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The First Total War: Napoleon's Europe And The Birth Of Warfare As We Know It
by David A. BellThe twentieth century is usually seen as "the century of total war," but as the historian David Bell argues in this landmark work, the phenomenon actually began much earlier, in the age of Napoleon. Bell takes us from campaigns of "extermination" in the blood-soaked fields of western France to savage street fighting in ruined Spanish cities to central European battlefields where tens of thousands died in a single day. Between 1792 and 1815, Europe plunged into an abyss of destruction, and our modern attitudes toward war were born. Ever since, the dream of perpetual peace and the nightmare of total war have been bound tightly together in the Western world--where "wars of liberation," such as the one in Iraq, can degenerate into gruesome guerrilla conflict.With a historian's keen insight and a journalist's flair for detail, Bell exposes the surprising parallels between Napoleon's day and our own in a book that is as timely and important as it is unforgettable.
The First Tour de France: Sixty Cyclists and Nineteen Days of Daring on the Road to Paris
by Peter CossinsFrom its inception, the 1903 Tour de France was a colorful affair. Full of adventure, mishaps and audacious attempts at cheating, it was a race to be remembered.Cyclists of the time weren't enthusiastic about participating in this "heroic" race on roads more suited to hooves than wheels, with bikes weighing up to thirty-five pounds, on a single fixed gear, for three full weeks. Assembling enough riders for the race meant paying unemployed amateurs from the suburbs of Paris, including a butcher, a chimney sweep and a circus acrobat. From Maurice "The White Bulldog" Garin, an Italian-born Frenchman whose parents were said to have swapped him for a round of cheese in order to smuggle him into France as a fourteen-year-old, to Hippolyte Aucouturier, who looked like a villain from a Buster Keaton movie with his jersey of horizontal stripes and handlebar moustache, the cyclists were a remarkable bunch.Starting in the Parisian suburb of Montgeron, the route took the intrepid cyclists through Lyon, over the hills to Marseille, then on to Toulouse, Bordeaux, and Nantes, ending with great fanfare at the Parc des Princes in Paris. There was no indication that this ramshackle cycling pack would draw crowds to throng France's rutted roads and cheer the first Tour heroes. But they did; and all thanks to a marketing ruse, cycling would never be the same again.
The First True Hitchcock: The Making of a Filmmaker
by Henry K. MillerHitchcock’s previously untold origin story.Alfred Hitchcock called The Lodger "the first true Hitchcock movie," the one that anticipated all the others. And yet the story of how The Lodger came to be made is shrouded in myth, often repeated and much embellished, even by Hitchcock himself. The First True Hitchcock focuses on the twelve-month period that encompassed The Lodger's production in 1926 and release in 1927, presenting a new picture of this pivotal year in Hitchcock's life and in the wider film world. Using fresh archival discoveries, Henry K. Miller situates Hitchcock's formation as a director against the backdrop of a continent shattered by war and confronted with the looming presence of a new superpower, the United States, and its most visible export—film. The previously untold story of The Lodger's making in the London fog—and attempted remaking in the Los Angeles sun—is the story of how Hitchcock became Hitchcock.
The First VCs: The Stories Behind the First Victoria Crosses in the Crimean War and the Definition of Courage
by John GrehanOfficers led and men followed; all were expected to do their duty without thought of reward. Enlisted men rarely penetrated the officer ranks and promotion owed more to money than merit. Then came the Crimean War.The incompetence and ineffectiveness of the senior officers contrasted sharply with the bravery of the lower ranks. Fuelled by the reports from the first-ever war correspondents which were read by an increasingly literate public, the mumblings of discontent rapidly grew into a national outcry. Questions were asked in Parliament, answers were demanded by the press why were the heroes of the Alma, Inkerman and the Charge of the Light Brigade not being recognised? Something had be done.That something was the introduction of an award that would be of such prestige it would be sought by all men from the private to the Field Marshal. It would be the highest possible award for valour in the face of the enemy and it bore the name of the Queen for whom the men fought.This is the story of how the first Victoria Crosses were attained in the heat of the most deadly conflict of the nineteenth century. It is also an examination of how the definition of courage, as recognised by the awarding of VCs, evolved, from saving the regimental colours at the Alma to saving a comrade in the No Mans Land before Sevastopol.
