Download or read book Dreadnought written by Roger Parkinson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-06-01 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The years leading to World War I were the 'Age of the Dreadnought'. The monumental battleship design, first introduced by Admiral Fisher to the Royal Navy in 1906, was quickly adopted around the world and led to a new era of naval warfare and policy. In this book, Roger Parkinson provides a re-writing of the naval history of Britain and the other leading naval powers from the 1880s to the early years of World War I. The years before 1914 were characterised by intensifying Anglo-German naval competition, with an often forgotten element beyond Europe in the form of the rapidly developing navies of the United States and Japan. Parkinson shows that, although the advent of the dreadnought was the pivotal turning-point in naval policy, in fact much of the technology that enabled the dreadnought to be launched was a continuity from the pre-dreadnought era. In the annals of the Royal Navy two names will always be linked: those of Admiral Sir John 'Jacky' Fisher and the ship he created, HMS Dreadnought. This book shows how the dreadnought enabled the Royal Navy to develop from being primarily the navy of the 'Pax Britannica' in the Victorian era to being a war-ready fighting force in the early years of the twentieth century. The ensuing era of intensifying naval competition rapidly became a full-blooded naval arms race, leading to the development of super-dreadnoughts and escalating tensions between the European powers. Providing a truly international perspective on the dreadnought phenomenon, this book will be essential reading for all naval history enthusiasts and anyone interested in World War I.

Download or read book Of Arms and Men written by Robert L. O'Connell and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1990-04-19 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The appearance of the crossbow on the European battle field in A.D. 1100 as the weapon of choice for shooting down knights threatened the status quo of medieval chivalric fighting techniques. By 1139 the Church had intervened, outlawing the use of the crossbow among Christians. With this edict, arms control was born. As Robert L. O'Connell reveals in this vividly written history of weapons in Western culture, that first attempt at an arms control measure characterizes the complex and often paradoxical relationship between men and arms throughout the centuries. In a sweeping narrative that ranges from prehistoric times to the nuclear age, O'Connell demonstrates how social and economic conditions determine the types of weapons and the tactics used in warfare and how, in turn, innovations in weapons technology often undercut social values. He describes, for instance, how the invention of the gun required a redefinition of courage from aggressive ferocity to calmness under fire; and how the machine gun in World War I so overthrew traditional notions of combat that Lord Kitchener exclaimed, "This isn't war!" The technology unleashed during the Great War radically altered our perceptions of ourselves, as these new weapons made human qualities almost irrelevant in combat. With the invention of the atomic bomb, humanity itself became subservient to the weapons it had produced. Of Arms and Men brilliantly integrates the evolution of politics, weapons, strategy, and tactics into a coherent narrative, one spiced with striking portraits of men in combat and penetrating insights into why men go to war.

Download or read book Sacred Vessels written by Robert L O'connell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-06-21 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Writing critically about something you have come to regard with affection must provoke mixed emotions. As I learned more and more about the modern battleship's shortcomings, I found myself, like so many before me, falling under its spell. I have traveled hundreds of miles to visit these wonderful ships, reverently preserved like a necklace of talismans around our nation's coasts. I have stood in awe under the great guns, wondering what it must have been like to hear them fire. Perhaps it is true that their sound and fury signified very little in terms of actual destructive power. But most people thought they did, and that was and still is important. Besides, for the most part, we were proud of those ships. Now we live in a time of weapons so terrible that we must actually hide them-beneath the ground and below the surface of the sea. But, like battleships, they keep the peace precisely because of what others think they can do. All things being equal, who would not prefer the dreadnoughts?

Download or read book Conquer We Must written by Robin Prior and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2022-12-13 with total page 839 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major new account of Britain’s military strategy between 1914–1945, including the two world wars and everything between The First and Second World Wars were separated by a mere two decades, making the period 1914–1945 an unprecedentedly intense and violent era of history. But how did Britain develop its complex military strategy during these wars, and how were decisions made by those at the top? Robin Prior examines the influence politicians had on military operations, in the first history to assess both world wars together. Drawing uniquely on both military and political archives and previously unexamined sources Prior explores the fraught relationships between civilian and military leaders: from Lloyd George’s remarkably interventionist stance on military tactics during the First World War to Churchill’s near-constant arguments with American leaders during the Second. Conquer We Must tells the complex story of this military decision-making, revealing how politicians attempted to control strategy—but had little influence on how the army, navy, and air force actually fought.

