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The War to End All Wars
During World War I, New Jersey played a prominent role in the manufacturing of war-related munitions, created the infrastructure necessary to train and mobilize troops, and supplied a portion of the manpower necessary to fight overseas. Without the support of New Jersey’s industrial base, the war effort of the United States may very well have failed. Contributions from New Jersey ranged from artillery rounds from Amatol, fuses from Bloomfield, shells from Lyndhurst, gun carriages (Singer), aircraft engines (Duesenberg), Handley Page Bombers from Elizabeth, and ship building (New York Shipbuilding and ELCO). Over 140,000 New Jerseyans served during the war, and the state was home to 38 military installations by the end of the war, including Camp Dix. Troops from New Jersey included National Guard units activated and assigned to the 29th Division that trained at Camp McClellan, Alabama, and National Army soldiers (draftee) assigned to the 78th Division that trained at Camp Dix. New Jersey-based units from the 29th and 78th Infantry Divisions would fight in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. Women, too, underwent training in New Jersey, in preparation to serve in the Army Signal Corps, while women from the state volunteered to serve with aid organizations including the Red Cross, and raised money for the war effort. In the post-war years, over 160 monuments were constructed across New Jersey to memorialize the war dead and honor the veterans who served in the Great War, including several of the famous “Spirit of the American Doughboy” statues produced by E. M. Viquesney. New Jersey mothers and widows would travel in pilgrimages to the battlefields and cemeteries of France, such as the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, as well as to Brookwood cemetery in Great Britain to visit the graves of their loved ones in the 1930s as part of the Gold Star Mothers and Widows Pilgrimage. This book will for the first time reveal the full extent of New Jersey’s pivotal role in America’s war effort during the Great War, and will shed light on prominent figures and their connections to New Jersey, such as Dr. Fred Albee, the father of bone grafting, Cecil Dorrian, the first American female War Reporter in World War I, Amabel Roberts, the first American nurse from New Jersey to die during the war in France, and Lillian Marx, who danced and sang in Newark during war support donation events.
Warbirds to Workhorses
Bob Davy and Keith Wilson have been combining their respective talents for more than twenty years, flying and photographing a variety of aircraft for flight test features, and having their work published around the world. This lavishly illustrated book represents the first opportunity to prepare a wide selection of their combined work in hardback form.Warbirds featured include the venerable North American P-51 Mustang (on which Bob gained a Type Rating), the UK’s last remaining airworthy and historically significant de Havilland Vampire T.11, and Bob’s own Yak-3 UTI. Also featured is the Stinson AT-19 Reliant I, often referred to as the ‘Gull Wing’.At the Workhorse end of the scale is the Helio Courier, an aircraft possessing amazing STOL performance, that later became infamous during its clandestine operations in Laos with Air America, often referred to as the CIA’s ‘Most Secret Airline’. Also featured is the Cessna Citation Mustang business jet, and the eight-seat Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain.For the floatplane enthusiasts, there is an article on flying a Maule M-7-235B Rocket Amphibian on and off a lake in Essex. Aerobatics fans can enjoy the articles on the Pitts S-2A Special and Slingsby T.67M-260. For the airline enthusiasts, Bob takes you on a commercial flight in a BAe 146 from Paris to Dublin (he was a captain on CityJet). And much, much more. Then there are features on the ‘Flying Egg’ – the Questair Venture, the Aviat Husky Pup, and the capable and occasionally aerobatic Vans RV-4. Finally, and for something completely different, join Bob inside Spitfires.com’s Spitfire simulator at Goodwood.Each of Bob Davy’s carefully crafted and occasionally, hard-hitting features is superbly illustrated with a range of dynamic air-to-air photographs, almost exclusively from the lens of Keith Wilson, a practitioner of air-to-air photography, with almost forty-five years’ experience. Whatever your specific taste in aviation, there is something for everyone to enjoy within the lavishly illustrated pages of this book.
