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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > War & defence operations
Concentrating on the politics of the Habsburg Monarchy's
self-proclaimed "cultural mission" in occupied Bosnia in the period
from 1878 to the outbreak of war in 1914, Taming Balkan Nationalism
addresses two related issues: the impact of "Europeanization" in a
backward society and the crystallization of the identities which
have since dominated Bosnian life.
On the basis of wide reading in the Austrian, Hungarian, and south
Slav sources, including the Hungarian-language papers of the two
leading administrators of Bosnia, Benjamin von Kallay and Istvan
Burian, Robin Okey provides fresh and wide-ranging perspectives on
a whole range of issues, including the "Orientalist" assumptions of
Austrian policy, the struggle of administrators for the moral high
ground with nascent Serb and Croat intelligentsias, Kallay's
controversial policy of the "Bosnian nation," and the strategy and
personality of the intriguing Burian. He also opens up the hitherto
unexplored background to student terrorism in the secondary schools
of pre-1914 Bosnia, from which the assassin of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand was to emerge.
Beyond this immediate historical context, the book also sheds much
light on wider issues such as the construction of Serb and Croat
nationhood in Bosnia, the beginnings of the Europeanization of
Bosnian Muslims, and the new divisions created by the rapid pace of
social, economic, and intellectual change as the nineteenth turned
into the twentieth century.
Based largely on Civil War veterans' own words, this book documents
how many of these men survived the extraordinary horrors and
hardships of war with surprising resilience and went on to become
productive members of their communities in their post-war lives.
Nothing transforms "dry, boring history" into fascinating and
engaging stories like learning about long-ago events through the
words of those who lived them. What was it like to witness-and
participate in-the horrors of a war that lasted four years and
claimed over half a million lives, and then emerge as a survivor
into a drastically changed world? Veterans North and South: The
Transition from Soldier to Civilian after the American Civil War
takes readers back to this unimaginable time through the words of
Civil War soldiers who fought on both sides, illuminating their
profound, life-changing experiences during the war and in the
postbellum period. The book covers the period from the surrender of
the armies of the Confederacy to the return of the veterans to
their homes. It follows them through their readjustment to civilian
life and to family life while addressing their ability-and in some
cases, inability-to become productive members of society. By
surveying Civil War veterans' individual stories, readers will gain
an in-depth understanding of these soldiers' sacrifices and
comprehend how these discrete experiences coalesced to form
America's memory of this war as a nation. Documents how Civil War
veterans' combat experience changed them in ways that allowed them
to become productive members of their communities and leaders in
their sections-a largely overlooked "benefit" to the war Identifies
overarching trends among veterans' experiences while also
underscoring how varied Civil War soldiers' experiences were,
depending on which side they fought for, where they fought, and
their socioeconomic status
The Syrian war has been an example of the abuse and insufficient
delivery of humanitarian assistance. According to international
practice, humanitarian aid should be channelled through a state
government that bears a particular responsibility for its
population. Yet in Syria, the bulk of relief went through Damascus
while the regime caused the vast majority of civilian deaths.
Should the UN have severed its cooperation with the government and
neglected its humanitarian duty to help all people in need?
Decision-makers face these tough policy dilemmas, and often the
"neutrality trap" snaps shut. This book discusses the political and
moral considerations of how to respond to a brutal and complex
crisis while adhering to international law and practice. The
author, a scholar and senior diplomat involved in the UN peace
talks in Geneva, draws from first-hand diplomatic, practitioner and
UN sources. He sheds light on the UN's credibility crisis and the
wider implications for the development of international
humanitarian and human rights law. This includes covering the key
questions asked by Western diplomats, NGOs and international
organizations, such as: Why did the UN not confront the Syrian
government more boldly? Was it not only legally correct but also
morally justifiable to deliver humanitarian aid to regime areas
where rockets were launched and warplanes started? Why was it so
difficult to render cross-border aid possible where it was badly
needed? The meticulous account of current international practice is
both insightful and disturbing. It tackles the painful lessons
learnt and provides recommendations for future challenges where
politics fails and humanitarians fill the moral void.
