Najnovšie - História strana 164 z 168

‘An extraordinary intervention. If you want to understand the stakes and the limitations of contemporary conflict over culture and colonial history this bold, provocative book is an indispensable resource’ Paul Gilroy, founding Director of the Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Race and Racism at UCL‘Hicks’ must-read book describes how it was possible for a human skull to be made into a drinking cup and used in a genteel Oxford college, well into the 21st century, as if empire were an eternal state of nature . . . Read it to learn new ways to be anti-racist, abolitionist and to tell other stories than those commemorated by the monuments that surround us, from statues, to museums and the police’ Nicholas Mirzoeff, author of White Sight‘Brave and clear-sighted. Hicks opens up an extraordinary conversation between the past and the present. This is a book about falling statues, but so much more. It’s about how we’ve been lied to, and how we can approach the past with honesty. Hicks asks whether history and archaeology should be used to justify actions we know impinge on the rights of others - or to understand ourselves better’ Alice Roberts, bestselling author of Crypt ‘Dan Hicks writes with grace and fierce focus about what we choose to remember and why, in our patterns of thought, our institutions and the built environment in which we live’ Eyal Weizman, director of Forensic ArchitectureThe culture war is over. If you want it to be. It wasn’t even a culture war; it was a war on culture. A sustained attack, Dan Hicks argues, in the form of the weaponisation of civic museums, public art, and even universities — and one that has a deeper history than you might think.Tracing the origins of contemporary conflicts over art, heritage, memory, and colonialism, Every Monument Will Fall joins the dots between the building of statues, the founding of academic disciplines like archaeology and anthropology, and the warehousing of stolen art and human skulls in museums — including the one in which he is a curator.Part history, part biography, part excavation, the story runs from the Yorkshire wolds to the Crimean War, from southern Ireland to the frontline of the American Civil War, from the City of London to the University of Oxford — revealing enduring legacies of militarism, slavery, racism and white supremacy hardwired into the heart of our cultural institutions.Every Monument Will Fall offers an urgent reappraisal of how we think about culture, and how to find hope, remembrance and reconciliation in the fragments of an unfinished violent past. Refusing to choose between pulling down every statue, or living in a past that we can never change, the book makes the case for allowing monuments to fall once in a while, even those that are hard to see as monuments, rebuilding a memory culture that is in step with our times.

The People’s Army of Vietnam’s decision to utilize armor as part of its warfighting strategy was a product of various geopolitical factors that surrounded Hanoi during various parts of the Vietnam War. During the First Indochina War, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) emerged as the foremost communist benefactor of North Vietnam. The Soviet Union however, largely stood by. While worried by the PRC’s and Soviet Union’s actions during the Geneva Conference of 1954, Hanoi still felt the need to maintain good relations with both countries. This was reinforced when the Sino-Soviet split occurred in 1956 and Hanoi was forced to walk a tight rope between Beijing and Moscow. As the United States escalated its war in Vietnam, Moscow (now under new leadership) sought to increase its material support for Hanoi.As the war progressed, Hanoi sought to fight larger battles against the Americans and their South Vietnamese allies. In order to fight larger battles, the PAVN needed more modern military equipment that only the Soviet Union could provide. This, paired with the chaos of the ongoing Cultural Revolution in China, led Hanoi to lean more towards Moscow in the latter years of the Vietnam War.As part of this newly blossomed relationship, Moscow began to furnish the PAVN with more modern weapons including Soviet armor. Initially, the PAVN’s use of armor at Lang Vei (1968) and Laos (1971) was met with some success. However, in 1972, Hanoi panicked as the United States began to reach “détente” with Beijing and Moscow. This led to fears of another Geneva and thus lead Hanoi to pursue a rushed “Easter Offensive” in March 1972 which saw ill-trained PAVN tank crews fall prey to poor planning and bad strategy. This changed in 1975 when following the Paris Peace Accords and subsequent combined arms training in the Soviet Union, the PAVN victoriously drove its Soviet armor into Saigon.

