In 1915-18, ANZAC and Ottoman soldiers clashed on numerous battlefields, from Gallipoli to Jerusalem. This illustrated study investigates the two sides' fighting men. The Gallipoli campaign of 1915-16 pitched the Australian and New Zealand volunteers known as the ANZACs into a series of desperate battles with the Ottoman soldiers defending their homeland. In August 1915, the bitter struggle for the high ground known as Chunuk Bair saw the peak change hands as the Allies sought to overcome the stalemate that set in following the landings in April. The ANZACs also played a key part in the battle of Lone Pine, intended to divert Ottoman attention away from the bid to seize Chunuk Bair. The Gallipoli campaign ended in Allied evacuation in the opening days of 1916. Thereafter, many ANZAC units remained in the Middle East and played a decisive role in the Allies' hard-fought advance through Palestine that finally forced the Turks to the peace table. The fateful battle of Beersheba in October 1917 pitted Australian mounted infantry against Ottoman foot soldiers as the Allies moved on Jerusalem. In this book, noted military historian Si Sheppard examines the fighting men on both sides who fought at Lone Pine, Chunuk Bair and Beersheba. The authoritative text is supported by specially commissioned artwork and mapping plus carefully chosen archive photographs.

Following the American Declaration of Independence, communities from Boston to Savannah were forced to make a choice: to strike out for an independent republic, or remain true to the British Crown. This study explores the origins, methods and combat record of the combatants on both sides. The American Revolutionary War was America's first civil war. As the conflict raged from Canada to the Caribbean and from India to Gibraltar, it was in American communities that the war was the most intimate, the most personal, and - accordingly - the most vicious. In 1775, the inhabitants of British America included those born in North America and newly arrived immigrants; the established landed aristocracy and the indigent; the diverse nations of the Native Americans; and people of African descent, both enslaved and free. The coming of war forced every person to make the choice of whether to side with the Patriots or remain loyal to the British Crown. With so many cross-cutting imperatives, the individual decisions made splintered communities, sometimes even households, turning neighbour against neighbour in an escalating spiral of ostracism, embargo, exile, raid, reprisal and counter-reprisal. Accordingly, the war on the frontiers and on the margins of conflict was as underhanded and ugly as any of the 21st century's insurgencies. In this study, the origins, fighting methods and combat effectiveness of the combatants fighting on both sides are assessed, notably in three significant clashes of the American Revolutionary War.

The Vikings' siege of Paris in 885-86 was a turning point in the history of both Paris and France. In 885, a year after Charles the Fat was crowned King of the Franks, Danish Vikings sailed up the Seine demanding tribute. The Franks' refusal prompted the Vikings to lay siege to Paris, which was initially defended by only 200 men under Odo, Count of Paris, and seemingly in a poor state to defend against the Viking warriors in their fleet of hundreds of longships. Paris was centred around the medieval Ile de la Cite, the natural island now in the heart of the city, fortified with bridges and towers. The Vikings attempted to break the Parisian defenders, but the city itself still held out, and after a year Charles' army arrived to lift the siege. But Charles then allowed the Vikings to sail upstream against the revolting Burgundians. Outraged at this betrayal, the Parisians refused to let the Vikings return home via the Seine, forcing them to portage their boats overland to the Marne in order to reach the North Sea. When Charles died in 888, the people of the of the Ile de France elected Odo as their king. The resistance of Paris therefore marked the end of the Carolingian line and the birth of a new kingdom. This fully illustrated volume, accompanied with maps and strategic diagrams tells the full story of the Vikings' expedition to conquer medieval Paris, highlighting a key moment in the history of France and its foundation as a nation.

A highly illustrated and detailed study of one of the most important campaigns in the colonization of the Americas, the Spanish conquest of the vast Inca Empire. In April 1532 a bloody civil war between two brothers ended with one of them, Atahualpa, as master of the mighty Inca Empire. Now the most powerful man in South America, his word was law for millions of subjects spread across thousands of square miles, from the parched deserts of the coast to the lush rainforest of the Amazon and along the spine of the soaring Andes Mountains. But the time of the Incas was coming to an end. In November of that year a handful of Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro seized Atahualpa at Cajamarca, extorted his treasure, murdered him, and then marched on the Inca capital Cuzco to elevate a puppet, Manco, to the vacant throne. In 1536, however, Manco roused his people against the intruders, and the Spaniards found themselves isolated and fighting for their lives. This fascinating and beautifully illustrated book brings to life the background to and progress of the desperate 10-month siege of Cuzco; the opposing commanders, their fighting men, tactics, and military technologies; the key clashes, from Sacsayhuaman to Ollantaytambo; and how the outcome shaped our world today.

