagon policy team. A highly influential international policy analyst for more than a quarter century before joining the Bush Administration in 2001, Feith worked closely with Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Vice President Cheney, and President Bush in defining the U.S. response to the attacks of 9/11—from the successful war on Afghanistan to the more challenging invasion of Iraq and its aftermath. Now, in this candid and revealing memoir, Feith—a founding member of the “neoconservative” movement and an architect of the administration’s preventive strategy in the war on terrorism—offers the most in-depth and authoritative account yet of the Pentagon’s evolving stance during one of the most controversial eras of American history. Drawing upon a unique trove of documents and records, this extraordinary chronicle will put the reader in the room for scores of previously unreported senior-level meetings, showing how hundreds of critical decisions were made in defense of American interests during and after the crisis of 9/11—decisions both successful and controversial. Where journalists like Bob Woodward could only speculate, Feith is the first inside player to reveal the inner workings of the Pentagon, at a time when history hung in the balance. As the political battles over Iraq and the Bush administration surge onward, one thing has been missing: A fair and accurate assessment of how the battles were joined, from inside the team that planned them. With this exceptional work of history, Douglas Feith contributes the only thing that can change the course of the debate: the truth.
War and Health
War and Health: Lessons from the Gulf War summarises 14 years of scientific and medical research into ‘Gulf War Syndrome’. It sets the record straight and promotes more informed dialogue between public, media, politicians and medicine. The book concludes that the syndrome has no causal basis and there is no specific Gulf-related illness. Based on published findings and the contributors’ own clinical experience, the book explores both causality and outcomes. It describes the issues that have promulgated the concept of ‘Gulf War Syndrome’ and looks at the historical background to post-combat disorders, identifying common features and factors that shape their symptoms and the explanations attached to them. War and Health: Lessons from the Gulf War provides primary care doctors, hospital physicians and medical students with an up-to-date understanding of the scientific evidence and fills a significant gap in the medical and psychiatric literature.
War and Human Nature
Why did President John F. Kennedy choose a strategy of confrontation during the Cuban missile crisis even though his secretary of defense stated that the presence of missiles in Cuba made no difference? Why did large numbers of Iraqi troops surrender during the Gulf War even though they had been ordered to fight and were capable of doing so? Why did Hitler declare war on the United States knowing full well the power of that country? War and Human Nature argues that new findings about the way humans are shaped by their inherited biology may help provide answers to such questions. This seminal work by former Defense Department official Stephen Peter Rosen contends that human evolutionary history has affected the way we process the information we use to make decisions. The result is that human choices and calculations may be very different from those predicted by standard models of rational behavior. This notion is particularly true in the area of war and peace, Rosen contends. Human emotional arousal affects how people learn the lessons of history. For example, stress and distress influence people's views of the future, and testosterone levels play a role in human social conflict. This thought-provoking and timely work explores the mind that has emerged from the biological sciences over the last generation. In doing so, it helps shed new light on many persistent puzzles in the study of war.
War and Peace in the Balkans
The hostilities that saw the break-up of Tito's Yugoslavia ravaged the Balkans and generated some of the most tragic episodes in modern history. War and Peace in the Balkans explores the history of the conflict and its themes from an insider's perspective. In this independent and critical account, Ian Oliver uses his extensive experience in the region to evaluate the role of the international community in its responses to the war and the efforts to rebuild.
War and Religion after Westphalia, 1648-1713
This volume gauges the importance of religious influences on foreign policy and war after the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years' War in 1648. It questions the traditional view that Westphalia was a watershed event in international relations that ended wars of religion and led thereafter to a purely secular system of power politics in Europe.
War Elephants
Elephants have been deployed as weapons for centuries, particularly in South and South-East Asia, where war elephants constituted the bulk of most armies in the region from antiquity right up to the 19th century. This book offers an insight into the incredible history of these "living tanks," focusing on the design of the equipment and armament that made them so terrifying, particularly the development and structure of the fighting tower. The author, Konstantin S. Nossov goes on to trace the battle history of war elephants, from their deployment against Alexander the Great's army at the battle of Gaugamela, through to their use in the 19th century by the myriad armies of South-East Asia, all the time analyzing the battle formation and tactics of war elephants in action and how these tactics changed over time. He then goes on to examine the most famous action that war elephants took part in, Hannibal's dramatic march over the Alps and his subsequent invasion of Italy. Supported by rare illustrations and full-color original artwork, this book is a vivid account of the development and operation of one of history's most unusual "machines of warfare."
