In mid-September 1943, as the opening move of the Allied campaign to liberate the mainland of Italy, an Anglo-American invasion force landed on the beaches of the Gulf of Salerno, only a few dozen miles to the south of Naples. Italy had just surrendered, and the soldiers in the landing craft prayed that the invasion would be unopposed. It was not to be. The Germans had seized control of the Italian-built beach defences, and were ready and waiting. The ferocious ten-day battle at Salerno was eventually decided by a combination of Allied reinforcements, and secondary landings in support of the beleaguered Salerno bridgehead. Using documentary records, memoirs and eyewitness accounts from all sides, Angus Konstam recreates the battle day by day, hour by hour. His methodically researched account offers a fresh perspective on a decisive battle that has largely been neglected by British and American historians in recent years.
Poltava marked the demise of Sweden as a European great power and the rise of Russia. In 1707, the seemingly invincible Charles XII led his army deep into Russia. It was to prove his undoing - the long march eroded the fighting strength of the invaders; a vital supply convoy was lost; and the winter of 1708/9 was the worst in living memory. Although the great Northern War was to drag on for another twelve years, after 1709 Sweden was isolated and on the strategic defensive. Within a year both Saxony-Poland and Denmark would rejoin the anti-Swedish cause, and the capture of Vyborg to the north of St. Petersburg and Riga to the south would ensure the safety of Tsar Peter's fledgling European capital - all results of the battle. In this Osprey Campaign title, Angus Konstam recounts the events leading up to Poltava and looks in particular at how this battle led to the destruction of the Swedish Army. As part of his investigation both armies and their commanders are examined carefully.Fluency in Russian allowed author Angus Konstam to visit the country regularly and gain access to primary source material previously unseen in the west: hard work which has made this account of Poltava stand out.
The battle of Pavia has been hailed as the first modern battle, marking the rise of hand held weapons as a tool of warfare. In this titanic clash - the most decisive of the Italian Wars, caused by French territorial ambitions in first the Kingdom of Naples and then the Duchy of Milan - the French troops were smashed by the Spanish Imperial Army. King Francis I was captured, and the cream of his nobility slaughtered. France's greatest defeat since Agincourt, the battle dramatically swung the balance of power in Western Europe.
When General Robert E. Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia, the Confederacy was in crisis. Lee changed all that in a brilliant, week-long campaign. On 26 June the Confederates struck, fighting two hard-fought battles in two days at Mechanicsville and Gaine's Mill. The ferocity of the Confederate assaults convinced McClellan that he was outnumbered. Unable to keep the Confederates at bay, the Union army was recalled to Washington. Despite losing a quarter of his men, Lee had saved Richmond, and inflicted a humiliating defeat on the Army of the Potomac. This book traces the course of this short yet crucial campaign.
Following its humiliating defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run, General George B. McClellan took command of the Union Army of the Potomac. In the spring of 1862, having rebuilt his forces, the Little Napoleon devised a plan to end the war in a single campaign. Transporting his army by sea to the Virginia Peninsula, he would outflank Confederate forces and march unopposed on Richmond, the Southern capital. Excessive caution squandered the opportunity, however, and on 31 May the Confederates struck at McClellan's divided forces at Fair Oaks. This book details McClellan's controversial Peninsula campaign and the southern attempt to halt the Union juggernaut.
The lifeblood of the Confederacy, the blockade runners of the Civil War usually began life as regular fast steam-powered merchant ships. They were adapted for the high-speed dashes through the Union blockade which closed off all the major Southern ports, and for much of the war they brought much-needed food, clothing and weaponry to the Confederacy. This book traces their operational history, including the development of purpose-built blockade running ships, and examines their engines, crews and tactics. It describes their wartime exploits, demonstrating their operational and mechanical performance, whilst examining what life was like on these vessels through accounts of conditions on board when they sailed into action.
For much of the 16th century the Mediterranean was a battleground between Christians and Muslims. A decisive battle between two large galley fleets was expected to decide the fate of the entire Mediterranean basin. In August 1571, an Ottoman fleet of some 235 galleys encountered the slightly smaller Christian fleet of the Holy League. In a five hour melee the Christians inflicted a decisive defeat on the Turks. Lepanto was the last great galley fight of all time and one of the most decisive naval battles in history. This book details the course of one of the most crucial military campaigns of the Renaissance.
Con unos textos atractivos, mapas, fotgrafías e ilustraciones, esta coleccion descubre la profunidad de algunos de los espisodios mas transcendentes de la humanidad. Con estos libros adentrarán los antigos politícos y culturas de Grecia, de Roma o de las civilizaciones precolombianas y descubrirán con un riguroso tratamiento histórico el origen y significado de las religiones, del Islam o de los lugares biblicos.
The primary Union strategy during the American Civil War was a massive naval blockade of the entire Southern coastline of the Confederacy, and it was in the effort to counter this blockade that the Confederates developed their first submarines and torpedo boats. This book traces the development of these new technologies, including the CSS 'Little David' and 'Hunley' - respectively the first torpedo boat and submarine to sink an enemy warship. The wreck of the 'Hunley' was raised in 2000, and this is the first book ever to integrate details of its recovery with an account of Confederate submarines in action.
Con un texto atractivo, mapas, fotgrafías e ilustraciones, esta colección descubre la profunidad de algunos de los espisodios mas transcendentes de la humanidad. Estos libros se adentran en los antiguos politícos y las culturas de Grecia, de Roma y de las civilizaciones precolombianas y descubren con un riguroso tratamiento histórico el origen y significado de las religiones, del Islam y de los lugares biblicos.
For most of the Renaissance period, naval warfare in the Mediterranean was dominated by the war galley, a unique naval vessel for a momentous age. During the struggle for supremacy between Christian and Muslim powers, war galleys formed the backbone of the rival battlefleets. Different regions of the Mediterranean produced their own versions of the war galley, thereby producing a number of variants on the basic design tailored to the needs and resources of particular nations. This book examines the development of the war galley from its classically inspired resurrection in the 15th century until its demise in the early 17th century, providing the first ever in-depth study of this remarkable war machine.