In 1519, the Conquistador Hernán Cortés landed on the mainland of the Americas. His quest to serve God, win gold, and achieve glory drove him into the heartland of what is now Mexico, where no European had ever set foot before. He marched towards to the majestic city of Tenochtitlan, floating like a jewel in the midst of Lake Texcoco.

This encounter brought together cultures that had hitherto evolved in complete isolation from each other - Catholic Spain and the Aztec Empire. What ensued was the swift escalation from a clash of civilizations to a war of the worlds. At the conclusion of the Conquistador campaign of 1519-21, Tenochtitlan lay in ruins, the last Aztec Emperor was in chains, and Spanish authority over the native peoples had been definitively asserted.

With the colourful personalities - Cortés, Malinche, Pedro Alvarez, Cuitláhuac, Cuauhtémoc - driving the narrative, and the vivid differences in uniforms, weapons, and fighting styles between the rival armies (displayed using stunning specially commissioned artwork), this is the fascinating story of the collapse of the Aztec Empire.

He masterminded the most devastating surprise attack against the United States in its history. He was a marked man in the war that followed. A key intelligence breakthrough enabled the military to pinpoint his location. An elite team was assembled and charged not with his capture and subsequent trial but with his execution. Osama bin Laden? No - this was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet during World War II. This new title analyses the origins, implementation, and outcomes of Operation Vengeance, the long-range fighter interception of Admiral Yamamoto's transport aircraft that sent him to his death on 18th April, 1943. Author Si Sheppard examines every angle of the operation in detail, including the role of intelligence work in pinpointing the time and location of Yamamoto's flight, the chain of command at the highest level of the US political and military establishment who ordered the attack, and the technical limitations that had to be overcome in planning and conducting the raid. It also provides a close study of the aerial combat involved in completing the mission, offering a holistic exploration of the operation which avenged Pearl Harbor.

In AD 66 a local disturbance in Caesarea caused by Greeks sacrificing birds in front of a local synagogue exploded into a pan-Jewish revolt against their Roman overlords. Gaining momentum, the rebels successfully occupied Jerusalem and drove off an attack by the Roman legate of Syria, Cestus Gallius, who was defeated at the battle of Beth Horon. The emperor Nero dispatched the Roman general Vespasian along with reinforcements and, having crushed the revolt in Galilee he became embroiled in the events of the Year of the Four Emperors that would lead to his assumption of the Imperial throne. His son Titus was left to carry on the war which culminated in the dramatic siege of Jerusalem in AD 70. Remorselessly, the legions strangled the life out of the defense street by street, leaving nothing but rubble and ashes in their wake. The apotheosis of the conflict was the final stand of the last holdouts in the Temple precinct itself, and the utter annihilation of this, the physical manifestation of Judaism itself. The last remnants held out in the mountain fortress of Masada until AD 73 when with the Romans breaking down the walls the defenders committed mass suicide bringing the revolt to an end.

In 53 BC, Roman and Parthian forces collided in a confrontation that would reshape the geopolitical map and establish a frontier between East and West that would endure for the next 700 years. From the initial clash at Carrhae through to the battle of Nisibis more than 250 years later, Roman and Parthian forces fought a series of bloody campaigns for mastery of the Fertile Crescent. As Roman forces thrust ever deeper into the East, they encountered a civilization unlike any they had crossed swords with before. Originating in the steppes of Central Asia, the Parthians ruled a federated state stretching from the Euphrates to the Indus. Although Rome's legions were masters of the battlefield in the Mediterranean, the Parthians refused to fight by the rules as Rome understood them. Harnessing the power of the composite bow and their superior manoeuvrability, the Parthians' mode of warfare focused exclusively on the horse. They inflicted a bloody defeat on the legions at Carrhae and launched their own invasion of Roman territory, countered only with great difficulty by Rome's surviving forces. The Parthians were eventually thrown out, but neither side could sustain a permanent ascendancy over the other and the conflict continued. Packed with stunning artwork, including battlescenes, maps and photographs, this title examines the conflict through the lens of three key battles, revealing a clash between two armies alien to each other not only in culture but also in their radical approaches to warfare.