War Epidemics
Written from the viewpoints of historical geography, epidemiology, and spatial analysis, this book examines in four parts the historical occurrence and geographical spread of infectious diseases in association with wars. Part I: War and Disease, surveys war-disease associations from early times to 1850. Part II: Temporal Trends studies time trends since 1850. Part III: A Regional Pattern of War Epidemics, examines grand themes in the war-disease complex. Part IV: Prospects, considers a series of war-related issues of epidemiological significance in the twenty-first century. - ;Down the ages, war epidemics have decimated the fighting strength of armies, caused the suspension and cancellation of military operations, and have brought havoc to the civil populations of belligerent and non-belligerent states alike. This book examines the historical occurrence and geographical spread of infectious diseases in association with past wars. It addresses an intrinsically geographical question: how are the spatial dynamics of epidemics influenced by military. operations and the directives of war? The term historical geography in the title indicates the authors' primary concern with qualitative analyses of archival source materials over a 150-year time period from 1850, and this is combined with quantitative analyses less frequently associated with historical. studies. Written from the viewpoints of historical geography, epidemiology, and spatial analysis, this book examines in four parts the historical occurrence and geographical spread of infectious diseases in association with wars. Part I: War and Disease, surveys war-disease associations from early times to 1850. Part II: Temporal Trends studies time trends since 1850. Part III: A Regional Pattern of War Epidemics, examines grand themes in the war-disease complex. Part IV:. Prospects, considers a series of war-related issues of epidemiological significance in the twenty-first century. - ;There is much that historians can learn from this large volume, which convincingly demonstrates the value of a quanttative approach to the study of epidemics in wartime. - Mark Harrison, Medical History;"impressive scholarship that will make War Epidemics an indispensable work in its field." - Journal of the History of Medicine
War in European History
An updated new edition of Michael Howard's classic history of war in European history, from medieval times to the 21st century, showing how the changing face of war has shaped the wider course of the continent's history over the last millennium. - ;First published over thirty years ago, War in European History is a brilliantly written survey of the changing ways that war has been waged in Europe, from the Norse invasions to the present day. Far more than a simple military history, the book serves as a succinct and enlightening overview of the development of European society as a whole over the last millennium. From the Norsemen and the world of the medieval knights, through to the industrialized mass warfare of the twentiethcentury, Michael Howard illuminates the way in which warfare has shaped the history of the Continent, its effect on social and political institutions, and the ways in which technological and social change have in turn shaped the way in which wars are fought. This new edition includes a fully updated further reading and a new final chapter bringing the story into the twenty-first century, including the invasion of Iraq and the so-called 'War against Terror'. -
War in European History, 1494–1660
The books in the Essential Bibliographies series include an essay by a noted scholar on the important historiographical issues and a pertinent bibliography for a particular period or theme in military history. They serve as research tools for librarians, researchers, and readers with a professional interest and as a starting point for pursuing further studies. This first volume traces Europe’s military revolution, beginning with the onset of “modern warfare” in the Italian Wars and ending with the restoration of the House of Stuart to the English throne.
War in Human Civilization
In this truly global study, Azar Gat sets out to unravel the 'riddle of war' throughout human history, from the early hunter-gatherers right through to the unconventional terrorism of the twenty-first century. - ;Why do people go to war? Is it rooted in human nature or is it a late cultural invention? How does war relate to the other fundamental developments in the history of human civilization? And what of war today - is it a declining phenomenon or simply changing its shape?. In this truly global study of war and civilization, Azar Gat sets out to find definitive answers to these questions in an attempt to unravel the 'riddle of war' throughout human history, from the early hunter-gatherers right through to the unconventional terrorism of the twenty-first century. In the process, the book generates an astonishing wealth of original and fascinating insights on all major aspects of humankind's remarkable journey through the ages, engaging a wide range of disciplines, from anthropology and evolutionary psychology to sociology and political science. Written with remarkable verve and clarity and wholly free from jargon, it will be of interest to anyone who has ever pondered the puzzle of war. - ;...a towering and triumphant achievement...acute, scholarly, and wide-ranging:it is certainly one of the most important works on the subject written since 1945. Gat is at the top of his brilliant form, linking a variety of disciplines in a rich and comprehensive study of this most pertinent of issues. - Richard Holmes, The London Review of Books, Vol 29, No 5;An immensely ambitious work covering not only history but archaeology, anthropology, ethnography, demography and economics, to name but a few... its weight of learning is borne aloft by the author's enthusiasm for his subject and takes his readers with it. If only there were more scholars like this! - Michael Howard, TLS Books of the Year;There's any amount of fascinating insight to be found in this big and enormously ambitious interdisciplinary study. - The Scotsman;A book of extraordinary ambition, erudition and range... Every student of war will be obliged to engage with this remarkable piece of scholarship. - Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, King's College, London;A work of extraordinary scope and formidable erudition... Gat definitively unravels the riddle of civilization and war. - Professor Robert J. Lieber, Georgetown University;A towering and triumphant achievement... acute, scholarly, and wide-ranging: it is certainly one of the most important works on the subject written since 1945. Gat is at the top of his brilliant form, linking a variety of disciplines in a rich and comprehensive study of this most pertinent of issues. - Professor Richard Holmes