Sonderkommando Elbe
By September 1944 the Third Reich was under constant attack by Allied bombers and suffering an onslaught by the Red Army to the east. The Nazi high command struggled for ideas to reduce the effect of the ceaseless bombing and thereby create some breathing space to build and strengthen their new weapon: jet-propelled aircraft. They believed that this new invention could turn the tide of the war. At the end of 1944 a proposal was offered by Oberst Hans-Joachim "Hajo" Herrmann. His plan called for 1,500 fighter aircraft to conduct a massive attack against an Allied bomber formation on April 7, 1945, inflicting such casualties that the Allies would think twice about continuing their bombing campaign. Attacking bombers was not a new idea, but the method of attack was new. The German pilots were to fly their planes into the bombers, causing enough damage to bring down the aircraft. Unlike the Japanese Kamikaze pilots who carried explosives on board and died in the attack, the German pilots were instructed to bail out and parachute to safety to fly another day. Sonderkommando Elbe: The Luftwaffe’s Kamikaze Force is the full story of the unit and its pilots.
German Aircraft Weaponry
From the outbreak of war in 1939, German Luftwaffe armament designers and technicians pioneered many revolutionary concepts in the barrelled armaments of their military aircraft, particularly as the threat posed by the combined US and British Allied strategic bombing campaign grew in intensity from 1943. Desperate solutions were sought in an effort to counter the threat posed by Allied bomber aircraft to German industry and infrastructure, which in turn saw the introduction into service of airborne guns with ever-increasing calibres and impressive levels of lethality. This book examines the use of the humble rifle calibre machine gun as an aircraft weapon along with the efforts to develop suitable cannon with greater destructive power for aircraft use, the advances made during the inter-war years and the various barrelled weaponry either used or proposed by the German Luftwaffe in the Second World War. This work encompasses not only the technical and operational appraisals of the various weapons used by the German Luftwaffe aircrews, which include some of Germany's leading surviving fighter aces of the Second World War, but also the armourers tasked with their day-to-day maintenance, the instructors and technicians on the ground, and those who found themselves at the receiving end of their firepower both in the air and on the ground. This unique work encompasses many new and previously unpublished testimonies as told by those who were there in their own words and for the first time.
Stalin’s ‘Wonder Tank’
The Soviet T-34 tank is undoubtedly one of the most recognizable symbols of the Red Army and its struggle against the Third Reich in the Second World War. Not surprisingly, over the years a considerable number of books and films have been dedicated to Stalin’s so-called ‘wonder tank’. Many historians, especially those in Russia, peremptorily call the T-34 the best tank of the war. In so doing, they often refer to the ‘authoritative’ opinion of Heinz Guderian and other German generals. Von Kleist, for example, is stated to have once referred to the T-34 as ‘the finest tank in the world’. But, as Dmitry Zubov sets out to explore in this book, was this the true pictur? he reality of the summer of 1941, following Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa, revealed that it took the Wehrmacht only a couple of months to turn Stalin’s tank armada into little more than a pile of scrap metal. Despite this inauspicious beginning to its combat service, the myth of the T-34’s ‘invincibility’ was already being born. It was a development that, argues Dmitry Zubov, was in part driven by the Soviet propaganda machine, but also by their enemy. As the fighting wore on, the Germans became increasingly bogged down in endless operations to cover their flanks from the mythical counterattacks of Stalin’s Red Army, which by that time had actually lost most of its combat capability. But to hide the consequences of Hitler’s incompetent command, German generals had to explain the collapse of Operation Barbarossa by the incredible resilience of Soviet soldiers, the appalling ‘Russian winter’, and finally, by the ‘vast superiority’, to quote Guderian, of the T-34 tank. Between them, Hitler’s commanders argued, they had torn apart their excellent plans. These facts motivated the author to examine the real history of the creation, production, and combat use of Stalin’s ‘wonder tank’. Under the numerous layers of Soviet secrecy, myths, propaganda and outright lies, he has exposed a bitter reality. The T-34 tank was not a masterpiece of Soviet engineering, but in fact a design that, in reality, was based on plans ‘borrowed’ by Soviets from designers in the West. Produced in an incredible hurry by unskilled workers, Stalin’s ‘wonder tank’ often presented an easy target for the German panzers and anti-tank gunners, and battlefield graves for their Soviet crews.
Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group in the Literary 1920s
Throughout her adult life, English novelist Virginia Woolf was surrounded by a tight group of friends and relatives. Known collectively as the Bloomsbury Group, they lived near each other in townhouses in the Bloomsbury section of London and in country homes in Sussex. Because of their strong influence on British literature, art and culture, much has been written about these creative people who lived in squares and loved in triangles, particularly in their early years. But by the 1920s, the Bloomsbury Group had come of age and were becoming more successful and well-known. Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group in the Literary 1920s looks at the personal and professional lives of Virginia and her husband, Leonard Woolf, who founded the Hogarth Press in their London home; Virginia’s sister, painter Vanessa Bell, her husband, art critic Clive Bell, and her partner in art and life, painter Duncan Grant; essayist Lytton Strachey who, after publication of his radical biography Eminent Victorians, awoke to find himself famous; art critic and founder of the Omega Workshops, Roger Fry; international economist John Maynard Keynes; E. M. Forster who published his last major novel, A Passage to India, in 1923; and American ex-patriate author of the epic 1922 poem, The Waste Land, T. S. Eliot. These characters hung out in drawing rooms, art studios and country homes, gossiping, bickering, loving and hating each other. Come back to the fabulous decade of the 1920s and follow these writers and artists as they re-invent literature and art.
The Wives of Henry VIII
The Wives of Henry VIII: Rethinking the Stories Behind the Symbols examines some of the small details about the six wives of Henry VIII that are often overlooked. This book is a revisionist close study that moves beyond the traditional narratives to present fresh, more nuanced perspectives. Focusing on significant moments and aspects that inform and showcase who these women were. Throughout these chapters, new research, fresh analysis, and remarkable discoveries come together to offer a deeper understanding of the women we know as the Six Wives of Henry VIII. We begin with a re-evaluation of Catherine of Aragon’s name through the lens of her family history and how it shaped her life, followed by an analysis of Catherine’s financial situation after the annulment. Anne Boleyn is considered in relation to her role in the Chateau Vert pageant, followed by an analysis of her use of French and English gable hoods, which includes a discussion of an incredible, newly discovered contemporary image of Anne. Jane Seymour’s religion and unpopularity are each examined in turn to uncover fresh perspectives on Henry’s third queen. Anna of Cleves’s adaption to life in England is discussed, followed by her life and status under Edward VI and Mary I. Katherine Howard’s performance of queenship is re-evaluated, as well as the connections between herself and and her cousin, Anne Boleyn. Finally, apocryphal tales of Kateryn Parr’s rise to the throne are reassessed, followed by an examination of how close she came to arrest and execution.
The Greatest Naval War Ever Fought
The greatest naval conflict in history was unquestionably that which took place during the Second World War. The geographical spread was global and involved dozens of nations, and it was a conflict that involved more than 15,000 ships and 43.7 million tons of shipping, while some 570,000 lives were lost at sea. Vince O’Hara captures every aspect of that vast naval conflict and provides a complete and panoramic single-volume history. The naval action begins in the Baltic Sea before dawn on 1 September 1939, when a German battleship opened fire on Polish troops barricaded in a fortress in the port city of Danzig, Poland. Over the ensuing nine months, the conflict spread into Great Britain’s home waters of the North Sea, the English Channel, and the eastern Atlantic; and in that theatre the battle against the U-boat grew into one of the most epic aspects of the whole war. One of the most remarkable naval achievements of the war occurred in 1940 during the German invasion of Norway when the Kriegsmarine’s successful attack in the face of immensely superior Allied naval forces signalled the advent of large-scale amphibious operations. As naval activities in Europe expanded into the Mediterranean, the war in the Pacific ignited with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, an assault that led to a series of critical naval battles between Japan and the United States, including Wake Island, Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal. O’Hara not only deftly examines all the major naval contests in the European and Pacific theatres but also offers detailed analysis of secondary navies such as France, Italy, and the Soviet Union. He explores little-known, smaller engagements such as the campaigns between Thailand and France or Perú and Ecuador. He also connects this broad range of naval action by focussing on recurring themes such as technological innovation, command and control, logistics, and intelligence. And he shows that the most significant naval platforms to emerge from the war, and which gave the Allies victory, were the oiler, the Landing Ship Tank (LST), and the Liberty ship—not the aircraft carrier, the submarine, or the battleship. And, finally, he demonstrates to readers how the impact of the naval battles won by the Allies still reverberates today.
