Series in Strategy
Books in Strategy
Deceiving Hitler: Double-Cross and Deception in World War II
In the war against Hitler, the Allies had to use every ounce of cunning and trickery that they possessed. Combining military deceptions with the double-agent network run by the intelligence services, they were able to send the enemy misleading information about Allied troops, plans and operations. From moving imaginary armies around the desert to putting a corpse with false papers floating in the Mediterranean, and from faking successful bombing campaigns to the convoluted deceptions which kept part of the German forces away from Normandy prior to D-Day, Terry Crowdy explores the deception war that combined the double-agent network with ingenious plans to confuse and hoodwink the Führer.
Deceiving Hitler: Double-Cross and Deception in World War II
In the war against Hitler, the Allies had to use every ounce of cunning and trickery that they possessed. Combining military deceptions with the double-agent network run by the intelligence services, they were able to send the enemy misleading information about Allied troops, plans and operations. From moving imaginary armies around the desert to putting a corpse with false papers floating in the Mediterranean, and from faking successful bombing campaigns to the convoluted deceptions which kept part of the German forces away from Normandy prior to D-Day, Terry Crowdy explores the deception war that combined the double-agent network with ingenious plans to confuse and hoodwink the Führer.
Deceiving Hitler: Double-Cross and Deception in World War II
In the war against Hitler, the Allies had to use every ounce of cunning and trickery that they possessed. Combining military deceptions with the double-agent network run by the intelligence services, they were able to send the enemy misleading information about Allied troops, plans and operations. From moving imaginary armies around the desert to putting a corpse with false papers floating in the Mediterranean, and from faking successful bombing campaigns to the convoluted deceptions which kept part of the German forces away from Normandy prior to D-Day, Terry Crowdy explores the deception war that combined the double-agent network with ingenious plans to confuse and hoodwink the Führer.
The Changing Face of Old Regime Warfare: Essays in Honour of Christopher Duffy
Over the last 60 years, British historian Professor Christopher Duffy has fundamentally reshaped our understanding of warfare in the late Old Regime. For much of the twentieth century, historians asserted that the military forces of Old Regime Europe were stagnant, formalized, and decorative. In this view, Old Regime armies were a lacy pastel façade destroyed by the new military prowess of Napoleon. A specialist on the Austrian, Prussian, Russian, and Jacobite armies of the mid-eighteenth century, Professor Duffy demanded that we understand the armies of the Old Regime as they were: serious and dangerous military institutions. The Changing Face of Old Regime Warfare is a festschrift honoring Professor Duffy’s legacy of writing on this pivotal period of military history. The book collects 16 essays by scholars from seven countries on three continents, which together tell the story of the dynamic nature of warfare in the Old Regime. Topics such as cavalry tactics, divisional organization, the rise of light forces, and the effects of war-making on society accompany primary sources translated into English for the first time. Throughout his career, Professor Duffy has written on a wide variety of topics in over 20 books, from topics ranging from the Seven Years War to the First World War, from the history of fortress warfare to the experience of Marshal Suvorov. It is fitting then, that although centered on eighteenth-century warfare, this book also includes chapters which address the Napoleonic conflicts, and First World War. The first section, Backgrounds and Retrospectives, explores the state of historical writing on eighteenth-century warfare, as well as Professor Duffy’s contribution to it. The second section, Commanders and their Armies, explores the field of traditional military history. It provides coverage of tactical analyses, campaign narratives, and organizational and doctrinal changes for the armies fighting in the Old Regime. The third section, Voices from the Past, provides translations and analyses of military sources which have been previously unavailable to the public. The fourth and final section, New Perspectives, demonstrates the varied picture which methods such as archaeology, cultural history, and colonial history tell us about the imperial history of European states at war. This section contains the final essay of the great American historian Dennis Showalter, published posthumously here with the permission of the Showalter family. The Changing Face of Old Regime Warfare continues Professor Duffy’s legacy of studying the armies and states of Europe in the eighteenth century, and allows a host of his colleagues to honor his fine work. Table of Contents Section One: Background and Retrospectives 1. Eighteenth Century Warfare in a Global Perspective – Jeremy Black 2. Writing for Pleasure: Christopher Duffy’s Historiographical Legacy – Alexander S. Burns Section Two: Commanders and their Armies 3. Military Action and Reflection: Thoughts on Frederick’s Elements de castrametrie et de tactique of 1770 – Jürgen Luh 4. The Württemberg Army in the Seven Years War – Peter H. Wilson 5. The Crisis of the French Cavalry during the Seven Years War – Frédéric Chauvire 6. French Cavalry at Austerlitz: The Historical Narrative and Data – Frederick Schneid 7. An Aspect of the Military Experience in the Age of Reason: The Evolution of the Combined-Arms Division in Old Regime France – Jonathan Abel 8. Pandours, Partisans, and Freikorps: The Development of Warfare and Light Troops across the Eighteenth Century – James R. McIntyre 9. The Extraordinary Life and Times of Military Engineer Charles Bisset – Petr Wohlmuth Section Three: Voices from the Past 10. Pastor Täge’s Account of the Siege of Cüstrin and the Battle of Zorndorf: August 1758 – Adam L. Storring 11. Fighting in Frederick II’s favourite Musketeer Regiment: A unique series of Prussian soldiers’ letters from the Seven Years War – Katrin and Sascha Möbius Section Four: New Perspectives 12. Clearing the Fog of War: Archaeological Research on the Battle of Kunersdorf, 2009-2019 – Grzegorz Podruczny 13. The Primacy of State Violence in the Austro-Bohemian Lands: Subjects, Soldiers and Shifting Social Boundaries, 1788-1816 – Kurt Baird 14. A Crisis of Battle? Decisiveness in the Wars of Frederick the Great – Alexander Querengässer 15. Embattled Representations: Indecisiveness and the Making of Victories during the Seven Years War – Marian Füssel 16. ‘…when it comes to fightin’…they’ll shove me in the stalls’: Africans, Indians, and Imperialism’s Great War – Dennis Showalter
