Ian F. W. Beckett – författare

This volume recounts the battles of Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift, exploring how they were fought, how they have been remembered, and what they mean for us today.The battle of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879, the first major battle in the Anglo-Zulu war, witnessed the worst single day's loss of British troops between the battle of Waterloo in 1815 and the opening campaignns of the First World War in August 1914. Moreover, decisive defeat at the hands of the Zulu came as an immense shock to a Victorian public that had become used to easy victories over less technologically advanced indigenous foes in an expanding empire.The successful defence of Rorke's Drift, which immediately followed the encounter at Isandlwana (and for which 11 Victoria Crosses were awarded), averted military disaster and went some way to restore wounded British pride, but the sobering memory of defeat at Isandlwana lingered for many years, while the legendary tale of the defence of Rorke's Drift was reawakened for a new generation in the epic 1964 film Zulu, starring Michael Caine.In this new volume in the Great Battles series, Ian F. W. Beckett tells the story of both battles, investigating not only their immediate military significance but also providing the first overarching account of their continuing cultural impact and legacy in the years since 1879, not just in Britain but also from the once largely inaccessible and overlooked Zulu perspective.

The story of the British army, from its inception in the late seventeenth century to the present.This new concise history by one of Britain's leading military historians explores the British army from the creation of a permanent standing army in the seventeenth century to the present. It sets the institutional development of the British army, and its often ambiguous relationship with state and society, as well as the army's wider political, social, economic, and cultural role within international, imperial, national, regional, and local contexts. An army exists to fight, however, and the British army's story cannot be separated from those wars and conflicts that have punctuated its evolution. Consequently, attention is also paid to the army's commanders, operations, and battlefields from the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in the seventeenth century to Iraq and Afghanistan in the twenty-first. Beckett traces the army's evolution through five chronological phases: the standing army of the seventeenth century and its antecedents, the national army of the eighteenth century, the imperial army of the nineteenth century, the people's army of the two world wars, the era of national service, and the return to a small professional army fulfilling a global role envisaged by successive governments in the twenty-first century at a time of rapidly changing social attitudes towards the utility of force, that pose a challenge to the army's traditional core values.

Modern Insurgencies and Counter-Insurgencies explores how unconventional warfare tactics have opposed past and present governments all over the world, from eighteenth-century guerrilla warfare to the urban terrorism of today. Insurgency remains one of the most prevalent forms of conflict and presents a crucial challenge to the international community, governments and the military.In addition to examining the tactics of guerrilla leaders such as Lawrence, Mao, Guevara and Marighela, Modern Insurgencies and Counter-Insurgencies also analyses the counter-insurgency theories of Gallieni, Callwell, Thompson and Kitson. It explores such conflicts as:* the American War of Independence* Napoleon's campaign in Spain* the wars of decolonisation* the superpowers in Vietnam and Afghanistan* conflicts in Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone and Colombia.

Modern Insurgencies and Counter-Insurgencies explores how unconventional warfare tactics have opposed past and present governments all over the world, from eighteenth-century guerrilla warfare to the urban terrorism of today. Insurgency remains one of the most prevalent forms of conflict and presents a crucial challenge to the international community, governments and the military.In addition to examining the tactics of guerrilla leaders such as Lawrence, Mao, Guevara and Marighela, Modern Insurgencies and Counter-Insurgencies also analyses the counter-insurgency theories of Gallieni, Callwell, Thompson and Kitson. It explores such conflicts as:* the American War of Independence* Napoleon's campaign in Spain* the wars of decolonisation* the superpowers in Vietnam and Afghanistan* conflicts in Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone and Colombia.