Vietnam on the Big Screen
America, it is said, deals with its trauma through the medium of Hollywood, and few experiences have been more traumatic than its involvement in the Vietnam War. As the last US helicopters fled the American Embassy compound during the fall of Saigon, they left behind a country devastated by twenty years of death and destruction. They were heading back to a country that was damaged in a different way. The America that ended its involvement in Vietnam in 1975 was defeated, humiliated, divided and scarred. It was a bewildering transformation for a nation that considered itself to be on the right side of history. Only a generation earlier, Americans were united in celebrating the bravery of the GIs and Marines who stormed the beaches of Iwo Jima and Normandy. Now they were confronted with an uglier face of war: pointless sacrifice, disillusioned and mutinous soldiers, massacres of innocent civilians and the shooting of unarmed student protestors. For a long time America found it impossible to process the experience, until Hollywood led the way. The movie industry had started out treating Vietnam like an extension of the Second World War. The gung-ho John Wayne action film The Green Berets (made with the full support of the Pentagon) had a simplistic “we’re the good guys” message. However, as American casualties mounted in Vietnam, social unrest erupted and the war’s aims looked ever murkier, the movie studios backed off. After The Green Berets in 1968 no major films were made about the conflict until the controversial and groundbreaking The Deer Hunter a decade later. The subject was deemed too hot to handle, although some brave filmmakers tackled it in roundabout ways (‘Soldier Blue’ was a re-telling of the My Lai massacre, set in the Old West). Eventually, The Deer Hunter ripped off the sticking plaster and let daylight into the American experience in Vietnam. Its depiction of US soldiers as victims, not heroes, caused fights in movie theatres and led to questions in Congress. But it paved the way for the greatest run of war movies ever made. Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket and many more rewrote the grammar of combat films and helped a wounded nation come to terms with an unloved war. This is the story of how those films got made, how they were received at the time and how they shaped the American experience of Vietnam. The names behind them are legends in the movie industry, from directors like Francis Ford Coppola, Stanley Kubrick and Michael Cimino to actors including John Wayne, Sylvester Stallone, Tom Cruise, Robert de Niro and Meryl Streep.
The Murder of Heinrich Himmler
On 23 May 1945, Heinrich Himmler - Reichsführer SS and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany - was reported to have committed suicide in British custody. But how much of the official narrative holds tru? n The Murder of Heinrich Himmler, historian Krzysztof Drozdowski delves into inconsistencies and unanswered questions surrounding Himmler’s final hours. Drawing on newly accessed archives, eyewitness statements, and correspondence, Drozdowski explores whether Himmler was really the man who died in Lüneburg, or if he was silenced to prevent the spread of dangerous secrets. Why was the autopsy report sealed until 2045? Why were the Soviets and Americans denied access to the body? What role did British intelligence and military authorities play? Could Himmler have escaped, or was his death the result of a well-planned cover-u? his compelling book offers not only a thorough re-examination of Himmler’s demise, but also a chilling glimpse into the murky world of post-war intelligence and political intrigue.