War Made New
A monumental, groundbreaking work, now in paperback, that shows how technological and strategic revolutions have transformed the battlefield Combining gripping narrative history with wide-ranging analysis, War Made New focuses on four ?revolutions? in military affairs and describes how inventions ranging from gunpowder to GPS-guided air strikes have remade the field of battle?and shaped the rise and fall of empires. War Made New begins with the Gunpowder Revolution and explains warfare?s evolution from ritualistic, drawn-out engagements to much deadlier events, precipitating the rise of the modern nation-state. He next explores the triumph of steel and steam during the Industrial Revolution, showing how it powered the spread of European colonial empires. Moving into the twentieth century and the Second Industrial Revolution, Boot examines three critical clashes of World War II to illustrate how new technology such as the tank, radio, and airplane ushered in terrifying new forms of warfare and the rise of centralized, and even totalitarian, world powers. Finally, Boot focuses on the Gulf War, the invasion of Afghanistan, and the Iraq War?arguing that even as cutting-edge technologies have made America the greatest military power in world history, advanced communications systems have allowed decentralized, ?irregular? forces to become an increasingly significant threat.
War Scare
Why do some American intelligence officials maintain fallout shelters and private contingency plans to evacuate their families in the event of a Russian nuclear strikeeven in today's post-Cold War era of U.S.-Russian partnership? The frightening answer lies within the pages of War Scare, a terrifying assessment of the prospect for nuclear holocaust in our day. Written by Peter Vincent Pry, a former CIA military analyst, War Scare provides a history of our country's little-known brushes with nuclear war and warns that, contrary to popular opinion and the assurances of our political leaders, the possibility of a Russian attack still exists. Nuclear deterrence has been the foundation of Western security for the last 50 years, but since the end of the Cold War, Russian military doctrine has become more destabilizing, and much more dangerous, than is commonly believed. By making use of a wealth of declassified and unclassified material, Dr. Pry illustrates how Russia's brutal past continues to shape the consciousness and decision making of its leaders, many of whom are unreconstructed ideologues from the old Soviet regime. Gripped by a perpetual perception of imminent threata war scarethe Russian General Staff, which controls the technical capability of launching a nuclear strike, has shown itself to be unstable at best. The author explores recent history and near-disasters such as the Bosnian crisis, the Norway missile incident, and U.S. air strikes on Iraq from the perspective of the Russian General Staff, believing that only by understanding their viewpoint can we minimize the risk of unintentionally provoking a deadly attack. Wary of NATO expansion and reeling from the Russian economy's descent into chaos, the General Staff may interpret Western military exercises and operations in the Middle East and elsewhere as concealing surprise aggression against Russia. This is a grave situation, indeed, as even after the START I, II, and III agreements, Russia will retain enough nuclear weapons to destroy the worldnot to mention significantly expanded chemical and biological warfare capability. War Scare convincingly shows that we ignore these facts at our peril.
War since 1945
Most writing on modern warfare begins with the French Revolutionary Wars and continues through World Wars I and II, giving post-1945 conflicts only a cursory glance through the lens of Cold War politics. Distinguished military historian Jeremy Black corrects that imbalance with War since 1945, a comprehensive look at the many large- and small-scale wars fought around the world in the past sixty years. Black argues strenuously that, in order fully to understand recent warfare, we must discard the Cold War narrative that has until now framed the majority of historical inquiry. By treating conflictsespecially those in and between developing nationson their own terms, he is able to bring proper attention to the wide varieties of force structures, methods, goals, and military cultures that have been employed in post-World War II battles. Rather than recapitulate the familiar assessments that consider improvements in weaponry or increases in the size of armies without adequately weighing the wider context of their uses in specific wars, Black presents an account of warfare that focuses on the actual tasks the military is ordered to undertake. His global coverage of warfare is unparalleled, and his insistence on the centrality of developing nations to this period of military history brings new knowledge to bear on understudied aspects of recent history. Black brings the book up to date with considerations of the current "war on terror" and the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Timely and accessible, War since 1945 will be essential to anyone who wants to understand the state of warfare in the present day.