Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck is a study not only of the individual but also of how the British Army, Indian Army and the Empire were transformed during his long military career. Auchinleck was commissioned into the Indian Army from 1904 and served with distinction against the Turks in Egypt and the Mesopotamian campaign, earning a DSO. Between the wars he was involved in the pacification of the Northwest Frontier (now Pakistan). In the Second World War he briefly led a division in the ill-fa...
Britain and Europe in a Troubled World (Henry L Stimson Lectures (YUP)) (The Henry L. Stimson Lectures)
by Vernon Bogdanor
The history of Britain's complex relationship with Europe, untangled "The best short introduction to both the political realignment that produced the 2016 Referendum result and the immense fallout since."-CapX, "Books of the Year" (2020) "[A] cool-headed, fair, and judicious analysis of Britain and the EU at a decisive period in history"- Thomas Gallagher, Brexit-Watch.org Is Britain a part of Europe? The British have been ambivalent on this question since the Second World War, when the West...
This is a Short Story Book with A Difference: It has 113 true stories in it that show what it was like to live in a GIANT BUBBLE called the 2nd World War. Many of the stories describe the emotional and physical cost of a World War on the British people who were forced to endure almost 6 years of continuous fighting. Numerous individuals chose to supress their emotions by adopting the famous British 'stiff upper lip' while struggling with their inner fears. It wasn't the best solution; it was the...
John Lambert was a renowned naval draughtsman, whose plans were highly valued for their accuracy and detail by modelmakers and enthusiasts. By the time of his death in 2016 he had produced over 850 sheets of drawings, many of which have never been published. These have now been acquired by Seaforth and this is the first of a planned series of albums on selected themes, reproducing complete sheets at a large page size, with an expert commentary and captioning. The initial volumes will concentrat...
Winston Churchill probably had more impact on 20th Century British military history than any other person and especially during World War II. Yet of all the many volumes since that war which deal with his relationships with generals and admirals, most surprisingly, there seems not to be a single book devoted to Churchill as a would-be pilot, and, more importantly, to the relations he had with a host of airmen between 1914 and 1945. Exceptional air marshals of his time included Dowding, Park, Por...
Family Britain, 1951-1957 (Tales of a New Jerusalem)
by David Kynaston
As in Austerity Britain, an astonishing array of vivid, intimate and unselfconscious voices drive this narrative. The keen-eyed Nella Last shops assiduously at Barrow Market as austerity and rationing gradually give way to relative abundance; housewife Judy Haines, relishing the detail of suburban life, brings up her children in Chingford; and, the self-absorbed civil servant Henry St John perfects the art of grumbling. These and many other voices give a rich, unsentimental picture of everyday l...
'After my death,' George V said of his eldest son and heir, 'the boy will ruin himself within twelve months.' The forecast proved uncannily accurate. Edward VIII came to the throne in January 1936, provoked a constitutional crisis by his determination to marry the American divorcée Wallis Simpson, and abdicated in December. He was never crowned king.In choosing the woman he loved over his royal birthright, Edward shook the monarchy to its foundations. Given the new title 'Duke of Windsor' and e...
In the 1790s, Britain underwent what the politician Edmund Burke called 'the most important of all revolutions...a revolution in sentiments'. Inspired by the French Revolution, British radicals concocted new political worlds to enshrine healthier, more productive, human emotions and relationships. The Enlightenment's wildest hopes crested in the utopian projects of such optimists - including the young poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the philosophers William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, the phys...
Modern soldiers depend on their equipment, from the weapons in their hands and the tanks that support them, to the communications equipment that connect them to their commanders. Formed in 1942, the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) have maintained the British Army’s equipment and kept their machines moving for nearly 75 years. REME have been involved in every single operation undertaken by the British Army since World War II, and the Corps has some fascinating stories to...
Enfield in the Great War (Your Towns and Cities in the Great War)
by Stephen Wynn
The Origins and Growth of the English Eugenics Movement, 1865-1925 (Sts Occasional Papers, #9)
by Lyndsay Andrew Farrall
Formed in June 1941, the Guards Armoured Division proved that Household Troops could adapt their legendary high standards to a totally new role. Deploying to Normandy in 1944 under Major General Sir Allan Adair, the Division acquitted itself with distinction in the costly Operation GOODWOOD. After the break-out, the Welsh Guards liberated Brussels on 3 September and the Division played a leading role in Operation MARKET GARDEN. In early 1945, the Division fought in Operation VERITABLE, breakin...
General Gordon's death in the Sudan marks the height of imperial cultural fever. Even in the late nineteen seventies, the themes of Khartoum were still the basis for children's stories, comic books, and depictions of masculinity.Imperial Culture in the Sudan seeks to examine the cultural impact of Sudan on the popular image of the British empire - why were these colonial administrators characterized as 'adventurers'? Why was Sudan and the story of General Gordon so popular? The author argues it...
Even today, most histories of the world wars focus on those who fought. Those who refused to fight are usually overlooked, or just mentioned in passing, sometimes in a very dismissive manner. But during the First World War, 16,000 men in Britain refused conscription: they believed it was wrong to take up arms and kill. Known as conscientious objectors they were humiliated, abused and imprisoned for their stand. More than 70 died as a result of brutal treatment. Twenty years later, during the Sec...
The Sunday Times bestseller Now a major BBC TV series presented by Andrew Marr David Attenborough. Marcus Rashford. Jan Morris. Diana Dors. Bob Geldof. David Olusoga. Elizabeth David. Zaha Hadid. Frank Crichlow. Quentin Crisp. Dusty Springfield. Captain Tom. Who made modern Britain the country it is today? How do we sum up the kind of people we are? What does it mean to be the new Elizabethans? In this wonder...
The greatest questions of our future can be answered by twelve crucial moments in Britain's history.It wasn't long-ago that Britons could have been as at home in Varanasi as they could have been in Wolverhampton - why? - because the shape and location of Britain's land-mass has not always been the same, and with large parts of Britain scattered across the globe, British borders and its identity has always been on the move.But, by knowing more about the twelve pivotal moments that occurred over a...