Najnovšie - História strana 57 z 161

In the early hours of 10 February 1567 a large explosion ripped through the Old Provost’s lodgings at Kirk o’ Field, Edinburgh, where Mary Queen of Scotland’s consort, Henry Lord Darnley, was staying. Darnley’s body was found with that of his valet in a neighbouring garden the next morning. The Queen’s husband had been suffocated and the ramifications for Mary and Scottish history would be far-reaching.Lord Darnley cuts an infamous figure in Scottish and Tudor history. In life he proved a controversial character, and his murder at Kirk o’ Field in 1567 remains one of British history’s great, unsolved mysteries – establishing whether Mary was implicated has taxed historians ever since.In this engaging and well-researched biography, Robert Stedall re-examines Darnley’s life and his murder. It is not to be missed; his investigation brings new light and compelling conclusions to a story surrounded by political betrayal, murder, falsified evidence and conspiracy.

The Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAAF) serves as the primary reinforcement capability for the regular Royal Air Force (RAF). Established in October 1924 as the Auxiliary Air Force (AAF), it consists of paid volunteers who train on evenings and weekends to support the RAF during national emergencies and conflicts. Their pre-war counterparts, alongside pilots of the RAF Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR), played a pivotal role in the Battle of Britain.Of the sixty-two squadrons involved in the Battle of Britain, fourteen were AAF units. These experienced Auxiliary squadrons claimed 30% of the enemy aircraft destroyed in the summer of 1940. Notably, No. 609 (West Riding) Squadron became the first Spitfire squadron to claim 100 enemy kills. The highest scoring Auxiliary unit was No. 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron, which achieved fifty-eight kills under Squadron Leader George Denholm''s leadership.Auxiliary Aces of Churchill’s Few highlights the stories of many of these heroic pilots. Squadron Leader Archie McKellar, a plasterer turned fighter pilot with No. 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron, became an "Ace in a Day" by shooting down five Me109s in just 24 hours while flying with No. 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron. Sergeant James ‘Ginger’ Lacey of No. 501 (County of Gloucester) Squadron shot down a bomber attacking Buckingham Palace during his service. Flight Lieutenant Findlay Boyd of No. 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron downed a Junkers Ju 87 Stuka less than a minute after take-off, recording the fastest victory of the battle.The Auxiliaries’ dedication was remarkable, exemplified by their achievements, including the first flight over Mount Everest in 1933. Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park credited their contribution as essential, stating, ''Without the Auxiliaries we would not have defeated the Luftwaffe in 1940''. Auxiliary Aces of Churchill’s Few captures their bravery, skill, and vital role during this critical period.

On 1 May 1960, a traditional military parade was held in Moscow. What stood it out from the previous ones, however, was the number of missiles, and in particular the ground-to-air anti-aircraft variants, that were present.There was perhaps nothing surprising in this dominance of missiles, for Nikita Khrushchev had already declared that the so-called Rocket Troops were to be the ‘main branch of the armed forces’. Not for nothing had the Politburo allocated huge sums of money and the best scientific minds to the on-going development of these weapons and units. In fact, there was no fly-past over the Red Square in 1960 as Khrushchev considered aircraft to be a ‘dying species’. From then on, it was being stated, military aviation would be assigned little more than an auxiliary role in the defence of the Soviet Bloc.Khrushchev’s assessment of the future of aircraft was seemingly confirmed by an incident that occurred more than 1,000km to the east of Moscow. For what the spectators and participants of the grand ‘rocket’ parade did not know was, that in one of the key events of the Cold War, an American high altitude reconnaissance Lockheed U-2 jet had, barely hours before, been shot down over the Urals by one of the types of missiles that were passing before them.Based on documents held in the CIA’s archives, declassified documents released by the Russian Ministry of Defence, and the memoirs of participants in the events in question, this book explores the true story of the preparation, implementation, and consequences of the U-2 reconnaissance flights over the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Cuba between 1956 and 1962. For the first time, the author reveals the military plans that were activated in the Eastern Bloc to combat the U-2 missions, and how the Soviets tried unsuccessfully to create a fighter-interceptor to operate in the stratosphere. This book also reveals which secret locations and objects were photographed by the U-2, including those which remained unidentified, and investigates where the secret centre of the Russian atomic project was actually located and whether the U-2 was able to find it. What was the true reliability and value of the information received from America’s U-2 operation? he reader will discover which objects were confiscated from Francis Gary Powers, the pilot of the U-2 brought down, following his capture, and why was he had been issued with women’s jewelry and watches before his fateful flight? The Soviet view of the incursions by Powers and his fellow U-2 pilots is laid bare – revealing just why the Powers’ name is as widely known in Russia as that of the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

