Pen: 3888 books

In 52 B.C. at Alesia in what is now Burgundy in France Julius Caesar pulled off one of the great feats of Roman arms. His heavily outnumbered army utterly defeated the combined forces of the Gallic tribes led by Vercingetorix and completed the Roman conquest of Gaul. The Alesia campaign, and the epic...

Women in the Second World War explores the experiences of women who served in the armed forces, or complimentary services. Using interviews, anecdotes, memoirs and/or accounts from the women (or, where appropriate, their children), the book tells the women’s personal accounts of what their lives...

Michael (MRD) Foot enjoys the rare distinction of being the only person referred to by his real name in a John Le Carre novel. A highly significant tribute to the man entrusted with writing the official record of the Special Operations Executive. He authored first (1966) the History of SOE in France...

“Stunning photographs” and firsthand accounts propel a book that “brings together the memories of more than 200 child survivors of the Blitz” (Daily Mail).   It was not just the upheaval caused by evacuation and the blitzes that changed a generation’s childhood, it was how war pervaded...

When war was declared in 1914, the people of South Dorset were taken by surprise. Initially, there was excitement as the garrison town of Dorchester sprang to life, and Britain's Grand Fleet steamed from Portland Harbour to its war stations in the North Sea. But when the fervour subsided, what was...

Although Lancaster was the ancient County town, it had a population of only 40,000 in 1914. Of these, it is thought that some 5,000 men saw war service between 1914-18, and over 1,000 did not return. In consequence, the recruiting drives, the tribunals to consider exemption from 1916, and the ever-growing...

How the experience of war impacted on the town, from the initial enthusiasm for sorting out the German kaiser in time for Christmas 1914, to the gradual realization of the enormity of human sacrifice the families of Doncaster were committed to as the war stretched out over the next four years. A record...

This book features the design, creation and use of air raid shelters, including interviews with people who used them during the Second World War. The different types of bunkers/air raid shelters (both public and in people’s gardens) are covered and the strength and weakness of their designs discussed,...

Many histories have been written about the conflicts the British army was involved in between the Battle of Waterloo and the First World War. There are detailed studies of campaigns and battles and general accounts of the experiences of the soldiers. But this book by Anthony Dawson is the first to...

The latest of Ian Hughes' Late Roman biographies here tackles the careers of the brother emperors, Valentinian and Valens. Valentian was selected and proclaimed as emperor in AD 364, when the Empire was still reeling from the disastrous defeat and death in battle of Julian the Apostate (363) and the...

The fascinating history of “a race that simply would not accept defeat” (Books Monthly).   In the late fourth century, pressure from the Huns forced the Goths to cross the Danube into the Roman Empire. The resultant Battle of Adrianople in 378 was one of Rome’s greatest defeats. Both western...

On 30 November 1939 Stalins Red Army attacked Finland, expecting to crush the outnumbered, ill-equipped Finnish forces in a matter of days. But, in one of the most astonishing upsets in modern military history, the Finnish defenders broke the Red Armys advance, inflicting devastating casualties and...

The greatest tank battle in world history, known as Operation CITADEL, opened during the early hours of 5 July 1943, and its outcome was to decide the eventual outcome of the war on the Eastern Front. Images of War - Battle of Kursk 1943, is an illustrated account of this pivotal battle of the war...

The little-known story of the Battle of Kalinin on the eastern front, and how it shaped the course of WWII—based on archival records from both sides.   There was only one point in the Second World War when Nazi Germany had a chance of winning. That point was October 1941, when most of the Red Army’s...