In December 1944, the German Army launched an attack through the Ardennes Forest in Belgium that aimed to seize the port of Antwerp and cut the Allied supply lines, hoping to force the Western Allies either to delay their advance on Berlin, or even agree a peace settlement. The Battle of the Bulge is a comprehensive history of Hitler’s last offensive in the West, the failure of which undoubtedly hastened the end of World War II. The book begins with a study of the background to the battle,...

Winston Churchill was truly a man of the world. In his long career as a soldier and statesman, and latterly as a global celebrity and artist, he visited and wrote about the length and breadth of the United States and Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, Cuba, the Indian subcontinent, North, South and East Africa and the Soviet Union. From colonial wars to Cold War, Churchill was witness to the decline of Britain from the era of imperial power to the age of austerity in a world dominated by ...

As Chancellor of Germany between 1933 and 1945, Adolf Hitler exercised unrestricted power over his country's social, political and economic life. Hitler's belligerent re-armament programme, his imposition of anti-Semitic legislation and his territorially aggressive policies led to genocide and worldwide conflict on an unprecedented scale. Although the subject of numerous biographies and fictional portrayals, there have hitherto been few succinct, factual narratives of Hitler's life. Hitler...

Forgotten Victory is the story of “Operation Dragoon,” the Allied invasion of the South of France on August 15, 1944. It was, in effect, the second D-Day, launched two months after “Overlord,” the Allied invasion of Normandy. As such, it has often been overshadowed by its predecessor, but it significance cannot be underestimated. Forgotten Victory provides for the first time a complete overview of the liberation of the South of France—from strategic decisions made from the Allied and Germa...

From earliest times, women gained access to leadership in times of conflict and proved themselves equal to the challenge of commanding during war. Women leaders abounded in the ancient world from Ireland to Israel, sometimes through the accident of birth, but often rising to power through naked opportunism and raw courage in the ranks - and it is no accident that women war leaders, like men, are often famous for their strong sexual drive.Wherever there is war, there has often been ...

Human history - from the empires of the ancient world to the superpowers of the 21st century - has been inextricably shaped by conflict and the weapons that have been used to wage it. The technologies that have produced advanced civilizations have also been harnessed to the grim business of warfare. This short history, stretching from the chariot to the Stuxnet virus which disabled Iran's nuclear enrichment programme in 2007, charts some of the most significant weapons, fortifications and ...

An engaging collection that uncovers injustices in history and overturns misconceptions about the role of women in warWhen you think of war, you think of men, right? Not so fast. In Hell Hath No Fury, Rosalind Miles and Robin Cross prove that although many of their stories have been erased or forgotten, women have played an integral role in wars throughout history.In witty and compelling biographical essays categorized and alphabetized for easy reference, Miles and...

A British soldier walked over to the German front line to deliver newspapers; British women married to Germans became 'enemy aliens' in their own country; a high-ranking British POW discussed his own troops' heroism with the Kaiser on the battlefield. Just three amazing stories of contact between the opposing sides in the Great War that eminent historian Richard van Emden has unearthed – incidents that show brutality, great humanity, and above all the bizarre nature of a conflict between t...

'Asbridge can't help but tell a ripping yarn, often breezily dramatic, whipping the narrative along' The TimesA superb and definitive one-volume account of the Crusades, the impact of which still resonates to this day.In the eleventh century, a v****ast Christian army, summoned to holy war by the Pope, rampaged through the Muslim world of the eastern Mediterranean, seizing possession of Jerusalem, a...

From the author of Children of the Camps, a look at the disturbing activities of the Kempeitai, Japan's feared military and secret police.The book opens by explaining the origins, organization, and roles of the Kempeitai apparatus, which exercised virtually unlimited power throughout the Japanese Empire. Author Mark Felton reveals their criminal and collaborationist networks that extorted huge sums of money from hapless citizens and businesses. They ran the...

In the desolate wastes of Greenland, a band of hunters discover a strangely-shaped meteor which has fallen from the sky. At first, the mysterious 'sky-stone' seems to bring good luck, healing a lame boy and guaranteeing a good catch of furs. But violence and murder soon follow in fortune's wake as the villagers fight and struggle among themselves to get control of the precious stone.Over the next six hundred years, the Sky-Stone falls into the hands of cru...

From its creation in 1933 until Hitler's death in May 1945, anyone living in Nazi-controlled territory lived in fear of a visit from the Gestapo an abbreviation of Geheime Staatspolizei or secret state police. Young or old, rich or poor, nobody was beyond the attentions of a brutally efficient organization that spread its malign influence into every corner of Europe in the wake of the all-conquering German armed forces. The Gestapo offers a detailed history of this evil operation commanded...