The English Electric/BAC Lightning, a product of Britain’s once-thriving aviation industry, is arguably the most iconic single-seat interceptor ever created. Those who remember its arrow-shaped form hurtling skywards love to regale anyone who will listen with tales of its incredible performance, eardrum-assailing reheat and near-vertical climbs. The Lightning was advanced for its time and required considerable investment and research to take it from the drawing board to active service as an effective fighting machine. Significant strides were made in the early years after the award of the contract—all of which could have come to nothing when it was deemed in the 1957 Defence White Paper that piloted aircraft had had their day. The design was saved only by its advanced stage of development; as is often the case in flight, turbulence is to be expected. But despite the obstacles put in its path, the Lightning prevailed to become one of Britain’s most admired and respected fast jets. Taking the reader through the politics that threatened its development, its groundbreaking design, its service career and many other aspects of its extraordinary history, Lightning: From Inception to Preservation is a comprehensive study of Britain’s first and only truly homegrown supersonic jet-powered interceptor.

Since the beginning of manned flight, both racing and record-breaking feats have played a prominent part of the aviation scene, each activity stimulating and contributing significantly to the development of new aeroplane and engine projects.After the Second World War, the British aerospace industry boomed. It was a time when its designs, innovations and new aircraft developments led the world. It in this exciting post-war period, air racing resumed. Pre- war competitions were reinstated, and major new races were introduced. It was from this scene that six highly enthusiastic, extremely competitive, and fiercely driven racing pilots emerged: Nat Somers, Tony Cole, Geoffrey Allington, Fred Dunkerley, Jimmy Rush and Ron Paine.Three of the six had served in the RAF during the Second World War. One individual became a Vickers apprentice – an engineer who frequently suggested ways in which to get the best speeds out of all their aircraft, often by employing ingenious methods. One individual gained his experience as a Chief Test Pilot flying Fairey Battle’s, Hawker Hurricane’s, Short Stirling’s, and Avro Lancaster’s. Three individuals were already highly successful entrepreneurs. One later owned Panshanger and Southampton airport’s and went on to develop the Somers-Kendall SK-1 two-seat jet with the Chief Test Pilot for Handley Page. Another owned cotton mills and was awarded the OBE for services to the cotton industry; he collaborated with F.G. Miles Limited to modify the Sparrowhawk into the highly successful Sparrow jet. Both aircraft would rank among some of history’s most important civil private racing designs.What united the six men the most, though, was their unrelenting pursuit of speed. Such was their love of competitive flying and their ‘need for speed’, that they later went on to form the Throttle Benders Union. In this book the author delves into the details of these six aviators, as well as the inclusion of two later members to the TBU. From the early days learning to fly, through to their competitive racing careers, and touching upon their very varied and exciting working careers, this book reveals their achievements and many of their hair-raising adventures.

