J.M.W. Turner's The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to her Last Berth to be Broken Up (1838) was his masterpiece. Sam Willis tells the real-life story behind this remarkable painting. The 98-gun Temeraire warship broke through the French and Spanish line directly astern of Nelson's flagship Victory during the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), saving Nelson at a crucial moment in the battle, and, in the words of John Ruskin, fought until her sides ran 'wet with the long runlets of English blood...those pale masts that stayed themselves up against the war-ruin, shaking out their ensigns through the thunder, till sail and ensign dropped.' It is a story that unites the art of war as practised by Nelson with the art of war as depicted by Turner and, as such, it ranges across an extensive period of Britain's cultural and military history in ways that other stories do not. The result is a detailed picture of British maritime power at two of its most significant peaks in the age of sail: the climaxes of both the Seven Years' War (1756-63) and the Napoleonic Wars (1798-1815). It covers every aspect of life in the sailing navy, with particular emphasis on amphibious warfare, disease, victualling, blockade, mutiny and, of course, fleet battle, for it was at Trafalgar that the Temeraire really won her fame. An evocative and magnificent narrative history by a master historian.

Giuseppe Mazzini's Young Europe and the Birth of Modern Nationalism in the Slavic World examines the intellectual currents in Eastern Europe that attracted educated youth after the Polish Revolution of 1830-1. Focusing on the political ideas brought to the Slavic world from the West by Polish emigre conspirators, Anna Procyk explores the core message that the Polish revolutionaries carried, a message based on the democratic principles espoused by Young Europe's founder, Giuseppe Mazzini. Based on archival sources as well as well-documented publications in Eastern Europe, this study highlights that the national awakening among the Czechs, Slovaks, and Galician Ukrainians was not just cultural, as is typically assumed, but political as well. The documentary sources testify that at its inception the political nationalism in Eastern Europe, founded on the humanistic ideals promoted by Mazzini, was republican-democratic in nature and that the clandestine groups in Eastern Europe were cooperating with one another through underground channels. It was through this cooperation during the 1830s that the better-educated Poles and Ukrainians in the political underground tied to Young Europe became aware that the interests of their nations, bound together by the forces of history and political necessity, were best served when they worked closely together.

This book is a broad comprehensive photographic essay regarding surviving artefacts of the Crimean War, fought 150 years ago between Russia and the combined power of Britain, France, Sardinia and Turkey. The authors have spent nearly two years locating and photographing artefacts in national museums, regimental museums, and private collections throughout Great Britain and Ireland. Each artefact is presented as a highly detailed colour photograph, shot from various angles with the researcher in mind, coming alive from the page to the reader. Each photographic image is accompanied by detailed and informative text regarding physical properties, history, and specific origin. The photographs are catalogued under descriptive chapters introducing the British soldier's clothing, accoutrements, necessaries, camp equipment, and weapons, and each is accompanied by detailed and informative text regarding physical properties, history, and specific origin of the item. This definitive work will provide an invaluable resource for serious military researchers and historians.