One of the greatest tragedies in Australian military history occurred at Gallipoli on 7 August 1915, when hundreds of Australian light horsemen were repeatedly ordered to charge the massed rifles and machine-guns of the Turkish enemy. It was a hopeless endeavour, and the resulting bloodbath has horrified every generation since and been the subject of considerable scrutiny by historians. The charge at The Nek, so vividly realised in Peter Weirs famous film Gallipoli, came to epitomise both ...

For the first time showcasing a unique and extensive range of Australian War Memorial photographs, Gallipoli: a Ridge too far describes the pivotal events of that momentous year as they affected all the countries involved. The book combines fresh perspectives from the worlds leading authorities, including Turkish and German historians, together with soldiers letters and diary accounts. In early August 1915, after months of stalemate in the trenches on Gallipoli, British and Dominion troops...

Internationally recognised for publishing a range of military books written by Australian, New Zealand and International authors who, as experts in their fields, provide an absorbing insight into great and modern wars and their after effects. Exisle is proud to present a selection of extracts from a few of our bestselling titles. Featured titles include: War Wounds: Medicine and the trauma of conflict edited by Ashley Ekins and Elizabeth Stewart; Gallipoli: A Ridge Too Far edited by Ashley...

In the bunker, the Führer still believed he could win the war. The Russian Red Army was ruthlessly rolling from the east towards the gates of Berlin. Overhead, British and American bombers were attacking in force. While outside, the corpses of dead German deserters were hanging from the lamp-posts. Hitler’s death squads were in the streets to the very end...Read about the Race for Berlin between the Allied armies; the Downfall of Berlin and of Hitler; and The Surrender of Berlin an...

The Germans could not believe their eyes. The English infantry were advancing at walking pace in four upright ranks, a yard or so apart from each other. They were sitting ducks. As the German machine guns rattled into life, the English died in their hundreds. On the first day of the battle, those parade-ground advances caused the greatest number of casualties of any single day in the history of the British Army.Read about the first Battle of the Somme, a battle that went on to beco...

Great battles mark history's turning points, occurring as they do where cultures and ideologies clash.While some battles have been won by the superior force, others have been won by a sheer dogged refusal to surrender in the face of overwhelming odds. Superior weaponry has sometimes brought victory, as at Plassey, while the superior generalship of a Napoleon, a Wellington, or a Marlborough has won the day on other occasions.All the great battles in this boo...

When Australian troops stormed ashore in the pre-dawn darkness of April 25th 1915, it was the culmination of one of the most complex and daunting operations in the history of warfare - the seaborne assault of a heavily fortified shore, defended by a well-prepared and forewarned enemy.The risks were enormous, and the death toll on the beach at Anzac Cove could have been murderous - as it was with the British landings further south. Yet the Anzacs had been allowed to organise their o...

Fifteen-year-old Hanna Berkenski journeys from her family's tiny apartment in the Warsaw Ghetto through an awful night spent in a cattle-car with her mother and sister to the welcoming orchestra at Auschwitz where she was to be a violinist for three years.As the train arrives at Auschwitz, flowers, sunshine and music feel like warm welcomes to her. She's been told she'll be spending the next few weeks in a "work camp" until her family can be reunited and relocated. Even the snowfla...

This book is a collection of essays arising out of the Zealandias Great War conference organised by the New Zealand Military History Committee in November 2003. In 32 essays by distinguished military historians from New Zealand and around the world, various aspects of New Zealands involvement in World War One are discussed. Subjects include the Pioneer Maori Battalion, women who opposed the war, the early years of the RSA, Gallipoli, the infantry on the Somme, New Zealands involvement in t...

On 14 May 1804, one Captain Meriwether Lewis and his companion William Clark led a thirty-three-man expedition to the new lands of Louisiana. 8,000 miles and two years later, after rafting up the Missouri and crossing the Rocky Mountains, they reached the far side of the world, the Pacific Ocean.Fredrick Nolan explores the first US settlers of the American West, including the remarkable stories of unsung heroes and heroines, the bloody battles between settlers and the native Americ...

Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.) is one of the most famous men in history, and his name was used to denote the status of emperor throughout European countries like Italy, Germany, and Russia nearly 2,000 years after his famous assassination. But before he won the civil war against Pompey the Great and ended the Roman Republic permanently, he became a man of power and fame in modern day France, leading armies in the Gallic campaign. Moreover, Caesar wrote extensively about the campaign, giving r...

'As gritty as it is real. An amazing book about ordinary Australians made extraordinary by the times they lived through . . .' - Peter FitzSimonsAbout 1300 Australians died in the desert campaigns of World War I, while another 3500 died in North Africa and the Middle East during World War II. Thousands more carried the wounds of war for the rest of their lives. Countless families were left behind to mourn the dead and comfort the injured. A ripple effect of grief passed down the ge...