Mosquito Intruders - Target Europe
It was only the ‘above average’ pilots and navigators who were invited to volunteer for what was some of the most challenging, daring and rewarding flying operations of the Second World War. Their role was to take Mosquitos at low level through the night across Europe to loiter near a Luftwaffe airfield to attack and shoot down returning enemy bombers or night fighters. The Mosquito intruders’ story starts during the Battle of Britain, when RAF planners noticed a few German interlopers ‘hiding’ in the returning bomber streams, so that they could attack landing RAF aircraft. They recognised that this was a tactic the RAF could also employ. To exploit this concept properly, the RAF needed the right equipment, training programme and airmen. Each would take time to establish. It was not until mid-1943, with the superior performance and capabilities of the iconic de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB VI, that the intruders’ full impact would at last be felt. The first three intruder squadrons, Nos. 23, 418 and 605, were the elite of the elite. Their ‘Battle Honours’ demonstrate their contribution to delivering victory over the Axis forces. Mosquito Intruders – Target Europe uses diaries, first-hand accounts, contemporaneous sources, and official records to take the reader through the development of the intruder concept, their early days equipped initially with the Douglas DB-7 Boston and the Mosquito NF II (Special), to the operations of the first three Mosquito intruder squadrons. These three squadrons defended Malta, supported the invasion of Sicily, assisted No. 617 ‘Dambusters’ Squadron on their famous Dortmund-Ems Canal raid, were the first to attack on D-Day, and worked out how to defeat the V1 flying bombs. They were led from the front, and through example, by larger-than-life fighter aces. The Mosquito demanded respect and could take punishment. Beautifully balanced, fast and with a powerful punch, for most of the aircrew, it was the aircraft of their dreams. By the end of Mosquito Intruders – Target Europe, you will understand why!
The Gestapo's Most Wanted: The White Mouse
The White Mouse: Gestapo’s Most Wanted tells the extraordinary true story of Nancy Wake during one of the darkest chapters in modern history. This new biography traces Nancy’s path across the globe, from her youth in Australia, to New York, London, Paris, and Marseilles – and her evolution from free-spirited journalist to wartime hero. When Europe slid towards war, Nancy found herself swept into the heart of the Resistance movement in Marseilles. And she chose to make a difference. What followed was a life marked by extraordinary courage, personal sacrifice, and unwavering defiance. Drawing on interviews, personal anecdotes, and rich historical detail, the book offers a full account of Nancy Wake’s life. It focuses not only on her most dangerous exploits but also examines the motivations and early influences that drove her to top the Gestapo’s Most Wanted List and become a leader in the Maquis. Her journey will take the reader from suburban Australia to daring missions behind enemy lines. More than just a tale of espionage, this is a story of risk, resilience, and the woman who made a vow to never look away from injustice — and kept it. Interwoven with historical context and dramatically retold, The White Mouse brings Nancy Wake’s courage and character to life, reclaiming her place in a period of history often dominated by men. For readers drawn to stories of defiance, resilience, and unsung wartime heroism, this is both an engaging biography and a reflection on bravery in the face of crisis.
Air War Over Greece 1940–1950
Following the Italian invasion of Greece in October 1940, the RAF reluctantly deployed three squadrons of Bristol Blenheim light bombers and one squadron of Gloster Gladiators, an obsolescent biplane fighter, to assist the Greek defenders. The fear among the Allies was that with Greece in Axis hands, enemy supply lines to North Africa would be significantly shortened, threatening the Allied position there and in the Middle East. By the time Germany joined the invasion in April 1941, both the RAF and FAA had committed more squadrons and been joined by army units, but they were soon overwhelmed, retreating to Crete, from where they were evicted in May 1941 after a massive German paratroop operation. For the next three years the RAF and FAA attacked Axis forces on Crete, mainland Greece and in the Aegean with mixed success. In addition, Allied air arms, including USAAF units, dropped weapons and supplies to the Greek partisan groups. In late 1944, as the Germans were forced to withdraw from Greece, RAF units once again flew into Greek airfields, yet they were soon drawn into the bitter civil war, fighting alongside Greek government forces against Communist insurgents. After the final withdrawal of operational units in 1946, the RAF retained an air delegation in Athens until 1952, when Greece joined NATO. Richly illustrated with detailed maps and rare and previously unpublished photographs, Air War Over Greece 1940–1950: British, Dominions and United States Air Arms examines in unique detail a neglected corner of military aviation history.