You offer yourself to be slain,"" General Sir John Hackett once observed, remarking on the military profession. ""This is the essence of being a soldier."" For this reason as much as any other, the British army has invariably been seen as standing apart from other professions - and sometimes from society as a whole. A British Profession of Arms effectively counters this view. In this definitive study of the late Victorian army, distinguished scholar Ian F. W. Beckett finds that the British soldier, like any other professional, was motivated by considerations of material reward and career advancement.Within the context of debates about both the evolution of Victorian professions and the nature of military professionalism, Beckett considers the late Victorian officer corps as a case study for weighing distinctions between the British soldier and his civilian counterparts. Beckett examines the role of personality, politics, and patronage in the selection and promotion of officers. He looks, too, at the internal and external influences that extended from the press and public opinion to the rivalry of the so-called rings of adherents of major figures such as Garnet Wolseley and Frederick Roberts. In particular, he considers these processes at play in high command in the Second Afghan War (1878-81), the Anglo-Zulu War (1879), and the South African War (1899-1902).Based on more than thirty years of research into surviving official, semiofficial, and private correspondence, Beckett's work offers an intimate and occasionally amusing picture of what might affect an officer's career: wealth, wives, and family status; promotion boards and strategic preferences; performance in the field and diplomatic outcomes. It is a remarkable depiction of the British profession of arms, unparalleled in breadth, depth, and detail.

The course of events of the Great War has been told many times, spurred by an endless desire to understand 'the war to end all wars'. However, this book moves beyond military narrative to offer a much fuller analysis of of the conflict's strategic, political, economic, social and cultural impact.Starting with the context and origins of the war, including assasination, misunderstanding and differing national war aims, it then covers the treacherous course of the conflict and its social consequences for both soldiers and civilians, for science and technology, for national politics and for pan-European revolution.The war left a long-term legacy for victors and vanquished alike. It created new frontiers, changed the balance of power and influenced the arts, national memory and political thought.The reach of this acount is global, showing how a conflict among European powers came to involve their colonial empires, and embraced Japan, China, the Ottoman Empire, Latin America and the United States.

The British amateur military tradition of raising auxiliary forces for home defence long preceded the establishment of a standing army. This was a model that was widely emulated in British colonies. This volume of essays seeks to examine the role of citizen soldiers in Britain and its empire during the Victorian period.

The course of events of the Great War has been told many times, spurred by an endless desire to understand 'the war to end all wars'. However, this book moves beyond military narrative to offer a much fuller analysis of of the conflict's strategic, political, economic, social and cultural impact.Starting with the context and origins of the war, including assasination, misunderstanding and differing national war aims, it then covers the treacherous course of the conflict and its social consequences for both soldiers and civilians, for science and technology, for national politics and for pan-European revolution.The war left a long-term legacy for victors and vanquished alike. It created new frontiers, changed the balance of power and influenced the arts, national memory and political thought.The reach of this acount is global, showing how a conflict among European powers came to involve their colonial empires, and embraced Japan, China, the Ottoman Empire, Latin America and the United States.

Marking the sixtieth anniversary of the premiere of Zulu, starring Stanley Baker and Michael Caine, this volume brings together contributions from leading military historians to analyse changing depictions of the British Army and its role in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century colonial conflict in the cinema of empire. The first comprehensive study of the British Empire in film for over 20 years, the book’s focus on feature films rather than documentaries sets it apart from other scholarly treatments.Chapters explore early re-enactments in the silent era, classic Hollywood and British imperial adventure in the 1930s such as Charge of the Light Brigade, Gunga Din, and Korda’s The Four Feathers, before moving on to the beginnings of more nuanced treatments in the 1960s such as Zulu and Khartoum amid increasing decolonisation, and then to contemporary post-imperial cinematic critiques in Afrikaner, Hindi and Maori-language films.  A comprehensive filmography is included, with over 200 cinema and television films relating to the British Army’s role in colonial conflicts prior to 1939.The book will be valuable to students and lecturers in film studies, military history, imperial history and cultural history, as well as a wider audience interested in military history and cinema.

The British amateur military tradition of raising auxiliary forces for home defence long preceded the establishment of a standing army. This was a model that was widely emulated in British colonies. This volume of essays seeks to examine the role of citizen soldiers in Britain and its empire during the Victorian period.