Seventy years ago, the Nuremberg Trials were in full swing in Germany. In the dock were the leaders of the Nazi regime and most eventually received their just desserts. But what happened to the other war criminal? n June 1946, Lord Russell of Liverpool became Deputy Judge Advocate and legal adviser to the Commander in Chief for the British Army of the Rhine in respect of all trials held by British Military Courts of German war criminals. He later wrote;''At the outbreak of the Second World War, the treatment of prisoners was governed by the Geneva Prisoner of War Convention of 1929, the Preamble of which stated that the aim of the signatories was to alleviate the conditions of prisoners of war.''During the war, however, the provisions of the Convention were repeatedly disregarded by Germany. Prisoners were subjected to brutality and ill-treatment, employed on prohibited and dangerous work, handed over to the SD for "special treatment" in pursuance of Hitler''s Commando Order, lynched in the streets by German civilians, sent to concentration camps, shot on recapture after escaping, and even massacred after they had laid down their arms and surrendered.''Tens of thousands of Allied prisoners of war died at the hands of the Nazis and their Italian allies. This book is for them – lest we forget.

Border Battles describes the events which took place on the battlefields of the Anglo-Scottish Wars, 1018–1513. Author Chris Peers links these with a historical narrative of the campaigns, the political situation which gave rise to them and the geographical factors which shaped them. Included are the two dramatic battles at Alnwick in 1093 & 1174 which highlighted the superiority of Anglo-Norman cavalry, the little known battle of Carham, battles at Berwick on Tweed – the most fought over town in Britain – and Flodden, the largest and bloodiest battle ever fought in the region between the two warring kingdoms, among others.A chapter is also given to the castles built during this period to defend Northumberland against Scottish incursions, which remain important features in the landscape, discussing the general principles of medieval defensive structures as well as the specific strategic situation, especially at Bamborough, Warkworth, Alnwick and Chillingham castles.A complementary volume to The Highland Battles (2020) and Clan Battles (2023), each chapter concludes with a guide to visiting the sites, and the book will be illustrated with photographs of both the featured battlefields and other notable sites of interest.

The atom bombs dropped on Japan at the end of the Second World War opened the door to the nuclear age. Seeing the potential for developing nuclear energy for the US Navy, Capt. Hyman Rickover initiated a research program that culminated in the launch of USS Nautilus, the world''s first nuclear-powered submarine. Meanwhile, ballistic missile technology was developing fast, but still relied on complex liquid fuels. The US Navy partnered with the army to develop a ballistic missile for both services, but withdrew when solid fuels became a practical proposition. Under the leadership of RADM William Raborn, the US Navy set up its own project: the Polaris weapon system. In 1960, the first missile-armed nuclear-powered submarine (SSBN) left on patrol, with forty more to follow in subsequent years. Two years later, when Britain''s Blue Streak and Skybolt plans were canceled, Harold Macmillan and John F. Kennedy agreed for Polaris to be supplied to the Royal Navy.

The coup remains the single most common form of power change throughout the world.How to Stage a Military Coup explores these violent and often bloody appropriations of authority, alongside the political, military, and social conditions out of which they arise. Taking into account factors such as timing, media control, popular support and government organisational structure, and by drawing on examples of coups from all over the world, both failed and successful, the authors reveal exactly what it takes to carry out a successful government take-over.This latest, updated edition includes a new foreword by David Hebditch.

“Remarkably ambitious in scope, Harte manages to knit together a social and cultural history of these years, including how Churchill both influenced the world and was defined by the issues of the day. Harte wants to show when and where the ‘scrawny little twenty-year-old second lieutenant became a global leader.’ The question is not a new one, but it never fails to fascinate.” - **International Churchill Society**Churchill’s Enemies describes Winston Churchill’s main challenges when he was out of office from 1929-1939. They were the rise to dictatorship of Benito Mussolini in Italy and the adaptation of his fascist system by the Nazi Party in Germany. It also explains the relevance of Hitler’s collaboration with the Mufti of Jerusalem in the Middle East, who spread Nazi ideology in Jerusalem, Gaza, and Lebanon - and how, step by step, the two European dictators destroyed democracy.This account of the first half of Winston Churchill’s life should help readers to understand how today’s world crisis began. The Cairo Conference was the West’s first attempt to bring the Arab world into the twentieth century by solving the Middle East crisis in 1921. It also shows how Churchill changed from an ambitious young politician to an elder statesman, as a consequence of his experiences in the changing world with all its complexities, paradoxes and ambiguities - and how his decisions still impact world politics today. The major menaces with which he was confronted throughout his political career were the chaos caused by Islamist terrorists in the Middle East from 1918 and the spread of communism and fascism when he was Minister for War and then Colonial Secretary. The author described the first two threats in his previous book, Churchill’s Challenges.

