Part of the ALL-NEW LADYBIRD EXPERT SERIES - Why was the Battle of the Nile so decisive in the French Revolutionary Wars? - Why did the French believe they were unassailable? - And why did Nelson and the British win? TRACK the revolutionary roots and dramatic turning points of the British Royal Navy's glorious victory over the French naval expedition to Egypt. From Napoleon's rise to prominence to Nelson's celebrated tactical leadership, discover how this significant battle changed the face of the French Revolutionary Wars. THE BATTLE THAT CHANGED THE BALANCE OF POWER IN EUROPE Written by historian, archaeologist, and broadcaster Sam Willis, Nelson: Battle of the Nile is a thrilling and accessible account of the naval battle that established Nelson's fame.

The Peninsular War continues to be of great interest to students of military history, but the various siege operations have tended to be overlooked. However as Frederick Myatt demonstrates in British Sieges of the Peninsular War, they are of no less interest than the battles in the open fields, particularly in Spain where the circumstances were so unusual. The British Army under Wellington was hopelessly outnumbered by the French and could only keep the field at all by virtue of the superior supply system which enabled them to remain concentrated, whereas the French, who lived off the country, were compelled to disperse widely in order to survive. They were nevertheless capable of rapid concentration for a particular object, so that any siege operation conducted by the British inevitably ran the risk of being overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers of the relieving force. As a result, Wellington's main preoccupation was not how long it would take to bring a siege to a successful conclusion by normal means but rather what chance he had of snatching success before the French overcame their supply problems and arrived in front of him.

The time for autobiographies has arrived. Interest in authentic life stories seems greater than ever, even greater than well written works of fiction, because readers begin to recognise that nothing is more fantastic than the complicated reality through which we are forced to make our way. Accounts of everyday life have long since become a source of historic insight, and even historians are beginning to admit that concrete vignettes of an autobiographer's life are often better able to portray what the past was really like. All of this holds true for the memoirs of Jakob Ludwig Heller, who lived in the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the 19th and 20th centuries. The records that he left behind reveal that nostalgic individuals were not far wrong in viewing the Empire, and its era as the quintessence of an intact world. Of course, things were not as peaceful and happy for everyone in the Danube monarchy, but compared with today's world, Jakob Ludwig Heller's milieu was a true idyll, where marriages endured, family ties were strong, hard work was rewarded, and people rejoiced over simple social gatherings.;Upbringing was strict, but caring, the children were well behaved, and earning a living was fun. Long live progress! The feeling that what he describes is lost forever is magnified further by the fact that he grew up in a Jewish, Central European milieu, where Jews perhaps did not live without tensions among neighbours of other faiths, but did live without being persecuted, robbed, and murdered. Not only Jewish readers will regret the loss of that normal way of life. Near the end of his memoirs, in retrospect the diarist complains about the inexplicable intrusions of lax morals, the disappearance of fixed norms, and the lack of the earlier, ever-present feeling of security and continuity. What would he say today? But what makes the reading of this simple story so rewarding, apart from the historic information, is the intelligent, humorous, warm-hearted man who is encountered on every page. His comments about the First World War are especially touching. Despite his extensive life experience, they betray his naive belief in Germany and Austria, in the government and the army.;He is convinced that the Central Powers fight for a just cause at a time when Karl Kraus is writing "The Last Days of Mankind". But in those days, the great satirist was still quite alone with his opinion. Most of the Jews, even most of the people, probably felt as did Jakob Ludwig Heller. And the waning of those certainties is the greatest tragedy of all, a sign of the insurmountable distance between our world and that of the past.