Famous Battles

The "Great Captains" frequently looked to crucial battles to learn lessons that they themselves employed. While the battles of antiquity have often been examined, Western generals looked to the wars of the Greeks and the Romans, the Chinese to their own campaigns, and so on. Never before have military leaders and other students of military history had the benefit of a systematic look at the key battles throughout the ancient world. In this volume, Gabriel and Boose examine the 31 wars, campaigns or battles from Megiddo (1479 B.C.) to the fall of Constantinople (A.D. 1453) that had the greatest impact on the ancient world, stretching from the Mediterranean through the Middle East to Japan and Korea. Beginning with Megiddo, the first battle in history for which there is a relatively detailed account of strategy and tactics, Gabriel and Boose provide a systematic survey of major battles, wars, and campaigns. Each analysis begins with the Strategic Setting, which places events within the larger political and strategic context: then looks to The Antagonists, providing a comparative look at each army, its equipment, tactics, weaponry, logistics, style of combat leadership, and doctrine to assess its major strengths and weaknesses. The authors then examine The Battle, offering a detailed account of the struggle complete with maps and charts to clarify the analysis of what happened on the battlefield. The final section, Lessons of War, dissects each battle for its successes and failures that are particularly relevant to the development and conduct of war in the modern age. Each survey ends with a bibliography of key sources for further reading. This volume is designed to be an invaluablereference source for military historians and professionals as well as the general reader.

This is a fast-paced survey of the history of war in the Eurasian world from classical Greece to the French Revolution. Defining the period as the era of pre-industrial warfare, Baumgartner describes the broad differences, as well as the similarities, in the armies through those 2,000 years. Although he concentrates on the wars and military systems of western Europe, the author devotes considerable attention to those societies that had a significant impact on European warfare, particularly the Byzantine Empire, the Arabs, the Central Asian nomads, and the Ottoman Turks.

This book recounts the World War II journeys of a soldier, a ship, and a bottle of spirits through, and around, five great turning-point battles. Those battles were influenced more by geography and climate than by generals and admirals. Properly titled they would be known as the Battles of the Sky (Britain), the Sand (El Alemein), the Snow (Stalingrad), the Sea (North Atlantic), and the Shore (Normandy). Slogging their way through this quintet are an eighteen-year-old G.I. from Missouri (as seen through his letters home), an "ugly duckling" of a Liberty ship (as seen through its Armed Guard reports), and a bottle of rum (as traced by those who, after the war, made money in selling war souvenirs). It is the history of the North Atlantic sea basin and its extensions at war: the story of the lulls between battles, when America's teenage warriors often watched war movies (Humphrey Bogart made and Warner Brothers released seven during the war), sang or listened to popular tunes by songsmiths like Irving Berlin, and drank rum-and-Coke (while listening to Dick Haymes sing the hit "Rum & Coca-Cola"). While accessible and vastly entertaining, this is a serious work of history. By treating World War II in Europe much as Fernand Braudel treated the origins of Western civilization in his masterpiece The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, Hatcher brings Braudelian detachment to his narrative.

This latest volume in the Civil War Guides series examines the major operational challenges confronting American naval commanders, including ironclads, sail versus steam, foreign intervention and many others.

This is the compelling story of the most exciting and decisive battles fought under harsh Arctic conditions during the Second World War. Each battle is described in detail, with discussions of the various weapons and strategies that led to victory or defeat, and an analysis of how the battle affected the overall course of the war. The failure of early attempts to supply the Soviets with vital materiel would eventually give rise to tensions among the Allies that would continue long after the end of the war, and would ultimately lead to the Cold War. Despite the fears of many men on both sides that they were being sacrificed for political expediency, their brave and heroic actions became an integral part of the war effort for each coalition.

"A chronological reference work describing all the major battles fought in Australia or by Australians overseas, providing the 'where, when, who, what and how' of each action."

This is a fresh account of the outstanding and crucial clash between the RAF and the Luftwaffe, drawing on new sources and including much new material on the opposing forces.

The first detailed account in English of the battle that defined the elite unit's "fidelity to the mission." The battle was fought at Camerone, some 40 miles west of Vera Cruz, Mexico, on April 30, 1863; the opponents were the half-strength 3d Company, 1st Battalion, of the Legion opposed by more than 2,000 Mexican regulars and guerrillas. After several fights against the Mexican lancers just beyond the deserted La Trinidad Hacienda at Camerone, the 3d took cover behind the old walls of the hacienda. There, for ten hours the Legion withstands repeated assaults from a Mexican force that grew to more than 2,000 men. Finally, the surviving officer and four men of the 3d charge into the midst of the massed juaristas. The officer is mortally wounded, two men are killed, the other two captured. The Legion has never regarded Camerone as a defeat but rather as the prime example of "fidelity to the mission." Annually, on April 30, Legion units, whether in peace or war, commemorate the gallantry of the 3d of the 1st.

This is the story of the early struggles of an ill-equipped ragtag French force, among the first to pledge its loyalty to General de Gaulle. It fought a lonely, almost secret war against the numerically superior Italian troops deep in the wildest parts of the Sahara, hundreds of miles from the main campaigns along the African coast. These daring Free French raids with their long thirsty treks and small-scale oasis battles have been nearly forgotten, although their path is marked by the graves of many hundreds of French, Italian, and native soldiers. Bimberg details the exotic units that participated in this struggle, including the Tirailleurs Senegalaise du T'chad (African Infantry), the Compagnies Sahariennes (Saharan Camel Companies), and the Groupe Nomade du Tibesti (a tribal militia recruited in the Tibesti Mountain region of the great desert).

Battle for Korea is a look at one of the most controversial and hard fought military actions of the United States, the Korean War.