The First Victory: The Second World War and the East Africa Campaign
by Andrew Stewart&“Exciting . . . a comprehensive account of an overlooked campaign in which an outnumbered imperial army destroyed Mussolini&’s dream of a new Roman Empire.&” —Ashley Jackson, author of Churchill Surprisingly neglected in accounts of Allied wartime triumphs, this is the story of the British and Commonwealth forces who, against all odds, completed a stunning and important victory in East Africa against an overwhelmingly superior Italian opponent in 1941. A hastily formed British-led force, never larger than 70,000 strong, advanced along two fronts to defeat nearly 300,000 Italian and colonial troops. This compelling book draws on an array of previously unseen documents to provide both a detailed campaign history and a fresh appreciation of the first significant Allied success of the war. Andrew Stewart investigates such topics as Britain&’s African wartime strategy; how the fighting forces were assembled (most from British colonies, none from the U.S.); General Archibald Wavell&’s command abilities and his difficult relationship with Winston Churchill; the resolute Italian defense at Keren, one of the most bitterly fought battles of the entire war; the legacy of the campaign in East Africa; and much more. &“The First Victory is that rarity of military history: groundbreaking research combined with first-rate narrative skills.&” —Open Letters Includes maps and photographs
The First Vietnam War: Violence, Sovereignty, and the Fracture of the South, 1945–1956
by Shawn F. McHaleShawn McHale explores why the communist-led resistance in Vietnam won the anticolonial war against France (1945–54), except in the south. He shows how broad swaths of Vietnamese people were uneasily united in 1945 under the Viet Minh Resistance banner, all opposing the French attempt to reclaim control of the country. By 1947, resistance unity had shattered and Khmer-Vietnamese ethnic violence had divided the Mekong delta. From this point on, the war in the south turned into an overt civil war wrapped up in a war against France. Based on extensive archival research in four countries and in three languages, this is the first substantive English-language book focused on southern Vietnam's transition from colonialism to independence.
First Voyage Around the World (1519-1522)
by Antonio Pigafetta Theodore J., CacheyOn 10 August 1519, five ships departed from Seville for what was to become the first circumnavigation of the globe. Linked by fame to the name of its captain, Magellan, much of the expedition is known through the travelogue of one of the few crew members who returned to Spain, Antonio Pigafetta. A narrative and cartographic record of the journey (including 23 hand-drawn watercolour charts) from Patagonia to Indonesia, from the Philippines to the Cape of Good Hope, Pigafetta's The First Voyage around the World is a classic of discovery and exploration literature.This volume is based on the critical edition by Antonio Canova. It includes an extensive introduction to the work and generous annotations by Theodore J. Cachey Jr who discusses the marvelous elements of the story through allusions to Magellan's travels made by writers as diverse as Shakespeare and Gabriel García Márquez. However, Cachey is careful to point out that Pigafetta's book is far from just a marvel-filled travel narrative. The First Voyage around the World is also a remarkably accurate ethnographic and geographical account of the circumnavigation, and one that has earned its reputation among modern historiographers and students of the early contacts between Europe and the East Indies. Expertly presented and handsomely illustrated, this edition of Pigafetta's classic travelogue is sure to enlighten new readers and invigorate the imagination as the story has done since it first appeared.
The First Voyage Round the World, by Magellan (Hakluyt Society, First Series #52)
by Lord Stanley AlderleyThe text is translated 'from the Accounts of Pigafetta, and other Contemporary Writers. Accompanied by Original Documents, with Notes and an Introduction'. It includes the log-book of Francisco Alvo or Alvaro, Pigafetta's treatise on navigation and his account of the voyage, Gaspar Correa's account, other anonymous narratives, and documents relating to the cost and other aspects of the expedition. This is a new print-on-demand hardback edition of the volume first published in 1874.