The siege of Constantinople in AD 717-18 was the supreme crisis of Western civilization. The Byzantine Empire had been reeling under the onslaught of Arabic imperialism since the death of the Prophet, whilst Jihadist armies had detached Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and Carthage from imperial control and were in the process of imposing their ascendancy at sea. The Empire had been reduced to its Anatolian and Balkan heartland, and Arab incursions threatened even this - Arab naval forces had appeared under the walls of Constantinople every year from AD 674 to 678. But all this was only a prelude to the massive combined-arms invasion force that advanced on the capital in 717. This title offers a comprehensive study of the ensuing clash between the ascendant Caliphate and the Empire at bay. It details the forces available to each side, with their respective advantages and vulnerabilities, evaluating the leadership qualities of the rival commanders and assessing their strategic and tactical initiatives. It also accounts for the trajectory and outcome of the campaign and emphasises the fundamental significance of the struggle. By holding the line, the Byzantines gave Europe enough time to develop at its own pace and emerge strong enough to face down its Islamic counterpart on equal terms. If Constantinople had fallen in 717, could Europe have endured as an independent entity? Could Christianity have survived as major religion? What would the future course of world history have been?

This groundbreaking work tells the true story behind Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1936 reelection, drawing upon never-before-published personal files to expose a nexus of patronage and power that changed America forever. FDR's 1936 reelection represented his greatest political triumph. Yet the election remains largely unstudied despite the fact that critical decisions by some of the most colorful-and controversial-characters in American history make it one of the most significant ever to take place. This landmark work, the first specifically about the 1936 election, highlights the key debates, events, and personalities that epitomized the conflicted, highly charged politics of the New Deal era. In telling its gripping tale, the book discloses the secret history of Roosevelt's New Deal. It uncovers the hidden roles that money, patronage, and power played in the campaign of 1936, underscoring the transition from the old-school politics of stump-speaking and glad-handing to a new world of professionalism marked by scientific polling, targeted advertising, and direct media. The book offers a new perspective on this critical period in American history through its use of previously unpublished private correspondence and internal memos from key players in the Roosevelt administration as well as from GOP chairman John Hamilton. These archival sources detail the nuts and bolts of running a presidential campaign during the Great Depression and reveal how money was manipulated to buy votes. Exposing the true story behind the making of modern America, the book is a must-read for anyone interested in FDR, U.S. history, politics, or the presidency. Presents the first published study dedicated explicitly to the presidential election of 1936 Incorporates never-before-made-public primary archival research from Roosevelt's own files (including his communication with such notorious big-city bosses as Frank Hague); from the files of his political "fixer," Democratic Party Chairman James A. Farley; and from the files of GOP Chairman John Hamilton Reveals the working relationship between Roosevelt and his key lieutenants, shedding new light on the administration of one of America's greatest presidents Exposes the role played by Farley in channeling New Deal money to shape partisan political outcomes by paying off debts, delivering on promises, rewarding allies, settling factional disputes, expanding party authority, and buying votes Analyzes key transitions in the evolution of the Republican and Democratic parties that brought them to their current values and ideologies Includes never previously printed period photographs that add personality to the colorful cast of characters brought to life in the text

In 32 BC, the Roman Republic declared war on Egypt and set in motion a chain of events that would tear the Republic apart. In Rome, the forces of the western republic were marshaled together under Octavian (the future Emperor Augustus) and Marcus Agrippa. In the east, armies were gathered under the leadership of the famous lovers, Marc Antony and Cleopatra.
On September 2, 31 BC, the forces of Octavian and Marcus Agrippa managed to trap their enemies in the Gulf of Actium. Although Anthony and Cleopatra managed to escape, their army and navy, along with their hopes for victory were crushed. A few months later, the lovers would commit suicide. Their death saw the end of the war and the end of the Roman Republic. Now wielding supreme power, Octavian declared himself Emperor.
Actium has remained one of the most famous battles of the Ancient World thanks to its colorful cast of characters that have been reinvented by the writings of Shakespeare and the stars of the silver screen. This new book tells the true story of the decisive and bloody battle that would once and for all seal the fate of the Roman Republic.

This book is the first to place the contemporary debate over media bias in historical context, illustrating how partisan bias in the American media has built political parties, set the stage for several wars, and even contributed to the rise and fall of U.S. presidents. The author discusses the rise of the unprecedented post??????World War II model of objective journalism and explains why this model is breaking down under the challenge of a new generation of technology-driven partisan media alternatives.