Description
In this issue:
– The Beast at Bay -Hitler in the Bunker. What enabled Hitler to drag his entire nation into an apocalypse of destruction unparalleled in military history? Nigel Jones narrates the the final desperate months of mounting insanity.
– History of the British Army in 25 Battles -Blenheim. Blenheim was the strategic and tactical masterpiece that turned Britain into a great power and launched her on the path to global supremacy. The spotlight is on the commander, the Duke of Marlborough, as we trace the wellsprings of his genius in the revolutionary transformation of Britain in the preceding 60 years.
– Gaza, 1917. As the bloody Battle of Ypres came to an end, another battle was unfolding in Palastine -a battle that would turn out to be one of the most decisive British victories of the First World War, and one that had been won before the first shot was fired.
– India’s Boudica – The Rhani of Jhansi. Military historian Patrick Mercer tells the story of the extraordinary warrior-queen who led the desperate last-ditch resistance to British rule during the closing stages of the Indian Mutiny.
– The Will to Fight. Jonathan Fennell discusses the importance of morale, and how well it held during the First and Second World Wars.
Plus: news, reviews, museums, opinion columns, and much more!
From the Editor:
We lead this month with an analysis of the grim final months of the Third Reich. Why did Nazi Germany refuse to negotiate or surrender once it was clear the war was lost? What enabled Hitler to drag his entire nation into an apocalypse of destruction unparalleled in military history? Nigel Jones narrates the final desperate months of mounting insanity, and I review leading Hitler expert Ian Kershaw’s new book, The End: Hitler’s Germany, 1944-45.
Another new book on the Second World War is Jonathan Fennell’s study of morale in the Eighth Army in the Western Desert. In a linked special feature, he describes the disillusionment of 1941 and how it was transformed by a new education service in 1942 – preparing the ground for victory at Alamein and Tunis.
An earlier desert victory is the subject of another feature this issue, where we contrast the trench-war stalemate of the Western Front with one of the last great cavalry victories: Allenby’s triumph at the Third Battle of Gaza in 1917 – a decisive battle that had been won before the first shot was fired.
The ‘Boudica of India’ is the subject of a feature by Patrick Mercer this month. His story concerns the Rhani of Jhansi, the warrior-queen who led desperate last-ditch resistance to British rule during the closing stages of the Indian Mutiny.
Finally, in the latest of our British battles series, we focus on Blenheim, the strategic and tactical masterpiece that turned Britain into a great power and launched her on the path to global supremacy. The spotlight is on the commander, the Duke of Marlborough, as we trace the wellsprings of his genius in the revolutionary transformation of Britain in the preceding 60 years.
Cover Date: Sep-2011, Volume 1 Issue 12