First Voyage to America: From the Log of the "Santa Maria" (Dover Children's Classics)
by Christopher ColumbusDramatic, revealing entries -- including Columbus' own words -- document epochal voyage, heavy seas, discouraged crew, first sighting of land, appearance of island natives, more. Translated into English, reset in large type. 44 illustrations, including a number from rare sources. Fascinating historical document. Publisher's note.
The First War of Physics: The Secret History of the Atom Bomb, 1939-1949
by Jim BaggottAn epic story of science and technology at the very limits of human understanding: the monumental race to build the first atomic weapons. Rich in personality, action, confrontation, and deception, The First War of Physics is the first fully realized popular account of the race to build humankind's most destructive weapon. The book draws on declassified material, such as MI6's Farm Hall transcripts, coded soviet messages cracked by American cryptographers in the Venona project, and interpretations by Russian scholars of documents from the soviet archives. Jim Baggott weaves these threads into a dramatic narrative that spans ten historic years, from the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939 to the aftermath of 'Joe-1,' August 1949's first Soviet atomic bomb test. Why did physicists persist in developing the atomic bomb, despite the devastation that it could bring? Why, despite having a clear head start, did Hitler's physicists fail? Could the soviets have developed the bomb without spies like Klaus Fuchs or Donald Maclean? Did the allies really plot to assassinate a key member of the German bomb program? Did the physicists knowingly inspire the arms race? The First War of Physics is a grand and frightening story of scientific ambition, intrigue, and genius: a tale barely believable as fiction, which just happens to be historical fact.
The First Wave (Billy Boyle World War II Mystery #2)
by James R. BennPraise for The First Wave : "A triple dose of excitement with a murder mystery within a spy thriller within a World War Two adventure story. . . . A 'rattling good read. '"-Rhys Bowen, author of In Dublin's Fair City "Has all the essential elements: murder, espionage, and romance. "-Karen E. Olson, author of the Anne Seymour mysteries "What a great read, full of action, humor and heart. "-Louise Penny, author of Still Life Praise for the Billy Boyle series: "A meaty, old-fashioned and thoroughly enjoyable tale of WWII-era murder and espionage. "- The Seattle Times "The World War II atmosphere and history are expertly handled. "- Denver Post "Great fun. Benn knows his war history. . . . A batch of intriguing characters who seem destined to make another appearance. "- The Globe and Mail (Toronto) "A memorable debut. "- BookPage "If you enjoy World War II mysteries . . . you'll love this book. . . . One of the best books I've read this year. "- Mystery Scene Lieutenant Billy Boyle reluctantly accompanies Major Samuel Harding, his boss, in the first boat to land on the shores of Algeria during the Allied invasion. Their task is to arrange the surrender of the Vichy French forces. But there is dissension between the regular army, the local militia, and de Gaulle's Free French. American black marketeers in league with the enemy divert medical supplies to the Casbah, leading to multiple murders that Billy must solve while trying to rescue the girl he loves, a captured British spy.
First Wave: The D-Day Warriors Who Led the Way to Victory in the Second World War
by Alex Kershaw'History’s greatest story reinvigorated as only Alex Kershaw can' —Adam Makos, New York Times bestselling author of A Higher Call'An absolute triumph' —James M. Scott, Pulitzer Prize Finalist and national bestselling author of Target Tokyo and Rampage'The unforgettable human drama of history's most consequential invasion' —John C. McManus, author of The Dead and Those About to Die: D-Day—The Big Red One at Omaha Beach Beginning in the pre-dawn darkness of June 6, 1944, The First Wave follows ten men attempting to carry out D-Day's most critical missions. Their actions would determine the fate of the invasion of Hitler's Fortress Europe. The ten make a charismatic, unforgettable cast. They include the first American paratrooper to touch down on Normandy soil; the only British soldier that day to earn a Victoria's Cross; the Canadian brothers who led their decimated troops onto Juno Beach under withering fire; the colonel who faced the powerful 150mm guns of the Merville Battery; as well as a French commando who