An Alternative History of Britain: The English Civil War
With hindsight, the victory of Parliamentarian forces over the Royalists in the English Civil War may seem inevitable but this outcome was not a foregone conclusion. Timothy Venning explores many of the turning points and discusses how they might so easily have played out differently. What if, for example, Charles I had capitalized on his victory at… Read more...
Cataclysm 90 BC
We are accustomed to think of the late Republic as a period in which Rome enjoyed almost uninterrupted military success against foreign enemies. Yet at the start of the first century BC, Rome, outnumbered and out-generalled, faced a hostile army less than a week's march from the Capitol. It is probable that only a swift surrender prevented the city… Read more...
An Archaeological History of Britain
Jonathan Eaton has provided the essential volume for all students of Archaeology, Classical Civilisations and Ancient History by condensing the entire archaeological history of Britain into one accessible volume. The Archaeological History of Britain takes us from the earliest prehistoric archaeology right up to the contemporary archaeology of the… Read more...
Leadership in War
In this controversial study, Correlli Barnett examines the strengths and weaknesses of twenty wartime leaders in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He considers the extraordinary difficulties they faced, and analyses how they performed and what they achieved. Were they successful, or were they beaten down by the burden of their roles? His… Read more...
The Sinking of RMS Tayleur
'The moment they fell into the water the waves caught them and dashed them violently against the rocks, and the survivors on shore could perceive the unfortunate creatures...struggling amidst the waves, and one by one sinking under them.' (Hereford Times, 28 January 1854) The wrecking of the RMS Tayleur made headlines nearly 60 years before the Titanic.… Read more...
England's Medieval Navy 1066-1509
We are accustomed to think of England in terms of Shakespeare's 'precious stone set in a silver sea', safe behind its watery ramparts with its naval strength resisting all invaders. To the English of an earlier period – from the 8th to the 11th centuries – such a notion would have seemed ridiculous. The sea, rather than being a defensive wall,… Read more...
Valentine Baker's Heroic Stand At Tashkessen 1877
“There are moments in the past of many a man’s career that stand out clear and defined after the lapse of even many years: life pictures, the very memory of which brings back a glorious thrill of pride and pleasure. This is the feeling which vibrates through me still, when I recall that last and closing scene that crowned the hard-fought fight… Read more...
Brutus of Troy
Just who did the British think they were? For much of the last 1,500 years, when the British looked back to their origins they saw the looming mythological figure of Brutus of Troy. A great-great-grandson of the love goddess Aphrodite through her Trojan son Aeneas (the hero of Virgil's Aeneid), Brutus accidentally killed his father and was exiled to… Read more...
Marcus Agrippa
Marcus Agrippa personified the term 'right-hand man'. As Emperor Augustus' deputy, he waged wars, pacified provinces, beautified Rome, and played a crucial role in laying the foundations of the Pax Romana for the next two hundred years – but he served always in the knowledge he would never rule in his own name. Why he did so, and never grasped power… Read more...
100 Years War: Agincourt 1415
On the 25th October 1415 Henry Vs small and dispirited Anglo/Welsh Army destroyed a vast French Army at Azincourt. This programme looks at not just this iconic battle immortalised by Shakespeare and many other authors but the campaign that led up to this final great English victory of the 100 Years War when the Yeoman of England reigned supreme on… Read more...
100 Years War: Crecy 1346
On 11 July 1346 the Anglo/Welsh army of Edward III started to disembark in the bay at St Vaast in the Cotentin Peninsula. In a period of 12 months this army won 3 major battles Caen, Blanchtaque and Crecy and captured Calais, which would remain in English hands until 1558 a thorn in the side of France. This campaign was the first major chapter in the… Read more...
The Battle of Hastings 1066 - The Uncomfortable Truth
AS SEEN IN THE DAILY MAIL AND THE DAILY TELEGRAPH The Battle of Hastings is the most defining event in English history. As such, its every detail has been analysed by scholars and interpreted by historians. Yet one of the most fundamental aspect of the battle – the place upon which it was fought – has never been seriously questioned, until now.… Read more...
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