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Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Military history
After decades of controversy, there is now a growing consensus that
Greek warfare was not singular and simple, but complex and
multiform. In this volume, emerging and established scholars build
on this consensus to explore Greek warfare beyond its traditional
focus on hoplites and the phalanx. We expand the chronological
limits back into the Iron Age, the geographical limits to the
central and eastern Mediterranean, and the operational limits to
include cavalry, light-armed troops, and sieges. We also look
beyond the battlefield at integral aspects of warfare including
religion, the experiences of women, and the recovery of the war
dead.
Shortlisted for the 2021 Society for Army Historical Research's
Templer Medal Operation Crusader, launched in November 1941, was
the third and final British attempt to relieve the siege of Tobruk
and break the German and Italian forces in North Africa. After
tough initial fighting, the British made important gains, only to
be countered by a stunning breakthrough overseen personally by Lt.
General Erwin Rommel. As the British situation teetered, the
commander of the 8th Army, Lt. General Alan Cunningham, was
relieved of duty by his superior, General Claude Auchinleck. This
decision changed the direction of the battle and perhaps the war
itself. Why and how Cunningham was relieved has been the subject of
commentary and speculation since it occurred. Using newly
discovered evidence, Alexander Joffe rethinks the events that
brought about the sudden relief of the operation's commanding
officer, including insubordination. The book then discusses how
narratives regarding the operation were created, were incorporated
into British and Commonwealth official and unofficial historical
writing about the war, and contributed to British historical
memory. Based on a decade of archival work, the book presents a new
and detailed analysis of a consequential battle and, importantly,
of how its history was written and received in the context of
post-war Britain.
A newly minted second lieutenant fresh from West Point, Hugh Lenox
Scott arrived on the northern Great Plains in the wake of the
Little Bighorn debacle. The Seventh Cavalry was seeking to subdue
the Plains tribes and confine them to reservations, and Scott
adopted the role of negotiator and advocate for the Indian
"adversaries." He thus embarked on a career unique in the history
of the U.S. military and the western frontier. Hugh Lenox Scott,
1853-1934: Reluctant Warrior is the first book to tell the full
story of this unlikely, self-avowed "soldier of peace," whose
career, stretching from Little Bighorn until after World War I,
reflected profound historical changes. The taste for adventure that
drew Scott to the military also piqued his interest in the tenacity
of Native cultures in an environment rife with danger and
uncertainty. Armand S. La Potin describes how Scott embraced the
lifeways of the Northern Plains peoples, making a study of their
cultures, their symbols, and most notably, their use of an
intertribal sign language to facilitate trade. Negotiating with
dissident bands of Indians whose lands were threatened by Anglo
settlers and commercial interests, he increasingly found himself
advocating federal responsibility for tribal welfare and assuming
the role of "Indian reformer." La Potin makes clear that "reform"
was understood within the context of Scott's own culture, which
scaled "civilization" to the so-called Anglo race. Accordingly,
Scott promoted the "civilization" of Native Americans through
assimilation into Anglo-American society-an approach he continued
in his later interactions with the Moro Muslims of the southern
Philippines, where he served as a military governor. Although he
eventually rose to the rank of army chief of staff, over time Scott
the peacemaker and Indian reformer saw his career stall as Native
tribes ceased to be seen as a military threat and military merit
was increasingly defined by battlefield experience. From these
pages the picture emerges of an uncommon figure in American
military history, at once at odds with and defined by his times.
HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of
best-loved, essential classics. In 1936, George Orwell volunteered
as a soldier in the Spanish Civil War. In Homage to Catalonia,
first published just before the outbreak of World War II, Orwell
documents the chaos and bloodshed of that moment in history and the
voices of those who fought against rising fascism. His experience
of the civil war would spark a significant change in his own
political views, which readers today will recognise in much of his
later literary work; a rage against the threat of totalitarianism
and control.
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