With his description of the events at Portsmouth, Atkinson once again justifies a New York Times review of a previous volume which described his work as ‘a tapestry of fabulous richness and complexity… Atkinson is a master of what might be called “pointillism history”, assembling the small dots of pure colour into a vivid, tumbling narrative…’.
Articles
REVIEW – Appeasing Hitler: Chamberlain, Churchill, and the road to war
Tim Bouverie’s Appeasing Hitler strides boldly and confidently through a decade of British political and diplomatic history. Such history could be dull, but not in the hands of Bouverie, whose narrative is tense and written with great verve.
Operation Market Garden
The world’s largest ever airborne operation was launched during September 1944, with less than a week of planning. This was one of many ingredients in what, for the Allies, would become a major strategic setback. What went wrong?
REVIEW – 24 Hours at Balaclava, 25 October 1854: Voices from the Battlefield
It was less a pitched battle than a succession of accidental collisions; less a decisive trial of strength than a momentary eruption of episodic violence that changed nothing and settled nothing.
Julius Caesar: Europe’s greatest military commander?
The story of Julius Caesar’s military career is that of a special relationship between a brilliant commander and an elite fighting force. Caesar was a skilled politician and a master of military engineering. Highly drilled, heavily armoured, and tightly disciplined, the legions of the Late Republic were superb instruments of war. We analyse how Caesar used them to devastating effect.
REVIEW – Arnhem: the complete story of Operation Market Garden, 17 – 25 September 1944
William F Buckingham has written what may become the definitive British account of the Battle of Arnhem. In a crowded field, Buckingham’s meticulous reconstruction of the battle provides the reader with a detailed yet accessible narrative of those remarkable events of 75 years ago.
REVIEW – The American Military: a concise history
The American Military: a concise history is an essential introduction to the development of the US army. From the landing of the first English settlers at Jamestown to the protracted conflicts in the Middle East today, the book documents the key transformations that have occurred within the American armed forces over the centuries.
War Reporters: William Howard Russell
Seema Syeda on battlefield scoops throughout the ages. William Howard Russell was one of the most prolific and revolutionary journalists of his time. Best known for his reporting on the Crimean War, he narrated the events of the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’, and Tennyson wrote his celebrated poem of the same name – now […]
The Troubles: Northern Ireland, 1968-1998
The wounds are still raw. It was a bitter conflict, it left many grieving, and it remains well within living memory. But that does not mean that military historians should not study it and attempt to understand it. Patrick Mercer analyses the strategy, tactics, and history of Northern Ireland’s protracted war.
The sinking of the Lusitania
Anthony Richards uses first-hand testimony to recreate the dying moments of the stricken Lusitania on 7 May 1915.
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