At the end of July, Operation ''Cobra'' broke through the German defences and the American leaders rushed through Coutances and Avranches, and took the Pontaubault bridge on the 31st. On August 1, the VIII Corps had three crossing sites over the Sée River and four over the Sélune, the routes to enter Brittany were open.That day, as the 4th Armored Division thrust from Pontaubault toward Rennes, Lieutenant Georges S. Patton''s Third US Army became operational.To secure Brittany, Patton''s plan was to unleash armoured columns in the peninsula, the 4th Armored Division to drive through Rennes to Quiberon, and the 6th Armored Division to rush all the way to Brest. A third column, Task Force A, was to secure the vital railroad that ran along the north shore.The 4th Armored Division reached Nantes on August 6, to find the port facilities in ruins. On the northern shore of the peninsula, Task Force A encountered fierce resistance at Saint-Malo. While the task force continued westwards, the 83rd Division took on the siege and it took four weeks of repeated attacks, and the engagement of strong artillery forces and several heavy air raids, to obtain the surrender of the German fortress.The Americans faced a similar dogged defence at Brest and it took six weeks of fighting to obtain the surrender of Generalleutnant Hermann Ramcke on September 19. The Americans lost 10,000 killed and wounded in the battle, but Brest, as well as its harbour facilities, were destroyed.On September 13, after the extent of the reconstruction and works necessary to rehabilitate the harbour had been looked at, it was decided to abandon all repair work there. The serious Allied problem of port capacity persisted until November, when the Antwerp facilities became available.The charge was later made that the employment of three divisions and valuable transports and supplies to defeat the German garrison at Brest but the resources used there, quite small when compared to the total effort, could hardly have altered the pattern of the quick advance eastwards.

From the First World War''s Zeppelins to the Second World War''s large bombers, military aircraft were vulnerable to fast, manoeuvrable interceptors. To address this, fighter escorts were used, but their limited range often left bombers exposed. A solution was the use of Composite aircraft, where larger bombers carried smaller, short-range fighters, which could be launched and retrieved as needed.Zeppelins, particularly vulnerable to interceptors, were ideal for this concept. During the First World War, Germany briefly experimented with carrying parasite aircraft, while the British conducted post-war trials using airships like His Majesty’s Airship R-23 and R-33, carrying fighters such as the Sopwith Camel and de Havilland DH.53 Humming Bird. However, successful hook-on/retrievals were only achieved with the Humming Bird.The US Navy and Army further developed this concept. In 1918, the Navy launched a Curtiss JN ‘Jenny’ from a C-1 Blimp, and in 1924, the Army successfully flew a Sperry Messenger from a TC-Class airship. The US perfected the carry/launch/retrieval method for airship defence and scouting, notably with the USS Los Angeles, which carried aircraft on a ‘trapeze’ device. The Akron and Macon airships, with internal storage for aircraft, further advanced this technique, making them some of the most remarkable aircraft of their time.

From their introduction in 1940, the Wehrmacht''s Sturmgeschütz assault guns played an essential role in the campaigns of the Blitzkrieg era, the titanic struggles in Russia and the final defensive battles of the war. Evolving from a mobile bunker-buster, armed with a short-barrelled howitzer, the Sturmgeschütz was up-armoured and up-gunned and by 1943 it was increasingly employed as a tank killer. In 1944, largely as an emergency quick-fix, the Sturmgeschütz IV entered service and over 1,000 examples had been built by the end of the war. As the Wehrmacht’s resources continued to decline the assault guns were thrown into every operation and increasingly substituted for gun tanks in official unit establishments. In the third volume in the TankCraft series to examine the Sturmgeschütz, Dennis Oliver employs official documentation and unit histories to investigate the formations that operated the Sturmgeschütz IV and uses archive photos and extensively researched colour illustrations to examine the markings, camouflage and technical aspects of the vehicles that served on the Eastern Front during the last months of the campaign. A key section of his book displays available model kits and aftermarket products, complemented by a gallery of beautifully constructed and painted models in various scales. Technical details as well as modifications introduced during production and in the field are also examined, providing everything the modeller needs to recreate an accurate representation of these historic vehicles.