Download or read book The Development of British Naval Aviation 1914 1918 written by Alexander Howlett and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-06-08 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) revolutionized warfare at sea, on land, and in the air. This little-known naval aviation organization introduced and operationalized aircraft carrier strike, aerial anti-submarine warfare, strategic bombing, and the air defence of the British Isles more than 20 years before the outbreak of the Second World War. Traditionally marginalized in a literature dominated by the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force, the RNAS and its innovative practitioners, nevertheless, shaped the fundamentals of air power and contributed significantly to the Allied victory in the First World War. The Development of British Naval Aviation utilizes archival documents and newly published research to resurrect the legacy of the RNAS and demonstrate its central role in Britain’s war effort.

Download or read book Essays in Anti Labour History written by Kenneth D. Brown and published by Springer. This book was released on 1974-06-18 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Making of Strategy written by Williamson Murray and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1996-05-31 with total page 702 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume focuses on the processes by which rulers and states have framed strategy from the fifth century BC to the present.

Download or read book Maritime Strategy and Sea Denial written by Milan Vego and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-12-07 with total page 605 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the theory and practice of maritime strategy and operations by the weaker powers at sea. Illustrated by examples from naval and military history, the book explains and analyzes the strategies of the weaker side at sea in both peacetime and wartime; in defense versus offense; the main prerequisites for disputing control of the sea; and the conceptual framework of disputing control of the sea. It also explains and analyzes in some detail the main methods of disputing sea control – avoiding/seeking decisive encounters, weakening enemy naval forces over time, counter-containment of enemy naval forces, destroying the enemy’s military-economic potential at sea, attacks on the enemy coast, defense of the coast, defense/capturing important positions/basing areas, and defense/capturing of a choke point. A majority of the world’s navies are currently of small or medium-size. In the case of a war with a much stronger opponent, they would be strategically on the defensive, and their main objective then would be to dispute control of the sea by a stronger side at sea. This book provides a practical guide to such a strategy. This book would be of much interest to students of naval power, maritime security, strategic studies and military/naval history.

Download or read book The Naval Miscellany written by Susan Rose and published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. This book was released on 2008 with total page 736 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This seventh volume of Naval Miscellany contains documents which range in date from the late thirteenth century to the Korean War. They illustrate the many different ways in which the naval forces of the crown have served the realm.There is something here for every enthusiast for naval history and for all students of the relevant periods.

Download or read book In Defence of Naval Supremacy written by Jon Tetsuro Sumida and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2014-02-15 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his groundbreaking work, In Defence of Naval Supremacy, Sumida presents a provocative and authoritative revisionist history of the origins, nature and consequences of the "Dreadnought Revolution" of 1906. Based on intensive and extensive archival research, the book strives to explain vital financial and technical matters which enable readers to observe the complex interplay of fiscal, technical, strategic, and personal factors that shaped the course of British naval decision-making during the critical quarter century that preceded the outbreak of the First World War.

Download or read book Lusitania Saga and Myth written by David Ramsay and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2002-05-17 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the express liner that was sunk by a German U-boat in 1915 seeks to clarify facts surrounding its history and profiles such contributors as the ship's captain, William Turner.

Download or read book The Myriad Faces of War written by Trevor Wilson and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2012-10-04 with total page 971 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'By far the best study of Britain and the First World War that has yet been written.' London Review of Books The Myriad Faces of War, first published in 1987, is a unique and compelling study of the First World War from the standpoint of British involvement. It explores the reasons for Britain's entry into the war, the nature and course of Britain's participation, and the far-reaching repercussions of the war on British society. The result is a rich and comprehensive chronicle of the social, political, diplomatic and military aspects of the 'Great War.' 'Professor Trevor Wilson's mighty work on the first world war... is a truly significant contribution to our understanding of what the war meant to the British people... a disciplined, unsentimental and thoughtful book - and it also retains strongly the human touch.' Spectator 'Wilson ranges impressively over all major aspects of the conflict... a judicious, readable overview of a monster subject.' New York Times

Download or read book Jutland written by Michael Epkenhans and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2015-10-23 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The essential reappraisal of this seminal event in twentieth-century naval history . . . a ‘must have’ book for the Great War enthusiasts.” —Lone Star Review After months of skirmishes between Britain’s Royal Navy Grand Fleet and the German Navy’s outnumbered High Seas Fleet, conflict erupted on May 31, 1916, in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark, in what would become the most formidable battle in the history of the Royal Navy. In Jutland, international scholars reassess the strategies and tactics employed by the combatants as well as the political and military consequences of their actions. Most previous English-language military analysis has focused on British admiral Sir John Jellicoe, who was widely criticized for excessive caution and for allowing German vice admiral Reinhard Scheer to escape; but the contributors to this volume engage the German perspective, evaluating Scheer’s decisions and his skill in preserving his fleet and escaping Britain’s superior force. Together, the contributors lucidly demonstrate how both sides suffered from leadership that failed to move beyond outdated strategies of limited war between navies and to embrace the total war approach that came to dominate the twentieth century. The role of memory—comparing the way the battle has been portrayed in England and Germany—is also examined. Jutland is “suited not only for scholars, but also for a wider audience interested in knowing more about both the war at sea in World War I and its greatest contest” (Eric Osborne, author of The Battle of Heligoland Bight). “The documentation and scholarship reflected in these articles is outstanding.”—Paul Halpern, author of A Naval History of World War I

