In View

Broken Pots, Mending Lives: the archaeology of Operation Nightingale

In 2011, an innovative programme began with the Ministry of Defence using archaeology to help armed forces personnel recover from injuries sustained in Afghanistan and Iraq. Twelve years on, ‘Operation Nightingale’ has garnered international recognition – and is still going strong. In Broken Pots, Mending Lives, archaeologist Richard Osgood tells the story of the programme, which has taken teams on digs to sites on Salisbury Plain, to the prison ships of Rat Island, Portsmouth, and to the First World War battlefields of France and Belgium. Broken Pots, Mending Lives comes with an introduction by Professor Alice Roberts, and is extensively illustrated throughout with original photographs from the digs taken by Harvey Mills.

Broken Pots, Mending Lives: the archaeology of Operation Nightingale, Richard Osgood, Oxbow Books, hbk (£25), ISBN 978-1789259384

To Besiege a City: Leningrad 1941-42

One of the most extraordinary campaigns of the Eastern Front in WWII was the Siege of Leningrad: the merciless attempt by the Wehrmacht to starve the second city of the Soviet empire into submission. Acclaimed historian Prit Buttar takes a fresh look at the first year of the siege, calling on first-hand accounts from German soldiers and Soviet citizens to evoke all its brutality and horror.

To Besiege a City: Leningrad 1941-42, Prit Buttar, Osprey, hbk (£30), ISBN 978-1472856555

Conflict: the evolution of warfare from 1945 to Ukraine

General David Petraeus, commander of the US-led coalitions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and historian Andrew Roberts chart the history of warfare since 1945, analysing mistakes made by military leaders, challenges posed by new weapons systems, and, as Putin’s war in Ukraine demonstrates, a refusal to learn from history.

Conflict: the evolution of warfare from 1945 to Ukraine, David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts, William Collins, hbk (£26), ISBN 978-0008567972

Napoleonic Britain: a guide to fortresses, statues and memorials of the French wars 1792-1815

Although the Napoleonic Wars were fought mostly in continental Europe, their impact had enormous consequences for the history of the UK. David Buttery presents this guide to British landmarks closely linked to the wars against Napoleon, including HMS Victory, the Western Heights Fortifications in Dover, and – of course – Nelson’s Column in London.

Napoleonic Britain: a guide to fortresses, statues and memorials of the French wars 1792-1815, David Buttery, Pen & Sword, hbk (£28), ISBN 978-1529319361

Rome and Persia: the seven-hundred-year rivalry

The only true rival to the Roman world was the Parthian and then Persian empire, which ruled over great cities and vital trade routes. Tracing seven centuries of conflict between the two empires, Adrian Goldsworthy demonstrates that, despite endless clashes, trade enriched them both – and prevented either one from permanently destroying the other.

Rome and Persia: the seven-hundred-year rivalry, Adrian Goldsworthy, Basic Books, hbk (£30), ISBN 978-1541619968

Victory to Defeat: the British army 1918-40

The British Army won a convincing series of victories during the second half of the First World War. But, by 1939, the hard-won experience and vision of its senior commanders had been lost. In this book, historians Richard Dannatt and Robert Lyman examine how the unpreparedness of the army’s leadership led directly to its abysmal performance in Norway and France in 1940.