The book is an account of the U.S. Marine Corps 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment ("3/23"), who were tasked with governing Wasit Province immediately after the Coalition invasion as part of the 1st Marine Division. Then Lt. Col. David Couvillon, was appointed provincial military governor—a position for which he had zero training and preparation.His instructions were simple: "If anything happens, it''s your responsibility." As simple as that order was, it was also very complicated. It’s difficult to grasp the challenge the 3/23 faced after the Coalition’s invasion of Iraq, overseeing a population of over a million people scattered across 6600 sq. miles: the breakdown of normal society, interruption and outright devastation of infrastructure, political and religious schisms, and the collapse of a functioning economy. The province was in shambles. 3/23 had to provide basic security for both military personnel and the populace, while also thwarting insurgency. Couvillon and his men had very little direction—sometimes without sufficient resources.Marines are not trained for long-term occupation. They are trained in first-strike operations. Establishing city councils, creating women''s political parties, holding local elections, creating a functioning police force, instituting a civilian judicial system, instituting a free press and independent TV and radio stations, reopening primary schools, engaging in diplomacy with imams and sheiks, bolstering the regional economy, brokering peace agreements between rival tribes, overseeing trade agreements between towns: none of this is within the purview of the Marines.3/23 strolled the streets of Al Kut and Numaniyah, talking with people, playing with children, and trying to solve the myriad problems of everyday life. Despite being the public face of the American occupation, Lt. Col. Couvillon traveled throughout the province apparently unarmed: no helmet, no armor, no visible weapon. The Marines (and, later, soldiers and sailors) came under attack more than once.Nor was 3/23 completely without fault. There were substantiated instances of excessive force and even the death of innocent civilians. A military occupation is, at best, a necessary evil.But 3/23 came to Wasit, Iraq, not as conquerors, but as allies: friends who wanted to help overthrow, not just a dictator, but Wasit so that its people could experience individual freedom and self-government.From US Marine to Provincial Military Governor in Iraq is the story of how the battalion faced immense and perilous challenges without much in the way of direction from above—Couvillon’s only real guidance came from the Small Wars Manual, a sixty-year-old Marine Corps handbook on low intensity conflicts. It’s about citizen-soldiers-sometimes derided as “weekend warriors ”-who turned their civilian life skills into an assets for their mission. It’s the personal story of Lt. Col. David Couvillon, who in an instant was transformed into a military governor responsible for the welfare not only of his 900 leathernecks, but the approximately 1.5 million inhabitants of an Iraqi province. The narrative doesn’t shrink from criticism of higher-ups who made consequential misjudgments that made the 3/23’s job harder and ultimately undermined its achievements. Understanding the successes of the 3/23 can help prevent future mistakes.

Prior to the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Ukraine was home to one of the largest Jewish populations in Europe. It is estimated that almost one million Jews were murdered in the Ukraine between 1941 – 1944. Many of those Jews killed in 1941 were by the Einsatzgruppen death squads, Order Police Battalions, Ukrainian Police Auxiliary units, collaborators and Wehrmacht forces. Most of those people executed were killed close to where they lived.Holocaust in the Ukraine tells the plight of the Jewish community in the Ukraine and the mass killings that took place there. It shows how German forces occupied a large part of German-occupied Ukraine, and incorporated it into what was known as the Reichskommissariat Ukraine.Within a week of the German invasion of the Ukraine police units and their auxiliaries, under the guidance of members of the Einsatzgruppen began murdering Jewish communities. There were various massacres including Babyn Yar where some 33,000 Jews were executed during a two-day period in August 1941.One of the first massacres in the Ukraine was ordered only days after the start of the German invasion known as the Lviv pogroms where 6,000 Jews were murdered by Einsatzgruppen and Ukrainian nationalist. This was followed by other wholesale murders which included the Kamianets-Podilsky massacre where some 23,000 residents were killed. Other killings too included the Pavoloch, Berdychiv, Odessa Artemivsk Sarny massacrews and numerous other killings across the country.With detailed captions and text together with a host of rare photographs, this Images of War book is an important study of how Ukraine was subjected to a Nazi policy of terror with an ideological goal of eradicating communism and destroying the Jews and the Ukrainians, who were all classed as sub-human.

Many of us have at least one ancestor who served in the British Army during the Second World War. We probably know where they served and what regiment they served with but we are not aware of exactly how they became soldiers.The British Soldier: Training for War focuses on those who became infantry soldiers, commandos and paratroopers and the training they received in the British Isles to fight ''at the sharp end'' of combat all over the world during the years 1939 to 1945.Drawing on contemporary training manuals, battalion histories, magazines and newspaper articles, personal memoirs, regimental museum archives, declassified military files and interviews with those who experienced wartime military training first-hand, a vivid and authentic account is presented of training from ''square bashing'' and skill at arms to the evolution of battle schools, assault courses, battle drill and significant training exercises.All infantrymen were trained hard but it gave them the skills, fighting spirit, endurance and confidence they needed in themselves, their comrades and their unit when in battle. By the end of the Second World War, nearly three million men had served in the British Army. Every one of them had to be trained to become soldiers. This is their story.

