The General commanding the Bollockyboos Has strictly revised all his previous views… He keeps his battalion, untiring, approving, All moving and firing and firing and moving; They know about guns, they know about tanks, They’ll take any risk you like with their flanks… They are all at one that training is fun And there’s nought […]
Books
The Other Norfolk Admirals: Myngs, Narbrough, and Shovell
Close to Charing Cross station in London is the oddly named Ship and Shovell pub. Initially, this seems a strange combination, until you realise that the Shovell in question is not a misspelt digging implement but honours Sir Cloudesley Shovell (c.1650-1707), one of the most renowned admirals of the 17th century. Shovell is but one […]
Squadron: ending the African slave trade
The West Africa Squadron of the Royal Navy had more or less terminated the slave trade on the West African coast by the 1850s. This book is not about that story. It concerns another unfolding on the opposite side of the continent. As the West African trade collapsed, the East African trade soared. The trafficking […]
Stormtroopers: a new history of Hitler’s brownshirts
Daniel Siemens’s excellent new history of the Sturmabteilungen — the SA; better known as the Nazi Party’s Stormtroopers or Brownshirts — includes a lot of violence. It begins with the horrific murder of an innocent Polish down-and-out in German Upper Silesia in August 1932. Accused of being a Communist, he was savagely beaten to death […]
The British Army and the First World War
My heart sank slightly when I was asked to review this book. I expected yet another dirge about needless casualties, poor generalship, a reworking of ‘lions led by donkeys’. But, no, I was completely wrong: pusillanimous poets do not get a look in; instead we get rigorous analysis of facts, the figures that support them, […]
Grant
Ulysses Simpson Grant is probably the most recognisable army officer in the pantheon of American history. He is, at the same time, most likely the least understood and most under-appreciated person. This marvellous work by Ron Chernow should do much to resolve that conundrum. Born in Point Pleasant, Ohio, in 1827 to jesse and Hannah […]
Last Hope Island: Britain, occupied Europe, and the brotherhood that helped turn the tide of the war
When King Haakon of Norway, one of the many exiled leaders from occupied Europe in London during World War II, visited the BBC at Bush House for an interview, a harassed receptionist asked, ‘Sorry, dear, where did you say you were king of?’ The quote perfectly sums up Lynne Olson’s timely book about the Britain […]
BOOK REVIEW: Hue 1968: a turning point of the American war in Vietnam
Some of us still remember the time quite vividly. By the end of 1967, the United States had been involved in the conflict in South-east Asia for nearly two decades. While its advisors had helped the Vietnamese in their struggle against Japanese invaders during the Second World War, in the post -war years the United […]
MHM BOOK AWARDS 2018: Winners announced!
The ballots have been cast, the votes have been counted, and we are delighted to announce the winners of this year’s MHM book awards! We curated a list of the year’s best military history titles, and asked our readers to vote for their favourites. Our selection includes some of the best-researched, most-insightful, and most-readable titles […]
MHM Book of the Year 2018: Nominees
MHM has curated a list of 2017’s best military history titles: the nominees for this year’s Military History Monthly book awards. Our selection includes some of the best-researched, most-insightful, and most-readable titles reviewed and featured in the magazine over the last year. But we need your help to select the winners! Choose your favourite from […]
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