Spencer Jones – författare

The British Expeditionary Force at the start of World War I was tiny by the standards of the other belligerent powers. Yet, when deployed to France in 1914, it prevailed against the German army because of its professionalism and tactical skill, strengths developed through hard lessons learned a dozen years earlier. In October 1899, the British went to war against the South African Boer republics of Transvaal and Orange Free State, expecting little resistance. A string of early defeats in the Boer War shook the military's confidence. Historian Spencer Jones focuses on this bitter combat experience in From Boer War to World War, showing how it crucially shaped the British Army's tactical development in the years that followed.Before the British Army faced the Boer republics, an aura of complacency had settled over the military. The Victorian era had been marked by years of easy defeats of crudely armed foes. The Boer War, however, brought the British face to face with what would become modern warfare. The sweeping, open terrain and advent of smokeless powder meant soldiers were picked off before they knew where shots had been fired from. The infantry's standard close-order formations spelled disaster against the well-armed, entrenched Boers. Although the British Army ultimately adapted its strategy and overcame the Boers in 1902, the duration and cost of the war led to public outcry and introspection within the military.Jones draws on previously underutilized sources as he explores the key tactical lessons derived from the war, such as maximizing firepower and using natural cover, and he shows how these new ideas were incorporated in training and used to effect a thorough overhaul of the British Army. The first book to address specific connections between the Boer War and the opening months of World War I, Jones's fresh interpretation adds to the historiography of both wars by emphasizing the continuity between them.

Although separated from the modern reader by a full century, the First World War continues to generate controversy and interest as the great event upon which modern history pivoted. Not only did the war cull the European peoples of some of their best and brightest, it also led to the destruction of the Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman and Russian empires, and paved the way for the Second World War.This thought-provoking book explores ten alternate scenarios in which the course of the war is changed forever. How would the war have changed had the Germans not attacked France but turned their main thrust against Russia; had the Greeks joined the allies at Gallipoli; or had the British severed the communications of the Ottoman Empire at Alexandretta? What if there was a more decisive outcome at Jutland; if the alternative plans for the Battle of the Somme in 1916 had been put into effect; or if the Americans intervened in 1915, rather 1917?Expertly written by leading military historians, this is a compelling and credible look at what might have been.

‘The Armchair General team has done it again. An absorbing read for Christmas.’Peter Caddick-Adams‘Brilliant and immersive.’Harry SidebottomThe second book in the Armchair General series, where YOU choose the fate of the First World War________________________________HISTORY IS WRITTEN BY THE VICTORS. WILL IT BE YOU?TAKE THE HOTSEATAssume the role of real historic decision-makers: general, leaders, soldiers and intelligence officers of the Allied Forces during World War I.EXAMINE THE INTELLIGENCEExplore eight key moments from the First World War, using real contemporaneous intelligence: including the July Crisis, the Battle of the Somme, and the Russian Revolution.CONSIDER THE SCENARIO & MAKE YOUR DECISIONFrom battlefields to the Royal Courts, each tactical and strategic decision you make leads to a different outcome.Will you follow the path of the past - or shape a new history...?________________________________PRAISE FOR THE ARMCHAIR GENERAL SERIES'An original and exciting approach...The Armchair General adds enormously to our understanding of the conflicts' JAMES HOLLAND'A reminder that history is a never ending now, a relentless and endless present that comes without the luxury of hindsight' AL MURRAY'Wonderfully original...putting readers at the heart of the decision-making process and allowing them, literally, to change the course of history. This is counterfactual history at its very best' SAUL DAVID