The Encyclopedia of Ancient Battles(With: Michael Whitby)
Focused on battle narratives of the classical world on land and at sea, this three-volume reference covers Archaic Greece in the eighth century BC to the rise of Islam in the seventh century AD. Three-volume reference on land and sea battles of the classical world from Archaic Greece in the eighth century BC to the rise of Islam in the seventh century AD Concentrates on narratives of specific battles, sieges, campaigns, and wars Contains the most complete and up-to-date scholarship on the subject Organized by individual wars, with chronological entries for each battle Brings together a distinguished, international group of experts on ancient military history Get the digital version at www.encyclopediaofancientbattles.com
The Great Escaper
SUNDAY TIMES TOP 10 BESTSELLER 'This gripping biography... Pearson has done uncommonly well to unearth so much.' (Max Hastings, Sunday Times ) Roger Bushell was 'Big X', mastermind of the mass breakout from Stalag Luft III in March 1944, immortalised in the Hollywood film The Great Escape. Very little was known about Bushell until 2011, when his family donated his private papers - a treasure trove of letters, photographs and diaries - to the Imperial War Museum. Through exclusive access to this material - as well as fascinating new research from other sources - Simon Pearson, Chief Night Editor of The Times, has now written the first biography of this iconic figure. Born in South Africa in 1910, Roger Bushell was the son of a British mining engineer. By the age of 29, this charismatic character who spoke nine languages had become a London barrister with a reputation for successfully defending those much less fortunate than him. He was also renowned as an international ski champion and fighter pilot with a string of glamorous girlfriends. On 23 May, 1940, his Spitfire was shot down during a dogfight over Boulogne after destroying two German fighters. From then on his life was governed by an unquenchable desire to escape from Occupied Europe. Over the next four years he made three escapes, coming within 100 yards of the Swiss border during his first attempt. His second escape took him to Prague where he was sheltered by the Czech resistance for eight months before he was captured. The three months of savage interrogation in Berlin by the Gestapo that followed made him even more determined. Prisoner or not, he would do his utmost to fight the Nazis. His third (and last escape) destabilised the Nazi leadership and captured the imagination of the world. He died on 29 March 1944, murdered on the explicit instructions of Adolf Hitler. Simon Pearson's revealing biography is a vivid account of war and love, triumph and tragedy - one man's attempt to challenge remorseless tyranny in the face of impossible odds.
The Lessons of Terror
In The Lessons of Terror , novelist and military historian Caleb Carr examines terrorism throughout history and the roots of our present crisis and reaches a provocative set of conclusions: the practice of targeting enemy civilians is as old as warfare itself; it has always failed as a military and political tactic; and despite the dramatic increases in its scope and range of weapons, it will continue to fail in the future. International terrorism—the victimization of unarmed civilians in an attempt to affect their support for the government that leads them—is a phrase with which Americans have become all too familiar recently. Yet while at first glance terrorism seems a relatively modern phenomenon, Carr illustrates that it has been a constant of military history. In ancient times, warring armies raped and slaughtered civilians and gratuitously destroyed property, homes, and cities; in the Middle Ages, evangelical Muslims and Christian crusaders spread their faiths by the sword; and in the early modern era, such celebrated kings as Louis XIV revealed a taste for victimizing noncombatants for political purposes. It was during the Civil War that Americans themselves first engaged in “total war,” the most egregious of the many euphemisms for the tactics of terror. Under the leadership of such generals as Stonewall Jackson, the forces of the South tried to systematize this horrifying practice; but it fell to a Union general, William Tecumseh Sherman, to achieve that dubious goal. Carr recounts Sherman’s declaration of war on every man, woman, and child in the South—a policy that he himself knew was badly flawed, had nothing to do with his military successes (indeed, it hampered them), and brought long-term unrest to the American South by giving birth to the Ku Klux Klan. Carr’s exploration of terror reveals its consistently self-defeating nature. Far from prompting submission, Carr argues, terrorism stiffens enemy resolve: for this reason above all, terrorism has never achieved—nor will it ever achieve—long-term success, however physically destructive and psychologically debilitating it may become. With commanding authority and the storyteller’s gift for which he is renowned, Caleb Carr provides a critical historical context for understanding terrorist acts today, arguing that terrorism will be eradicated only when it is perceived as a tactic that brings nothing save defeat to its agents.