The immanent dialectic of the ancient Greek materialist philosopher, Epicurus (341-270 BCE), helped inspire Karl Marx, and formed the subject of his doctoral dissertation. Marx’s detailed study of Epicurus led him to develop his own materialist dialectic in distinction to the idealist philosophy of G.W.F. Hegel. Until now, however, there has been no full scholarly treatment of the relation of Epicurus to Marx, paying equal attention to both thinkers and examining the long-term impact of Epicureanism on Marxist thought. Breaking the Bonds of Fate: Epicurus and Marx fills this gap. Taking into consideration today’s revolution in the understanding of Epicurus—resulting from the recovery of fragments of his major work On Nature in the carbonized papyri that survived the burying in volcanic ash of the Roman town Herculaneum when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE—it demonstrates that this new interpretation corresponds closely to Marx’s nineteenth-century treatment of Epicurus. The result is to fundamentally transform our contemporary understanding of both Epicurus and Marx.  The last (though logically the first) book to be written in a trilogy that also includes John Bellamy Foster’s Marx’s Ecology: Materialism and Nature (2000) and his The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology (2020), Breaking the Bonds of Fate: Epicurus and Marx provides a detailed historical and textual analysis grounding the argument of all three works. Not only does this clarify Marx’s relation to materialism and ecology, but also his analysis of the of freedom and necessity. Both Epicurus’ philosophy and that of Marx are given new meaning in our time, highlighting questions of substantive equality, dialectical naturalism, and sustainable community.

The Imperial Japanese Navy was an early proponent of naval air power and commissioned the world’s first purpose-designed aircraft carrier, the Hosho, in 1922. There followed a series of one-off designs of widely different sizes, some converted from capital ships, some designed as such from scratch, but no two of them alike until the Shokaku class completed just before the outbreak of the Pacific War. As with much Japanese warship design in the 1930s, these ships often exhibited highly original thinking, with some unique experiments like placing the island on the port side in a couple of ships.Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese carrier forces dominated the naval war but the catastrophic losses at Midway in June 1942 forced the IJN into many makeshift measures to rebuild carrier numbers, including converting both naval auxiliaries and merchant ships, and producing an austere design of fleet carrier intended for series production.The technical characteristics of all these 29 ships are covered by individual chapters in this book, illustrated with plans, photos and colour artwork. There is a general introduction to naval aviation policy and a summary of the carrier actions in the Pacific War, with appendices on weaponry, radar, camouflage schemes and naval aircraft.Despite the importance of Japanese aircraft carriers, they are not well covered in English, so this book, with its wealth of detail in a concise format, fills a real need.

In the later third century AD, the outer reaches of the Roman Empire were being threatened on all sides by hostile powers. Along the southern and eastern coasts of Britain, a series of ten, possibly twelve, vast fortified enclosures were built beside strategic harbours to defend against external threats, mainly from Germanic marauders. Through sixteen centuries impressive vestiges of most of them have survived, although three have vanished virtually without trace. Several became the sites of Norman castles, others have associations with early Christianity, all have a story to tell. Taking the reader from the colossal surviving fort at Portchester in Hampshire to the empty, windswept site of Brancaster on the north Norfolk coast, Seeking the Saxon Shore is both a practical guide to locating and exploring these ancient sites and a handbook for bringing them to life. In describing the origins of the forts, their ancient settings, their functions and subsequent histories, this compelling guide will enable the reader, in the modern landscape, to recognise and visualise the distant past.

With their founding of the suffragette movement and passionate pursuit of votes for women, Emmeline Pankhurst and her three daughters—Christabel, Sylvia and Adela—forever altered the course of British history.This book offers a compelling exploration of their pivotal role in the women’s suffrage movement while uncovering the personal stories behind these trailblazing women. What motivated this post-Victorian middle-class family to risk everything—their reputations, their livelihoods, even their very lives—for the cause of female suffrag? hrough an intimate examination of their relationships with one another, as well as with those who inspired and challenged them, this book reveals the love, resentments and ruthlessness that stirred these four women into action.Emmeline and her daughters were far from alone in the fight for suffrage, and the contributions of many of the exceptional women and men who supported them are highlighted here.Nevertheless, it is the Pankhurst’s extraordinary journey that lies at the heart of this story. Above all, this is a look into one remarkable family whose struggles and sacrifices ultimately left a lasting mark on history.

