Robert McSweeney – illustratör

Drawing on Mark Galeotti’s unrivalled sources in the Russian and Ukrainian militaries, this studies Russia’s risky move to seize Kyiv at the start of the 2022 invasion, and how it was foiled.In 2022, Vladimir Putin was convinced he could seize Kyiv with minimal fighting, install a puppet government, and close his fist on Ukraine in a matter of weeks. As the war he launched continues to rage, Dr Mark Galeotti, a world expert on the Russian military, explains how this lightning conquest was meant to be won – and how the Ukrainians crushed it.He explains how the Russian Army’s generals, under-prepared and kept in the dark, nonetheless made a concerted attempt to seize Hostomel Airport and from there take the capital, with mercenaries detailed to hunt down the government. But Ukrainian military and civilian resistance thwarted the attack and within a month, the Russians were already on the retreat, leaving behind the smoking remains of the 40-mile invasion column outside Kyiv.Drawing extensively on Russian and Ukrainian sources including interviews with soldiers involved in the operation, and fully illustrated with photographs, original artwork and maps, this is the most detailed and compelling study of this operation available in English. It is the story of a plan that could have been among military history’s boldest coups-de-main, but whose defeat instead shattered Russia’s hopes of an easy victory.

An in-depth study of the ground campaign led by the US and Coalition forces against Iraq in the Gulf War.In 1980, Iraq invaded Iran, precipitating an eight-year war. By the end of the 1980s, Iraq was bankrupt, having amassed enormous debts, and oil-rich neighboring Kuwait, which Iraq had long claimed was rightly part of greater Iraq, seemed like the perfect solution. Saddam Hussein's invasion in August 1990 pitted one of the largest Arab armies against the smallest and Kuwait fell in a few days. Upset at this turn of events and worried about Hussein's military power, Saudi Arabia began negotiations with the US, UK and France to create a coalition to oust Iraq from Kuwait. More than 30 countries joined the coalition force. Operation Desert Shield had begun.With contemporary images, maps, diagrams and stunning artwork, this book by expert historian Steven J. Zaloga dives into the response from the forces of the Coalition to help liberate Kuwait following the month-long air campaign to weaken the Iraqi forces. While Iraq was defeated, the war did not unseat Hussein and the conflict would resume a decade later. This detailed study brings the ground campaign of the Gulf War to life.

An in-depth study of the ground campaign led by the US and Coalition forces against Iraq in the Gulf War.In 1980, Iraq invaded Iran, precipitating an eight-year war. By the end of the 1980s, Iraq was bankrupt, having amassed enormous debts, and oil-rich neighboring Kuwait, which Iraq had long claimed was rightly part of greater Iraq, seemed like the perfect solution. Saddam Hussein's invasion in August 1990 pitted one of the largest Arab armies against the smallest and Kuwait fell in a few days. Upset at this turn of events and worried about Hussein's military power, Saudi Arabia began negotiations with the US, UK and France to create a coalition to oust Iraq from Kuwait. More than 30 countries joined the coalition force. Operation Desert Shield had begun.With contemporary images, maps, diagrams and stunning artwork, this book by expert historian Steven J. Zaloga dives into the response from the forces of the Coalition to help liberate Kuwait following the month-long air campaign to weaken the Iraqi forces. While Iraq was defeated, the war did not unseat Hussein and the conflict would resume a decade later. This detailed study brings the ground campaign of the Gulf War to life.

An in-depth study of the ground campaign led by the US and Coalition forces against Iraq in the Gulf War.In 1980, Iraq invaded Iran, precipitating an eight-year war. By the end of the 1980s, Iraq was bankrupt, having amassed enormous debts, and oil-rich neighboring Kuwait, which Iraq had long claimed was rightly part of greater Iraq, seemed like the perfect solution. Saddam Hussein's invasion in August 1990 pitted one of the largest Arab armies against the smallest and Kuwait fell in a few days. Upset at this turn of events and worried about Hussein's military power, Saudi Arabia began negotiations with the US, UK and France to create a coalition to oust Iraq from Kuwait. More than 30 countries joined the coalition force. Operation Desert Shield had begun.With contemporary images, maps, diagrams and stunning artwork, this book by expert historian Steven J. Zaloga dives into the response from the forces of the Coalition to help liberate Kuwait following the month-long air campaign to weaken the Iraqi forces. While Iraq was defeated, the war did not unseat Hussein and the conflict would resume a decade later. This detailed study brings the ground campaign of the Gulf War to life.

With detailed illustrations, this is the first book to survey the technology and deployment of the NATO missile systems that protected Western European airspace during the Cold War.For more than three decades, the first line of defence at the Iron Curtain was a huge network of medium- and long-range NATO surface-to-air missile systems. Beginning in 1959, Nike and Hawk SAMs, later reinforced by Britain’s Bloodhound and Thunderbird, were deployed in a two-layer missile belt to defend against any Warsaw Pact air attack.Written by two former air defence officers, and based on declassified documents and interviews with former NATO personnel, this is the first book to survey the development, technology, and deployment of the NATO SAM system. The first – Nike Ajax and Hercules – were deployed to protect airbases and other critical installations, forming a belt through West Germany from Switzerland to the North Sea. The capabilities of NATO’s defences then developed with improvements to command and control systems, the extension of the system north into Scandinavia and south into Italy, Greece and Turkey, as well as the addition of HAWK, Thunderbird and Bloodhound missile units, and finally the deployment of the ultimate Patriot system in the 1980s.Fully illustrated, this is a concise, detailed survey of the system that at its height, fielded more than 200 SAM batteries in Germany and the length of the Iron Curtain.

The first authoritative, illustrated account of Russia's high-risk strike on Ukraine's capital, the centerpiece of its failed 2022 invasion plan.In 2022, Vladimir Putin was convinced he could seize Kyiv, install a puppet government, and close his fist on Ukraine in a matter of weeks, with minimal fighting. In this book, Dr Mark Galeotti, a world expert on Russian military history, explains how Russia's lightning conquest was conceived and planned, and how it was defeated.He explains how Russia's commanders did not expect to go to war and were forced to invade under-prepared, and how they nonetheless made a concerted attempt to seize Hostomel Airport and from there take the capital, with mercenaries detailed to hunt down the government. But Ukrainian military and civilian resistance thwarted the attack and within a month, the Russians were already on the retreat, leaving behind the smoking remains of the 40-mile invasion column outside Kyiv.Drawing extensively on Russian and Ukrainian sources including interviews with soldiers involved in the operation, and fully illustrated with photographs, original artwork and maps, this is the most detailed and compelling study of this operation available in English. It is the story of a strike whose defeat signalled both the shattering of Putin's expectations of an easy victory, and the start of the reorientation of the war towards the south-east.