helped destroy German strongholds on Sword Beach. The book will give authentic voice to the invaders' enemies, the German enlisted men and officers tasked with destroying the Allies as they hit the beaches. The result is an utterly immersive, adrenaline-driven drama, an epic of close combat and extraordinary heroism. It is the capstone Alex Kershaw's remarkable career, built on his close friendships with D-Day survivors and his intimate understanding of the Normandy battlefield. For the seventy-fifth anniversary, here is a fresh take on the Second World War's longest day.Praise for Alex Kershaw: ‘From the opening pages, when Kershaw...drops us into the invasion of Paris, we know that we are in good hands. This is classic narrative nonfiction, constructed and written like a thriller.’ Chicago Tribune ‘Exceptional.... balances evocative prose with attention to detail and is a worthy addition to vibrant classics of small-unit history like Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers.’ Wall Street Journal ‘Kershaw's writing is seamless. He incorporates information from a vast array of sources, but it works--you get a sense of the different voices coming into the story....A gripping read.’ Minneapolis Star Tribune
The First Wave: The D-Day Warriors Who Led the Way to Victory in World War II
by Alex Kershaw“Meet the assaulters: Pathfinders plunging from the black, coxswains plowing the whitecaps, bareknuckle Rangers scaling sheer rock... Fast-paced and up-close, this is history’s greatest story reinvigorated as only Alex Kershaw can.”—Adam Makos, New York Times bestselling author of Spearhead and A Higher CallThe New York Times bestselling author of The Liberator and Avenue of Spies returns with an utterly immersive, adrenaline-driven account of D-Day combat. Beginning in the predawn darkness of June 6, 1944, The First Wave follows the remarkable men who carried out D-Day’s most perilous missions. The charismatic, unforgettable cast includes the first American paratrooper to touch down on Normandy soil; the glider pilot who braved antiaircraft fire to crash-land mere yards from the vital Pegasus Bridge; the brothers who led their troops onto Juno Beach under withering fire; as well as a French commando, returning to his native land, who fought to destroy German strongholds on Sword Beach and beyond. Readers will experience the sheer grit of the Rangers who scaled Pointe du Hoc and the astonishing courage of the airborne soldiers who captured the Merville Gun Battery in the face of devastating enemy counterattacks. The first to fight when the stakes were highest and the odds longest, these men would determine the fate of the invasion of Hitler’s Fortress Europe—and the very history of the twentieth century. The result is an epic of close combat and extraordinary heroism. It is the capstone Alex Kershaw’s remarkable career, built on his close friendships with D-Day survivors and his intimate understanding of the Normandy battlefield. For the seventy-fifth anniversary, here is a fresh take on World War II's longest day.
The First Wave of Decolonization (Routledge Studies in Global Latin America)
by Mark ThurnerThe global phenomenon of decolonization was born in the Americas in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The First Wave of Decolonization is the first volume in any language to describe and analyze the scope and meanings of decolonization during this formative period. It demonstrates that the pioneers of decolonization were not twentieth-century Frenchmen or Algerians but nineteenth-century Peruvians and Colombians. In doing so, it vastly expands the horizons of decolonization, conventionally understood to be a post-war development emanating from Europe. The result is a provocative, new understanding of the global history of decolonization.
The First Way Of War: American War Making on the Frontier, 1607-1814
by John GrenierThis book explores the evolution of Americans' first way of war, to show how war waged again Indian noncombatant population and agricultural resources became the method early Americans' employed and, ultimately, defined their military heritage. The sanguinary story of the American conquest of the Indian peoples east of the Mississippi River helps demonstrate how early Americans embraced warfare shaped by extravagant violence and focused on conquest. Grenier provides a major revision in understanding the place of warfare directed on noncombatants in the American military tradition, and his conclusions are relevant to understand US "special operations" in the War on Terror.
