There are numerous histories of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (to give the ‘English’ Civil Wars their more-accurate title), as such, any new book, unless based on ground-breaking research, needs something unique to attract readers.
Early Modern
English Civil War massacre ‘cover-up’ revealed
The site of a Royalist garrison in Nottinghamshire, Shelford Manor was besieged by Parliamentary forces on 3 November 1645.
REVIEW – The King’s Irish: the Royalist Anglo-Irish Foot of the English Civil War, 1643-1646
Just as there was no single Parliamentarian army during the English Civil War, there was no single Royalist Army either. But while there are a number of works about the various armies which formed the Parliamentarian forces during the Civil War, Royalist forces tend to be studied as a single entity.
REVIEW – The song of Simon de Montfort: England’s first revolution and the death of chivalry
Simon de Montfort was a colossus in English affairs during the 13th century, as this biography skilfully explains. What is revealed is a man who was shaped by the mores of his times.
Three Armada portraits of Elizabeth I united for the first time
Faces of a Queen: the Armada Portraits of Elizabeth, a free exhibition at the Queen’s House in Greenwich, opens on 13 February 2020 and runs until 31 August.
Rare military collection auctioned at Sotheby’s
A first edition of Machiavelli’s Libro dell’arte della guerra (The Art of War) has sold at auction for £150,000.
Cromwell’s Eye
The generalship of Oliver Cromwell, England’s great revolutionary leader, has sometimes been criticised. Wrongly, argues Martyn Bennett, in this detailed analysis of Cromwell’s conduct at Preston, the decisive engagement of the Second Civil War.
Yi Sun-sin: history’s greatest admiral
When we think of great naval commanders, Nelson immediately comes to mind. He fought 13 battles, winning 8. Admiral Yi Sun-sin fought 23 battles against Japan between 1592 and 1598, and won every one of them without losing a single ship. In 14 of these battles, moreover, not a single Japanese ship survived. How did he accomplish so much, and why was Japan unable to defeat him?
Marlborough and Eugene
The late Richard Holmes considered Marlborough to be Britain’s greatest general. He was probably right. But, like many great commanders, Marlborough was paired with a man of comparable calibre: Prince Eugene of Savoy. So outstanding were Eugene’s talents that Napoleon listed him among history’s top seven generals. Together, the two men shaped a continent.
Afghanistan: graveyard of armies
A huge, mountainous, landlocked Central Asian state, Afghanistan has defied invaders for 2,500 years. Jules Stewart takes a look at the country’s military longue durée. Taken in historical context, the 13-year presence of NATO combat troops in Afghanistan amounted to scarcely a footnote to centuries of foreign military intervention in the country. From the […]
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