During the spring and summer of 1944 a series of Soviet offensives, culminating in Operation Bagration which was launched on 22 June, threatened to destroy the entire German army on the Eastern Front. As infantry units scrambled to hold makeshift defensive positions the mobile Panzer battalions were the only formations that were able to plug the increasing number of gaps in the frontline. One of the most important weapons in the Wehrmacht''s arsenal at that time was the Pzkpfw V Panther tank which had gone into combat for the first time in July 1943. Armed with a powerful 7.5cm main gun, these tanks were capable of penetrating the armour of the strongest Soviet designs and it was planned that every Panzer regiment would eventually contain a battalion of these impressive vehicles. In his latest volume in the TankCraft series Dennis Oliver continues the story of these remarkable vehicles using archive photos and extensively researched colour illustrations to examine the Panther battalions that fought to hold back the Red Army''s push to the borders of Germany during 1944. A key section of his book displays available model kits and aftermarket products, complemented by a gallery of beautifully constructed and painted models in various scales. Technical details as well as modifications introduced during production and in the field are also examined providing everything the modeller needs to recreate an accurate representation of these historic tanks.

In 1441, Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester, was convicted of trying to bring about King Henry VI`s death through witchcraft. Her defence was that she had simply tried to become pregnant with the help of a well-known wise woman, using sorcery only for this aim.While one of the most widely publicised cases of such a fertility treatment, it was certainly not the only one in the Middle Ages. In fact, due to the lack of knowledge surrounding not only fertility but also pregnancies and birth, there was a flourishing market offering spiritual and secular aids.This book provides a history of the concerns and the common problems for women struggling with fertility problems, being pregnant and giving birth, and looks especially at the religious and societal ramifications of these issues.

This book is a narrative history of a dozen years of turmoil that begins with Rome’s millennium celebrations of 248 CE and ends with the capture of the emperor Valerian by the Persians in 260. It was a period of almost unremitting disaster for Rome, involving a series of civil wars, several major invasions by Goths and Persians, economic crisis, and an empire-wide pandemic, the ‘plague of Cyprian’. There was sustained persecution of the Christians. A central theme of the book is that this was a period of moral and spiritual crisis in which the traditional state religion suffered greatly in prestige, paving the way for the eventual triumph of Christianity.The sensational recent discovery of extensive fragments of the lost Scythica of Dexippus sheds much new light on the Gothic Wars of the period. The author has used this new evidence in combination with in-depth investigations in the field to develop a revised account of events surrounding the great Battle of Abritus where the army of the emperor Decius was annihilated by Cniva’s Goths. The reigns of the emperors Gallus, Aemilian and Valerian are treated in detail, and new ideas are presented regarding mysterious characters of the age such as Silbannacus and Sponsian.This period is pivotal for understanding the transition between Classical civilisation and the period known as Late Antiquity.

The term ?fighter ace? grew in prominence with the introduction and development of aerial combat in the First World War. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ?ace? has varied but is usually considered to be five or more.For the Luftwaffe, a number of its fighter pilots, many of whom had fought with the Legion Condor in Spain, had already gained their Experte, or ace, status in the Battle of France. However, many more would achieve that status in the hectic dogfights over southern England and the Channel during the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940. A number would also be either killed or captured. Some of these men, individuals such as Adolf Galland, Werner Mölders, and Helmut Wick, who between them had claimed 147 aerial victories by 31 October 1940, are well-known, but most are less so.In this book, the story of each of the Luftwaffe?s 204 Messerschmitt Bf 109 ?aces? from the summer of 1940 is examined, with all of the individual biographies, detailing individual fates during the war, being highly-illustrated throughout. Original German records from the summer of 1940, have been examined, providing a definitive list of each pilot?s individual claims. It also covers, to a lesser extent, those forgotten fifty-three Messerschmitt Bf 110 pilots who also achieved ace status by day and also by night between 10 July and 31 October 1940.