Download or read book Skagerrak written by Gary Staff and published by Pen and Sword Maritime. This book was released on 2016-05-04 with total page 451 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In January 1916 Vizeadmiral Scheer took command of the High Sea Fleet. This aggressive and pugnacious leader embarked upon a vigorous offensive program which culminated in the greatest clash between dreadnought capital ships the world had seen. Although outnumbered almost two to one, Vizeadmiral Scheer conducted a provocative operation on 31 May 1916. Who would prevail: the massive preponderance of British heavy calibre cannon, or the aggressive tactics of the street fighter Scheer? Manning the ships of both sides were the technically skilled and talented seamen who were prepared to carry out their duties loyally and courageously until the very end. Over 8,500 men perished in less than 10 hours of fighting, a horrendous loss, even by World War One standards. This book gives voice to many of the German Navy participants, from a German perspective, on this tumultuous battle fought over 100 years ago. These men gave their all and are gone now, but not forgotten.

Download or read book Battles that Changed History written by Spencer C. Tucker and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-11-11 with total page 674 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This encyclopedic collection of more than 200 of the most decisive and important battles throughout world history gets a fresh interpretation by a noted military historian. The mythic and doomed stand of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae; the siege of Carthage in 149-146 BCE, which ended with Rome destroying the city and enslaving the entire remaining Carthaginian population; the Battle of Hastings in 1066, arguably the most important battle ever on English soil; the Battle of Trenton that saved the American Revolutionary cause and established the military reputation of General Washington; the firebombing of Tokyo on the night of March 9-10, 1945, that destroyed one quarter of the city. All of these conflicts—and hundreds more—played a crucial role in defining the direction of history and the evolution of human society. This text provides high school-level readers with detailed descriptions of the battlefield actions that have played the greatest parts in shaping military history and human existence. Special attention is paid to the greater historical context and significance of each battle, especially in relation to other events.

Download or read book Historical Dreadnoughts written by Barry Gough and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2010-07-05 with total page 616 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of the remarkable, intersecting careers of the two greatest writers on British naval history in the twentieth century the American professor Arthur Marder, son of immigrant Russian Jews, and Captain Stephen Roskill, who knew the Royal Navy from the inside. Between them, these contrasting characters were to peel back the lid of historical secrecy that surrounded the maritime aspects of the two world wars, based on the privileged access to official papers they both achieved through different channels.Initially their mutual interests led to a degree of friendly rivalry, but this was to deteriorate into a stormy academic feud fought out in newspaper columns and the footnotes of their books much to the bemusement (and sometimes amusement) of the naval history community. Out of it, surprisingly, emerged some of the best historical writing on naval themes, and a central contribution of this book is to reveal the process by which the two historians produced their literary masterpieces.Anyone who has read Marders From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow or Roskills The War at Sea and they were both bestsellers in their day will be entertained and enlightened by this story of the men A J P Taylor called our historical dreadnoughts.This is the story of the remarkable, intersecting careers of the two greatest writers on British naval history in the twentieth century the American professor Arthur Marder, son of immigrant Russian Jews, and Captain Stephen Roskill, who knew the Royal Navy from the inside. Between them, these contrasting characters were to peel back the lid of historical secrecy that surrounded the maritime aspects of the two world wars, based on the privileged access to official papers they both achieved through different channels.Initially their mutual interests led to a degree of friendly rivalry, but this was to deteriorate into a stormy academic feud fought out in newspaper columns and the footnotes of their books much to the bemusement (and sometimes amusement) of the naval history community. Out of it, surprisingly, emerged some of the best historical writing on naval themes, and a central contribution of this book is to reveal the process by which the two historians produced their literary masterpieces.Anyone who has read Marders From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow or Roskills The War at Sea and they were both bestsellers in their day will be entertained and enlightened by this story of the men A J P Taylor called our historical dreadnoughts.

Download or read book Space and Power written by Paul Hirst and published by Polity. This book was released on 2005-06-24 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This scholarly account of the various ways in which space is configured by power, and in which space becomes a resource for power, combines insights from social theory, politics, history and geography.