“First With The Most” Forrest
by Robert Selph HenryNathan Bedford Forrest did not invent mobilized guerilla warfare, but he did modernize and polish it to an extent that has left few theoretical areas for improvement. Tanks and jeeps, it could even be said, do not possess the mobility relative to the main force which they attach that Forrest's dedicated band of horsemen enjoyed. Following in the footsteps of Francis Marion and Lighthorse Harry Lee, American practitioners of the devastating hit-and-run cavalry attach of the Revolutionary War, Forrest raised their effective but geographically limited campaigns to an art-form spread over the widest possible tactical theatre. He accomplished this with superior knowledge of terrain and of horses coupled and with an iron will, a complete disregard for physical exhaustion (his own and that of his men) and, this book will demonstrate, by the most admirable sort of sheer country orneriness.Forrest, a man of simple upbringing, is the perfect symbol for the odd mélange that was the Confederate Army; patrician West Pointers like Lee side by side by unregenerate racists like Forrest. These well-bred students of battles and from the classical era were not prevented by an almost unimaginable difference in class from being able to recognize the tactical genius of a farmer from the low country...That any scholar of this history of warfare would have to judge Forrest rather more harshly for his conduct after the war than this conduct during it is just another tragic aspect of the larger tragedy that generated The War Between the States. Heroes rose from unlikely places and returned, when the time for heroism had past, to their more unheroic pursuits. Whether than return negates the valor shown during the conflict is only for you to determine, after you have learned of Forrest's life in all its aspects, heroic, and less so.
The First Woman in the Republic: A Cultural Biography of Lydia Maria Child
by Carolyn L. KarcherFor half a century Lydia Maria Child was a household name in the United States. Hardly a sphere of nineteenth-century life can be found in which Lydia Maria Child did not figure prominently as a pathbreaker. Although best known today for having edited Harriet A. Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she pioneered almost every department of nineteenth-century American letters--the historical novel, the short story, children's literature, the domestic advice book, women's history, antislavery fiction, journalism, and the literature of aging. Offering a panoramic view of a nation and culture in flux, this innovative cultural biography (originally published by Duke University Press in 1994) recreates the world as well as the life of a major nineteenth-figure whose career as a writer and social reformer encompassed issues central to American history.
First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies
by Kate Andersen Brower<P>From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the groundbreaking backstairs look at the White House, The Residence, comes an intimate, news-making look at the true modern power brokers at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: the First Ladies, from Jackie Kennedy to Michelle Obama. <P>One of the most underestimated--and challenging--positions in the world, the First Lady of the United States must be many things: an inspiring leader with a forward-thinking agenda of her own; a savvy politician, skilled at navigating the treacherous rapids of Washington; a wife and mother operating under constant scrutiny; and an able CEO responsible for the smooth operation of countless services and special events at the White House. Now, as she did in her smash #1 bestseller The Residence, former White House correspondent Kate Andersen Brower draws on a wide array of untapped, candid sources--from residence staff and social secretaries to friends and political advisers--to tell the stories of the ten remarkable women who have defined that role since 1960. <P>Brower offers new insights into this privileged group of remarkable women, including Jacqueline Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, Patricia Nixon, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama. The stories she shares range from the heartwarming to the shocking and tragic, exploring everything from the first ladies' political crusades to their rivalries with Washington figures; from their friendships with other first ladies to their public and private relationships with their husbands. She also offers a detailed and insightful new portrait of one of the most-watched first ladies of all time, Hillary Clinton, asking what her tumultuous years in the White House may tell us about her own historic presidential run . . . and what life could be like with the nation's first First Husband. <P>Candid and illuminating, this first group biography of the modern first ladies provides a revealing look at life upstairs and downstairs at the world's most powerful address. <P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies
by Kate Andersen BrowerFrom the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the groundbreaking backstairs look at the White House, The Residence, comes an intimate, news-making look at the true modern power brokers at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: the First Ladies, from Jackie Kennedy to Michelle Obama and Melania Trump.One of the most underestimated—and challenging—positions in the world, the First Lady of the United States must be many things: an inspiring leader with a forward-thinking agenda of her own; a savvy politician, skilled at navigating the treacherous rapids of Washington; a wife and mother operating under constant scrutiny; and an able CEO responsible for the smooth operation of countless services and special events at the White House. Now, as she did in her smash #1 bestseller The Residence, former White House correspondent Kate Andersen Brower draws on a wide array of untapped, candid sources—from residence staff and social secretaries to friends and political advisers—to tell the stories of the ten remarkable women who have defined that role since 1960.Brower offers new insights into this privileged group of remarkable women, including Jacqueline Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, Patricia Nixon, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama. The stories she shares range from the heartwarming to the shocking and tragic, exploring everything from the first ladies’ political crusades to their rivalries with Washington figures; from their friendships with other first ladies to their public and private relationships with their husbands. She also offers insight as to what Melania Trump might hope to accomplish as First Lady.Candid and illuminating, this first group biography of the modern first ladies provides a revealing look at life upstairs and downstairs at the world’s most powerful address.