No Exit from Vietnam
No Exit from Vietnam is a subversive, issue-driven memoir of the US-Vietnam war and its aftermath. In 2021, the Department of Veterans Affairs discontinued a prescription for Vicodin that Bob Armstrong had been taking for a back injury he sustained in 1976, ten years after he left the US Marine Corps. What began as an appeal to the VA to reverse this decision became this memoir, weaving together meditations on war and its social ills with a searing portrait of America in these perilous times. Drawing on his personal experience, the author recounts his time serving as a photographer in the 3rd Marine Division. Told with thrilling tension, his words and his photos, a selection of which are featured in the book, paint a vivid picture of combat in Vietnam's jungles. Alongside gripping tales of action, the book offers a larger social commentary on the treatment of veterans and their healthcare. The VA reduced opioid pain medicine prescriptions from 679,000 vets in 2012 to 247,000 in 2020. Armstrong recognizes the dimension of the drug crisis, yet also believes an untold number of responsible veterans have been deprived of pain medicine they need. With humor and cynicism, the author shares his insights into living with pain and his frustration with the bureaucratic system that controls access to medication. He admits his opinions at times seem perverse and twisted, but only because he is "off his med."
Women of the Middle Ages
For centuries, the lives of medieval women have been overshadowed by queens, saints and warriors, their stories of power and defiance celebrated while the voices of ordinary women have faded into obscurity. Women of the Middle Ages challenges this narrative, shedding light on the everyday experiences of those who ploughed fields, healed the sick, and sought refuge in religious life. From the Beguines, who defied convention to serve their communities, to the midwives, nuns, and traders who shaped medieval society, this book reveals the resilience and determination of women who lived beyond the pages of history. Meticulously researched and richly told, Women of the Middle Ages uncovers the realities of life for the women who made the medieval world turn.
Oswald Mosley and A Short History of Fascism
Oswald Mosley and A Short History of Fascism is an engrossing examination of Britain’s flirtation with fascism and the troubling allure of authoritarianism, both past and present. As the nineteenth century closed and the trauma of the First World War shook the foundations of society, Britain’s elite and ‘upper classes’ increasingly looked to strongman leadership. Inspired by Mussolini’s rise in Italy, figures like Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists (BUF) gained traction, offering a seductive alternative to democracy rooted in fear of the loss of colonies, communism and anti-Semitism. From the drawing rooms of the influential Cliveden Set and the Mitford family to the sympathies of the abdicated King Edward VIII, fascism found unexpected champions. But it was not just the privileged classes whose interest was piqued – working-class citizens too were drawn to its promises of a better and brighter future. This powerful book draws chilling parallels between history and today, examining the thin line between democracy and extremism. With rising autocracies across Europe and beyond, it asks urgent questions about the resilience of democratic values and warns of a cycle we seem doomed to repeat. Provocative and timely, Oswald Mosley and A Short History of Fascism is a stark reminder that the past is never as far away as we think.
The Other Codebreakers
The work of the Military codebreakers at Bletchley Park is now rightly and justly celebrated for its contribution to the Allied victory in World War Two. The ability to read enemy communications allowed strategic and tactical information to be understood and utilized. However less attention has been given to a range of other non-military codes, and the organisations involved with them, yet their significance on the development of the war is profound. This account outlines how these other areas functioned, who was there and what was achieved. In particular it covers the working of the Diplomatic and Commercial section of the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), which was evacuated to Bletchley Park in August 1939 with the military codebreakers as war loomed, and remained there until early 1942 when the section went back to London to be housed in Berkeley Street and other nearby buildings. The section did not handle military material except where military matters appeared in diplomatic communications (which by their nature were more strategic than combat in nature). This book sets the scene for the economic, diplomatic, sociological and even psychological struggle which was part of the war, including raw materials, food, power supplies and transportation. Neutral countries, by their very status still able to interact with belligerents on both sides, also played important roles, as did the information that could be drawn from them. The ability to read many neutral messages between representatives gave valuable indications of enemy intentions, issues and conditions. This new account of the ‘other’ codebreakers draws on original documents in the National Archives and from Bletchley Park to describe fully how the breaking of non-military codes revealed the activities of diplomats, commercial groups, espionage rings, financial and business interests, traders and smugglers, all locked in a battle of wits. It will be of interest to anyone wanting to learn more about codebreaking, the second world war, and the economics and politics of nations.