For centuries, Russian imperialism has shaped the fate of its neighbours, from the tsarist conquests to Soviet domination and today’s relentless aggression. This book exposes the Kremlin’s enduring ambition to control its periphery, dismantling the myths used to justify its actions – from claims of shared history to the weaponization of security and culture. It reveals how Russia has sought to subordinate neighbouring states, and how these nations have resisted, asserting their sovereignty in defiance of Moscow’s pressure. In this incisive and compelling analysis of Russia’s enduring imperial mindset, Donnacha Ó Beacháin sheds critical light on how history, politics and power continue to collide in Ukraine and beyond, and why breaking the cycle of domination is vital for global security. It is essential reading for grasping the complexities of the current geopolitical crisis.

For centuries, Russian imperialism has shaped the fate of its neighbours, from the tsarist conquests to Soviet domination and today’s relentless aggression. This book exposes the Kremlin’s enduring ambition to control its periphery, dismantling the myths used to justify its actions – from claims of shared history to the weaponization of security and culture. It reveals how Russia has sought to subordinate neighbouring states, and how these nations have resisted, asserting their sovereignty in defiance of Moscow’s pressure. In this incisive and compelling analysis of Russia’s enduring imperial mindset, Donnacha Ó Beacháin sheds critical light on how history, politics and power continue to collide in Ukraine and beyond, and why breaking the cycle of domination is vital for global security. It is essential reading for grasping the complexities of the current geopolitical crisis.

Published to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day''[The] stories are every bit as dramatic as those from the front lines and Barrett and Calvi have done an incredible job. Their poignant, page-turning book, filled with tears and joy, reminds us innocents always suffer'' Daily Express''The 80th anniversary of VE Day takes place on Thursday 8 May and inspirational new book Blitz Kids captures the stories of some of the people who lived through, and still remember, that period'' Sunday Express''Betty heard the scream of bombs falling and the terrifying thud of explosions. Suddenly, there was a deafening bang, and her mother was thrown across the shelter. For a moment everything was lit up by a blood-red light. Then they were plunged into darkness...''When the Second World War began, there were 10 million children living in Britain. Many were evacuated to the countryside, but others stayed behind and witnessed the Blitz close-up in cities around the UK.Blitz Kids tells the remarkable true stories of children who spent their nights in cold, cramped air-raid shelters, hearing the rumble of planes and the crash of bombs overhead. Many woke up in the morning to find their homes and schools destroyed, their favourite toys buried beneath rubble, their pets lost and, in some cases, their families shattered. Yet amid the turmoil and tears, they found a way to enjoy their childhoods, collecting steaming-hot shrapnel, turning bombed-out houses into adventure playgrounds, and chasing American GIs for chocolate and chewing gum.From headstrong East-Ender Kitty to quick-witted Liverpudlian Christopher - and little Doreen, who survived the devastation of Coventry - Blitz Kids brings together the moving true stories of a remarkable generation now passing into history.

THE INSTANT TIMES BESTSELLERAward-winning classicist and historian Emily Hauser takes readers on an epic journey to uncover the astonishing true story of the real women behind ancient Greece’s greatest legends, and the real heroes of those ancient epics, Homer''s Iliad and Odyssey . . . ''Bold and intellectually thrilling . . . blending history and science, rigorous scholarship and dazzling feats of imagination.'' TOM HOLLAND, historian and co-host of ''The Rest is History'' podcast''Absolutely blew me away . . . rich, evocative and original work . . . this book is quite wonderful.'' ELODIE HARPER, author of The Wolf Den''Offers a dazzling new way of thinking about the ancient world . . . a wonderful, beautifully written and important book.'' DAN JONES, author of Henry V''A book the world has been waiting for . . . I loved it.'' BETTANY HUGHES, author of The Seven Wonders of the Ancient WorldContrary to perceptions built up over three millennia, ancient history is not all about men – and it''s not only men''s stories that deserve to be told.In Mythica Emily Hauser tells, for the first time, the extraordinary stories of the real women behind some of the western world’s greatest legends. Following in their footsteps, digging into the history behind Homer’s epic poems, piecing together evidence from the original texts, recent astonishing archaeological finds and the latest DNA studies, she reveals who these women – queens, mothers, warriors, slaves – were, how they lived, and how history has (or has not – until now) remembered them.A riveting new history of the Bronze Age Aegean and a journey through Homer’s epics charted entirely by women – from Helen of Troy, Briseis, Cassandra and Aphrodite to Circe, Athena, Hera, Calypso and Penelope – Mythica is a ground-breaking reassessment of the reality behind the often-mythologized women of Greece’s greatest epics, and of the ancient world itself as we learn ever more about it.