First Words: A Childhood in Fascist Italy
by Rosetta Loy Gregory Conti<P>In 1937, Rosetta Loy was a privileged five-year-old growing up among the well-to-do Catholic intelligentsia of Rome. But her childhood world of indulgent nannies and summers in the mountains was also the world of Mussolini's fascist regime and the increasing oppression of Italian Jews. <P>Loy interweaves the two Italys of her early years, revealing the willful ignorance of her own family as one by one their Jewish neighbors disappeared. She indicts journalists and intellectuals for their blindness and passivity, and presents a searing and dispassionate record of the role of the Vatican and Catholic leadership in the devastation of Italian Jewry.
The First World Empire: Portugal, War and Military Revolution (Warfare and History)
by Hélder Carvalhal; André Murteira; Roger Lee de JesusThis book offers a comprehensive overview of the early modern military history of Portugal and its possessions in Africa, America, and Asia from the perspective of the Military Revolution historiographical debate. The existence of a military revolution in the early modern period has been much debated within international historiography and this volume fills a significant gap in its relation to the history of Portugal and its overseas empire. It examines different forms of military change in specifically Portuguese case studies, but also adopts a global perspective through the analysis of different contexts and episodes in Africa, America, and Asia. Contributors explore whether there is evidence of what could be defined as aspects of a military revolution, or, alternatively, whether other explanatory models are needed to account for different forms of military change. As such, it offers the reader a variety of perspectives that contribute to the debate over the applicability of the Military Revolution concept to Portugal and its empire during the early modern period. Broken down into four thematic parts and broad in both chronological and geographical scope, the book deepens our understanding of the art of warfare in Portugal and its empire and demonstrates how the Military Revolution debate can be used to examine military change in a global perspective. This is an essential text for scholars and students of military history, military architecture, global history, Asian history and the history of Iberian empires.
The First World Oil War
by Timothy C. Winegard Sir Hew StrachanOil is the source of wealth and economic opportunity. Oil is also the root source of global conflict, toxicity and economic disparity. When did oil become such a powerful commodity--during, and in the immediate aftermath of, the First World War.In his groundbreaking book The First World Oil War, Timothy C. Winegard argues that beginning with the First World War, oil became the preeminent commodity to safeguard national security and promote domestic prosperity. For the first time in history, territory was specifically conquered to possess oil fields and resources; vital cogs in the continuation of the industrialized warfare of the Twentieth Century. This original and pioneering study analyzes the evolution of oil as a catalyst for both war and diplomacy, and connects the events of the First World War to contemporary petroleum geo-politics and international aggression.
The First World War (Questions and Analysis in History)
by Ian J. Cawood David McKinnon-BellThe First World War examines the outbreak, events themselves and aftermath of the Great War, and the political, social and economic effects on the European countries involved. Important themes explored include :* recruitment and propaganda* women's involvement in the war* protest and pacifism* the links between the war and the revolutions in Russia and Germany.
The First World War: Teach Yourself
by David EvansThe Teach Yourself History series offers an alternative to academic historical books, its content being extensive yet extremely accessible and the approach refreshingly different. The books are informative and compelling, and engage the reader from beginning to end. They assume no prior historical knowledge, and are full of anecdotes and details that provide a very personal appeal. Teach Yourself The First World War covers all aspects of the war from an international perspective. It follows its key developments, including the build up to the war, how it developed and the role of the different countries involved. It considers many intriguing aspects of the war, including life in the trenches, spies and espionage, the role of women, propaganda, weapons of war and the loss of life. It looks at the impact of the war on those involved and questions why Germany lost the war. The aim throughout is to give you a better understanding of the events that ultimately led to the slaughter of some nine million men and left a further twenty-nine million either wounded or missing.