The Life and Times of a Medieval Knight
Sir Geoffrey de Langley, a Warwickshire knight, was studied within the context of a ‘crisis’ of the knightly class. This much respected, and much cited study, concluded that this family failed to achieve anything much of note and fell from history, due to lack of heirs. Meanwhile, in Middleton, Lancashire, historians were trying to establish the beginnings of the local Langley family. Their most famous son is ‘Cardinal’ Thomas de Langley, Bishop of Durham. Thomas’ parents seem to spring up from nowhere, as sheep farmers. Some built Agecroft Hall, but that now stands in Virginia, USA. Despite much hypothesis, nothing is confirmed with a primary source. The Langley Cartulary was translated, and published, which confirmed the bride’s pedigree, when Isabella de la Pole married Sir Walter de Langley, of Kent. In Shipton-under-Wychwood, a local historian published a history of the Langley family, wardens of Wychwood Forest. But at no point, until now, has the possibility that all of this research tells the story of the same family, been explored. Spurred on by the fact she knew for certain that the Langley family of Warwickshire had survived, the author tells the story of her journey from a chance internet search, through historical archives, abbeys, houses and cemeteries, deciphering manuscripts, and trying to understand Latin. Slowly drawing together the genealogical chart, she could then relate the tales of the monk driven to insanity by study, the babes in the wood, the murder of a young Oxford scholar and a long journey across Europe with a leopard. The result is an easy-to-digest retelling of medieval history from the point of view of the knight, and his family. Studying the lives of those who work, those who fight and those who pray, she uncovers secrets, answers questions and provides a better understanding of what the period was like when one was not of high birth.
British Volunteers and the Spanish Civil War
Ninety years ago, a Civil War broke out in a then little-known country. For thousands of British, Irish and Commonwealth people, the Spanish Civil War was their main focus for three years. Over 2,500 “British” (including Irish and Commonwealth) men and women fought in the International Brigades or served in the medical services of the Spanish Republic. Over 500 volunteers were to die in Spain. Other “British” volunteers served as mercenary pilots and in the revolutionary militias (including George Orwell); some even served on the side of the rebel forces. At home, thousands participated in ‘Spanish Aid’ activities, raising funds for food ships and medical supplies for Republican Spain. During the Civil War, 4000 Basque refugee children were supported by public donations. Picasso’s Guernica painting toured England to raise funds. This is the story of ordinary men and women, told in their own words and reflecting the whole gamut of emotions from ecstasy to despair. Many volunteers would go on to fight in the Second World War and some became leading figures in post-War Britain. But for many volunteers, the Spanish Civil War was the “Passionate Cause” and the outstanding episode of their lives. This is their story.
Pridajte sa k nám na ceste časom s našou komplexnou kolekciou encyklopédií zaoberajúcich sa históriou. Táto kategória obsahuje všetko od praveku až po súčasnosť. Študujte historické udalosti, významné osobnosti, dôležité civilizácie a momenty, ktoré formovali svet, v ktorom žijeme dnes. Ideálne pre študentov, učiteľov, ako aj pre všeobecných historických nadšencov, naše encyklopédie sú zdrojom nevyčerpaných informácií a zábavného poznávania.
Mnohé encyklopédie sú bohato ilustrované, čo umožňuje čitateľom lepšie vizualizovať a porozumieť historickým udalostiam a obdobiam.