David II (1329?1371), son of the hero King of Scots, Robert Bruce (1306?1329), has suffered a harsh historical press, condemned as a disastrous general, a womaniser and a sympathiser with Scotland?s ?auld enemy?, England. Bringing together evidence from Scotland, England and France, Michael Penman offers a different view: that of a child king who survived usurpation, English invasion, exile and eleven years of English captivity after defeat in battle in 1326 to emerge as a formidable ruler of Scotland. Learning from Philip VI of France and Edward III of England in turn, David became the charismatic patron of a vibrant court focused on the arts of chivalry: had he lived longer, Scotland?s political landscape and national outlook might have been very different to that which emerged under his successors, the Stewart kings.But David?s was also a reign of internal tensions fuelled by his increasingly desperate efforts to determine the royal succession, overawe great magnates like his heir presumptive, Robert the Steward, and persuade his subjects of the need for closer relations with England after sixty years of war.

The Forth Bridge has long been recognised as one of the finest examples of Victorian engineering on the planet and has achieved an iconic status as one of the great feats of western civilisation since its official opening in 1890. Lavishly illustrated throughout with stunning archive images, Elspeth Wills uncovers the human story behind ''the engineering marvel'': the story of the Briggers. It is a story that has never been told before - of ordinary men working on an extraordinary structure in an often hostile and dangerous environment.Recognised throughout the world as an enduring icon of Scotland, the Forth Bridge is more than just a testament to the genius of Victorian engineering, it is a monument to all those who worked to realise its vision and to the scores of lives that were lost in the process. In this groundbreaking new work, Elspeth Wills gives a voice to the forgotten heroes who helped to make the ambition of the Bridge a reality.

The Black Country in the West Midlands was at the heart of the Industrial Revolution. The area became known for its intensive heavy industries and a unique identity developed around the densely populated towns of the Black Country. Over the years a host of strange and unusual tales have grown up around the Black Country, from remarkable historical happenings and stories of the supernatural to more recent documented cases. Curious beliefs and customs were once widespread in the area’s towns and villages, some of which still flourish today. The fascinating and quirky stories include the building of the world’s first successful steam engine by Thomas Newcomen, celebrated today by Black Country Day, and the manufacture of the anchor for the Titanic, the largest ship in the world at that time. A replica of Newcomen’s engine can be seen today at the Black Country Living Museum and a replica of Titanic’s anchor stands in Netherton town centre. Holbeach House near Dudley was the site of the last stand of the Gunpowder Plotters and Dudley Castle is known as one of the most haunted castles in the country, its many ghosts including the Grey Lady. Fully illustrated throughout, Illustrated Tales of the Black Country explores these stories and others of local historical importance.

In the fifth century, Attila the Hun terrorised both the Eastern and Western Roman Empires; his were the first of the Devil’s horsemen. After his death his empire quickly disintegrated – but then came the Magyars, fighting the early Holy Roman Empire, and the heavy cavalry used to counter them is where the concept of the knight in armour comes from. Thirdly, there are the Turks, the only group that didn’t expand into Europe, but instead conquered the Middle East. Like the other groups, they were shamanistic pagans and yet within a generation they had converted to Islam.Fourthly, and most famously, we have the Mongol Empire, the largest land-based empire in history, spreading from Korea to Poland. It was hugely important for a century and its impact lasted for half a millennium. Finally, there is Tamerlane. Alexander the Great gets a lot of credit for fighting for eight years without a loss. Tamerlane fought for 25 without loss and he was paralysed down one side of his body. He would even vanquish two of the earlier groups, in wars against the Mongols and the Turkish Ottoman sultans.What links them all is the horse as a weapon of war. In his own attractive style – ‘as accessible as it is informative’ (Deus Vult) – Jem Duducu rides across a thousand years of conquest on horseback.