Relying principally on Ian Saberton's edition of The Cornwallis
Papers: The Campaigns of 1780 and 1781 in the Southern Theatre of
the American Revolutionary War, 6 vols (Uckfield: The Naval &
Military Press Ltd, 2010), this work opens with an essay containing
a groundbreaking critique of British strategy during the momentous
and decisive campaigns that terminated in Cornwallis's capitulation
at Yorktown and the consolidation of American independence. The
essay begins by analysing the critical mistakes that led the
British to disaster and ends, conversely by describing how they
might have achieved a lasting measure of success. The remaining
essays address certain characters and events in or connected to the
war.
Making the Best of Things is a record of the experiences of its
author, Len Williams, over a period of more than thirty years. His
narrative opens with a vivid and engaging memoir of childhood and
adolescence in Camberwell during the 1910s and early 1920s, and
culminates in a personal and anecdotal history of the Second World
War, during which he served with the Auxiliary Fire Service and
with an RAF Maintenance Unit (60 MU) based in Yorkshire and other
parts of England. The central chapters are concerned with the
changing fortunes of the Williams family during the 1920s and
1930s, offering an evocative account of the era of the Depression
from the perspective of one who toiled, with little hope of
advancement, as part of London's army of shopworkers. Williams
presents these memoirs as a candid history of his family, and more
particularly as his testimony with regard to an extraordinary and
disturbing family secret uncovered in the wake of his father's
death. The scope of the work quickly broadens, however, to form a
rich and detailed panorama of his surroundings in Camberwell, one
that pays special attention to the places he knew intimately,
including Stobart Mansions, Kimpton Mission, the United Kingdom Tea
Company and the Camberwell Green branch of the Royal Arsenal
Cooperative Society. Making the Best of Things is a meticulous and
absorbing recreation of a lost world, offering masterful
descriptions of the rituals and routines of ordinary life as
Williams knew it, as well as first-hand accounts of many of the
more momentous episodes in London's history, including Zeppelin
raids, Armistice Night, the General Strike and the Blitz. This new
edition, which collects these memoirs into a single volume for the
first time, features editorial notes, an index, and a series of
appendices relating to Williams's father and other members of his
family. Making the Best of Things is also copiously illustrated
with photographs and maps.
From the St. Lawrence to the Yser With the 1st Canadian
Brigade
by Frederic C. Curry
"Crumps"-the Plain Story of a Canadian Who Went
by Louis Keen
Two first hand accounts in one value edition
When the First World War broke out, the view of the British Empire
by those who built it, colonised it and spread its influence over
the globe was that of a strong closely bonded family held together
by common origin and purpose. There could be little doubt that the
peoples of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other countries would
quickly rally to a flag they considered their own as readily as
they had done in the past-particularly during the war in South
Africa just a decade and a half previously. These young,
enthusiastic, mostly citizen armies were comprised in the main of
the flower of the country's young manhood. In Canada these first
came from the members of the Canadian Militia, though such was the
demand to 'do ones bit' that this was quickly absorbed by
quantities of volunteers from the community at large eager to take
up arms in the service of the 'mother country.' These two first
accounts concern men of the First Canadians who join, train, sail
to Europe and throw themselves into the early battles with the
German Army in Belgium and France. They make absorbing reading as
perspectives of the infantry war from the Canadian viewpoint and
represent great value in this special two-in-one edition. Available
in softcover and hardback with dustwrapper.
Her memoirs cover the pre WWII period of the 1930's in her birth
country, Bulgaria and her growing up in the German and Russian
cultures of her parents and that of Bulgaria. The uprooting of her
family because of WWII and subsequent events tells of the
increasing horrors and dislocations not only of her family but that
of countless others.
The Dakota Conflict, or Great Sioux Uprising as it was called,
occurred 150 years ago in 1862 and became identified as part of the
American Civil War. The Dakota Conflict caused the greatest loss of
civilian life in an Indian war in U.S. history, and resulted in the
largest mass execution in U.S. history. The author is a direct
descendant of settlers living in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, who
witnessed htis dark chapter in American history. We commemorate all
victims of the Sioux Uprising, we forgive the crimes of our
ancestors, and we support efforts at reconciliation between the
white and Indian cultures. This hardcover book, Blood on the
Prairie A Novel of the Sioux Uprising Sesquicentennial Edition, is
a collector edition intended for personal and community libraries.