What If? 2: Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been
What if Lincoln didn't abolish slavery? What if an assassin succeeded in killing FDR in 1933? This volume presents 25 intriguing "what if..." scenarios by some of today's greatest historical minds-including James Bradley, Caleb Carr, James Chace, Theodore F. Cook, Jr., Carlos M.N. Eire, George Feifer, Thomas Fleming, Richard B. Frank, Victor Davis Hanson, Cecelia Holland, Alistair Horne, David Kahn, Robert Katz, John Lukacs, William H. McNeill, Lance Morrow, Williamson Murray, Josiah Ober, Robert L. O'Connell, Geoffrey Parker, Theodore K. Rabb, Andrew Roberts, Roger Spiller, Geoffrey C. Ward, and Tom Wicker.
What If? 2: Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been
What if Lincoln didn't abolish slavery? What if an assassin succeeded in killing FDR in 1933? This volume presents 25 intriguing "what if..." scenarios by some of today's greatest historical minds-including James Bradley, Caleb Carr, James Chace, Theodore F. Cook, Jr., Carlos M.N. Eire, George Feifer, Thomas Fleming, Richard B. Frank, Victor Davis Hanson, Cecelia Holland, Alistair Horne, David Kahn, Robert Katz, John Lukacs, William H. McNeill, Lance Morrow, Williamson Murray, Josiah Ober, Robert L. O'Connell, Geoffrey Parker, Theodore K. Rabb, Andrew Roberts, Roger Spiller, Geoffrey C. Ward, and Tom Wicker.
With Their Bare Hands: General Pershing, the 79th Division, and the battle for Montfaucon
With Their Bare Hands traces the fate of the US 79th Division-men drafted off the streets of Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia-from their training camp in Maryland through the final years of World War I, focusing on their most famous engagement: the attack on Montfaucon, the most heavily fortified part of the German Line, during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in 1918. Using the 79th as a window onto the American Army as a whole, Gene Fax examines its mistakes and triumphs, the tactics of the AEF commander-in-chief General John J. Pershing, and how the lessons it learned during the Great War helped it to fight World War II. Fax makes some startling judgments, on the role of future Army Chief-of-Staff, Colonel George C. Marshall; whether the Montfaucon battle-had it followed the plan-could have shortened the war; and if Pershing was justified in ordering his troops to attack right up to the moment of the Armistice. Drawing upon original documents, including orders, field messages, and the letters and memoirs of the soldiers themselves, some of which have never been used before, Fax tells the engrossing story of the 79th Division's bloody involvement in the final months of World War I.
With Their Bare Hands: General Pershing, the 79th Division, and the battle for Montfaucon
With Their Bare Hands traces the fate of the US 79th Division-men drafted off the streets of Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia-from their training camp in Maryland through the final years of World War I, focusing on their most famous engagement: the attack on Montfaucon, the most heavily fortified part of the German Line, during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in 1918. Using the 79th as a window onto the American Army as a whole, Gene Fax examines its mistakes and triumphs, the tactics of the AEF commander-in-chief General John J. Pershing, and how the lessons it learned during the Great War helped it to fight World War II. Fax makes some startling judgments, on the role of future Army Chief-of-Staff, Colonel George C. Marshall; whether the Montfaucon battle-had it followed the plan-could have shortened the war; and if Pershing was justified in ordering his troops to attack right up to the moment of the Armistice. Drawing upon original documents, including orders, field messages, and the letters and memoirs of the soldiers themselves, some of which have never been used before, Fax tells the engrossing story of the 79th Division's bloody involvement in the final months of World War I.
With Their Bare Hands: General Pershing, the 79th Division, and the battle for Montfaucon
With Their Bare Hands traces the fate of the US 79th Division-men drafted off the streets of Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia-from their training camp in Maryland through the final years of World War I, focusing on their most famous engagement: the attack on Montfaucon, the most heavily fortified part of the German Line, during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in 1918. Using the 79th as a window onto the American Army as a whole, Gene Fax examines its mistakes and triumphs, the tactics of the AEF commander-in-chief General John J. Pershing, and how the lessons it learned during the Great War helped it to fight World War II. Fax makes some startling judgments, on the role of future Army Chief-of-Staff, Colonel George C. Marshall; whether the Montfaucon battle-had it followed the plan-could have shortened the war; and if Pershing was justified in ordering his troops to attack right up to the moment of the Armistice. Drawing upon original documents, including orders, field messages, and the letters and memoirs of the soldiers themselves, some of which have never been used before, Fax tells the engrossing story of the 79th Division's bloody involvement in the final months of World War I.