Hailed as the definitive portrait of the sixteenth president, Lincoln scholar Michael Burlingame's impressive two-volume biography has been masterfully abridged and revised. Sixteenth president of the United States, the Great Emancipator, and a surpassingly eloquent champion of national unity, freedom, and democracy, Abraham Lincoln is arguably the most studied and admired of all Americans. Michael Burlingame's astonishing Abraham Lincoln: A Life, edited and abridged by Jonathan W. White, offers fresh interpretations of this endlessly fascinating American leader. Based on deep research in unpublished sources as well as newly digitized sources, this work reveals how Lincoln's character and personality were the North's secret weapon in the Civil War, the key variables that spelled the difference between victory and defeat. He was a model of psychological maturity and a fully individuated man whose influence remains unrivaled in the history of American public life. Burlingame chronicles Lincoln's childhood and early development, romantic attachments and losses, his love of learning, legal training, and courtroom career as well as his political ambition, his term as congressman in the late 1840s, and his serious bouts of depression in early adulthood. Burlingame recounts, in fresh detail, the Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln marriage and traces the mounting moral criticism of slavery that revived his political career and won this Springfield lawyer the presidency in 1860. This abridgement delivers Burlingame's signature insight into Lincoln as a young man, a father, and a politician. Lincoln speaks to us not only as a champion of freedom, democracy, and national unity but also as a source of inspiration. Few have achieved his historical importance, but many can profit from his personal example, encouraged by the knowledge that despite a lifetime of troubles, he became a model of psychological maturity, moral clarity, and unimpeachable integrity. His presence and his leadership inspired his contemporaries; his life story will do the same for generations to come.

A new history of the Portugal’s Carnation Revolution on its fiftieth anniversary25 April 1974, Lisbon. Over the course of a single day, Europe’s oldest fascist regime falls. On its 50th anniversary, this is the story of the revolution that changed Portugal forever. ''The Carnation Revolution reads like a political thriller.'' The Times On the night of 24 April 1974, at five minutes to eleven, a Lisbon radio station broadcasts Portugal’s Eurovision entry. By 6.20 p.m. the next day, Europe’s oldest fascist regime has fallen. Hardly a shot has been fired. As citizens pour into the streets, they offer carnations to the revolutionary soldiers. For the first time in forty-eight years, Portugal is free. The Carnation Revolution winds through the streets of Lisbon as the revolution unfolds, revealing the myriad acts of ordinary and extraordinary resistance that made 25 April possible. It’s the story of daring escapes from five-storey prisons, soldiers disobeying their officers’ orders and simple acts of courage by thousands of citizens. It’s the story of how a group of young captains felled a globe-spanning empire. *** ''I feel like I’ve been waiting three decades for precisely this book.'' Lara Pawson, author of This Is the Place to Be ''A brilliantly detailed and evocative account of a revolution unlike any other.'' Helder Macedo, Emeritus Professor of Portuguese, King''s College London ''A gripping account of an episode in European history that should be better known.'' Catherine Fletcher, author of The Beauty and the Terror ''A thrilling and inspiring page-turner.'' Richard Zimler, author of The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon

The early German Enlightenment is seen as a reform movement that broke free from traditional ties without falling into anti-Christian and extremist positions, on the basis of secular natural law, an anti-metaphysical epistemology, and new social ethics. But how did the works which were radical and critical of religion during this period come about? And how do they relate to the dominant ''moderate'' Enlightenment? Martin Mulsow offers fresh and surprising answers to these questions by reconstructing the emergence and dissemination of some of the radical writings created between 1680 and 1720. The Hidden Origins of the German Enlightenment explores the little-known freethinkers, persecuted authors, and secretly circulating manuscripts of the era, applying an interdisciplinary perspective to the German Enlightenment. By engaging with these cross-regional, clandestine texts, a dense and highly original picture emerges of the German early Enlightenment, with its strong links with the experience of the rest of Europe.

A major new study piecing together the intriguing but fragmentary evidence surrounding the lives of minstrels to highlight how these seemingly peripheral figures were keenly involved with all aspects of late medieval communities. Minstrels were a common sight and sound in the late Middle Ages. Aristocrats, knights and ladies heard them on great occasions (such as Edward I's wedding feast for his daughter Elizabeth in 1296) and in quieter moments in their chambers; town-dwellers heard and saw them in civic processions (when their sound drew attention to the spectacle); and even in the countryside people heard them at weddings, church-ales and other parish celebrations. But who were the minstrels, and what did they do? How did they live, and how easily did they make a living? How did they perform, and in what conditions? The evidence is intriguing but fragmentary, including literary and iconographic sources and, most importantly, the financial records of royal and aristocratic households and of towns. These offer many insights, although they are often hard to fit into any coherent picture of the minstrels' lives and their place in society. It is easy to see the minstrels as peripheral figures, entertainers who had no central place in the medieval world. Yet they were full members of it, interacting with the ordinary people around them, as well as with the ruling classes: carrying letters and important verbal messages, some lending huge sums of money to the king (to finance Henry V's Agincourt campaign in 1415, for instance), some regular and necessary civic servants, some committing crimes or suffering the crimes of others. In this book Rastall and Taylor bring to bear the available evidence to enlarge and enrich our view of the minstrel in late medieval society.