The Native Peoples of the United States could only take so much
from the world. "Blood on the Prairie" is a novel set amongst this
theater of the American Civil War, where the Sioux Nation rebelled
against Minnesota and led to some of the bloodiest conflicts of the
period. Author Steven Ulmen draws on his own personal history to
tell the story of the conflict. "Blood on the Prairie" is a strong
pick for fans of historical fiction, recommended. Burroughs
Bookshelf, MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW, September 2012
This edited collection of Civil War correspondence between Col.
Thomas Cahill and his wife, Margaret, offers a rare glimpse into
the symbiotic relationship between soldiers and their home
communities. In the only substantial extant collection of letters
from an Irish American woman on the northern home front, Margaret's
pivotal role as a go-between in the financial affairs of men in the
regiment and their wives is made evident, as is the broader
interplay between the community of New Haven, Connecticut, and the
regiment. The couple's correspondence was nearly constant in their
four years apart. There is an inherent intimacy in the way that
daily life during the Civil War is documented and in particular in
the gradual revelation of the emotional toll taken by a
long-distance relationship. Because the volume includes letters
from both Cahill and his wife, the interplay between the regiment
and the home front is traced in a way most collections are not able
to achieve. This lively correspondence provides a great
introduction to primary source reading for students of the Civil
War home front. These teaching opportunities will supplemented by a
companion website that features more correspondence, maps, and
additional learning materials.
The war and views of a foot soldier in gray
The author of this book has written of his experiences of the
American Civil War from the perspective of an ordinary private
soldier of the North Carolina Infantry. Modern readers should allow
for the fact that James Carson was very much a man of his time and
place. His support for the Confederacy and the Southern way of life
of the mid-nineteenth century is evident within these pages and
include an ardent belief in the slave system. Nevertheless, this
book is invaluable for those interested in a Confederate view of
life on the sharp end of the infantryman's war including scenes of
the march, camp life and the battlefield particularly at
Petersburg. Available in soft cover and hard cover for collectors.
The German Empire was founded in January 1871 not only on the basis
of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck's "blood and iron" policy but also
with the support of liberal nationalists. Under Bismarck and Kaiser
Wilhelm II, Germany became the dynamo of Europe. Its economic and
military power were pre-eminent; its science and technology,
education, and municipal administration were the envy of the world;
and its avant-garde artists reflected the ferment in European
culture. But Germany also played a decisive role in tipping
Europe's fragile balance of power over the brink and into the
cataclysm of the First World War, eventually leading to the
empire's collapse in military defeat and revolution in November
1918.
With contributions from an international team of twelve experts in
the field, this volume offers an ideal introduction to this crucial
era, taking care to situate Imperial Germany in the larger sweep of
modern German history, without suggesting that Nazism or the
Holocaust were inevitable endpoints to the developments charted
here.
At war with the Escadrilles of France
Henry Farre was an observer with French bombers during the Great
War and was thus in a position to have a clear understanding of the
subject of his writings. This fascinating book is partly comprised
of Farre's own experiences and his view-combined with contributions
from his comrades in arms-of the French effort for the war in the
air. Within its pages we share the experiences of the French Aces
and join the bombers on raids in daylight and night-time. There are
interesting observations and anecdotes of aerial photography
flights, the bombing of enemy held cities and harbours and the work
of the aviators who operated far out to sea to torpedo German
submarines. This is a vital book for every student of the early air
forces in combat."
This book examines the experience of two British Infantry
Divisions, the 43rd (Wessex) and 53rd (Welsh), during the Overlord
campaign in Northwest Europe. To understand the way the British
fought during Operation Overlord, the book considers the political
and military factors between 1918 and 1943 before addressing the
major battles and many of the minor engagements and day-to-day
experiences of the campaign. Through detailed exploration of unit
war diaries and first-hand accounts, Louis Devine demonstrates how
Montgomery's way of war translated to the divisions and their sub
units. While previous literature has suggested that the British
Army fought a cautious war in order to avoid the heavy casualties
of the First World War, Devine challenges this concept by showing
that the Overlord Campaign fought at sub-divisional levels was
characterised by command pressure to achieve results quickly, hasty
planning and a reliance on massive artillery and mortar
contributions to compensate for deficiencies in anti-tank and
armoured support. By following two British infantry divisions over
a continuous period and focusing on soldiers' experience to offer a
perspective 'from below', as well as challenging the consensus of a
'cautious' British campaign, this book provides a much-needed
re-examination of the Overlord campaign which will be of great
interest to students and scholars of the Second World War and
modern military history in general.
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