Modern Wars – serie

The Great War toppled four empires, cost the world 24 million lives, and sowed some of the seeds of another worldwide conflagration 20 years later. Yet, until now, there has been no comprehensive treatment of how Germany and Austria-Hungary - two of the key belligerents - conducted the war and what defeat meant to them. How did the Hohenzollern and Habsburg empires conceive of and conduct 'total war'? What impact did the prolonged fighting have on their societies? Drawing on his own archival research over the past decade, Holger Herwig analyses why Vienna opted for war in 1914 and why Berlin took the calculated risk to back that decision. The war plans and military campaigns on both Eastern and Western fronts are examined in detail and key battles, some of the bloodiest and most wasteful in military history, are narrated and analysed. On the home front, the mobilization of the civilian populations behind the war effort had profound social consequences. The militarization of the key war-related industries led to an industrial women's labour force emerging in both countries, deeply affecting the role of women in Germanic society."The great seminal catastrophe of the twentieth century', as American statesman George F Kennan described the war, has had no shortage of accounts seen chiefly from Allied perspectives. In using Vienna and Berlin as his vantage points, Herwig has comprehensively shown for the first time the other side of that prodigiously wasteful conflict.

Focusing on the 'special relationship' between the United States and Britain, this book examines the war these two powers fought against Germany, Italy and Japan. This account sees the struggle as a coherent whole, as it would have appeared to Churchill, Roosevelt and their military advisers. Emphasizing the unprecedented co-operation between Britain and the USA, Mark Stoler undermines the standard Churchillian view of the essential smoothness of this process. There were many, often substantial, disagreements between the two allies, and occasionally formal agreement masked continuing dispute in practice, notably over the understanding that the priority was to defeat Nazi Germany. This is a fully rounded history of the British-American effort and makes compelling reading for those who want to understand the intricacies and complexities of this unique relationship>

Winfried Baumgart’s masterful history of the Crimean War has been expanded and fully updated to reflect advances made in the field since the book’s first publication. It convincingly argues that if the war had continued after 1856, the First World War would have taken place 60 years earlier, but that fighting ultimately ceased because diplomacy never lost its control over the use of war as an instrument in power politics.With 19 images, 13 maps and additional tables as well as a brand new chapters on 'the medical services', this expanded and fully-updated 2nd edition explores* The origins and diplomacy of the Crimean War* The war aims and general attitudes of the belligerent powers (Russia, France, and Britain), non-belligerent German powers (Austria and Prussia) and a selected number of neutral powers, including the United States* The characteristics and capabilities of the armies involved* The nature of the fighting itselfThe Crimean War: 1853-1856 examines the conflict in both its Europe-wide and global contexts, moving beyond the five great European powers to consider the role and importance of smaller states and theatres of war that have otherwise been under-served. To this end, it looks at fighting on the Danube front, the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Caucasian battlefield, as well as the White Sea and the Pacific, with final chapters devoted to the Paris peace congress of 1856, the end of the war and its legacy.This book remains the definitive study of one of the most important wars in modern history.

Winfried Baumgart’s masterful history of the Crimean War has been expanded and fully updated to reflect advances made in the field since the book’s first publication. It convincingly argues that if the war had continued after 1856, the First World War would have taken place 60 years earlier, but that fighting ultimately ceased because diplomacy never lost its control over the use of war as an instrument in power politics.With 19 images, 13 maps and additional tables as well as a brand new chapters on 'the medical services', this expanded and fully-updated 2nd edition explores* The origins and diplomacy of the Crimean War* The war aims and general attitudes of the belligerent powers (Russia, France, and Britain), non-belligerent German powers (Austria and Prussia) and a selected number of neutral powers, including the United States* The characteristics and capabilities of the armies involved* The nature of the fighting itselfThe Crimean War: 1853-1856 examines the conflict in both its Europe-wide and global contexts, moving beyond the five great European powers to consider the role and importance of smaller states and theatres of war that have otherwise been under-served. To this end, it looks at fighting on the Danube front, the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Caucasian battlefield, as well as the White Sea and the Pacific, with final chapters devoted to the Paris peace congress of 1856, the end of the war and its legacy.This book remains the definitive study of one of the most important wars in modern history.

Thunder in the East, originally published in 2005, is widely regarded as the best short history of the entire Nazi-Soviet military conflict. It tells the story from the pre-war expectations of Hitler and Stalin, through the pivotal battles deep in Russia in 1942-43, and on to the huge Soviet offensives across Eastern Europe in 1944-45. This final ‘march of liberation’ destroyed the Third Reich and set Europe’s history for the next 45 years. The book provides penetrating answers to vital questions: Why did the war in the East develop as it did? Why did Hitler’s Wehrmacht lose? Why did the Red Army win, and why did the people of Soviet Russia pay such a high price for victory?The first edition took advantage of the flood of new sources that followed the end of the Soviet era. This second edition takes account of what has been written over the last decade; the Nazi-Soviet war, in all its aspects, has continued to be the subject of extensive and innovative research and heated controversy.

The Great War toppled four empires, cost the world 24 million dead, and sowed the seeds of another worldwide conflict 20 years later. This is the only book in the English language to offer comprehensive coverage of how Germany and Austria-Hungary, two of the key belligerents, conducted the war and what defeat meant to them. This new edition has been thoroughly updated throughout, including new developments in the historiography and, in particular, addressing new work on the cultural history of the war. This edition also includes: - New material on the domestic front, covering Austria-Hungary's internal political frictions and ethnic fissures - More on Austria-Hungary and Germany's position within the wider geopolitical framework - Increased coverage of the Eastern front The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary, 1914-1918 offers an authoritative and well-researched survey of the role of the Central powers that will be an invaluable text for all those studying the First World War and the development of modern warfare.

The battles in Russia played the decisive part in Hitler's defeat. Gigantic, prolonged, and bloody, they contrasted with the general nature of the fighting on other fronts. The Russians fought on their own in "their" theater of war and with an indepedent strategy. Stalinist Russia was a country radically different from its liberal democratic allies. Hitler and the German high command, for their part, conceived and carried out the Russian campaign as a singular "war of annihilation." This riveting new book is a penetrating, broad-ranging, yet concise overview of this vast conflict. It investigates the Wehrmacht and the Red Army and the command and production systems that organized and sustained them. It considers a range of further themes concerning this most political of wars. Benefiting from a post-Communist, post-Cold War perspective, the book takes advantage of a wealth of new studies and source material that have become available over the last decade. Readers from history buffs to scholars will find something new in this exciting new book.

The Great War toppled four empires, cost the world 24 million dead, and sowed the seeds of another worldwide conflict 20 years later. This is the only book in the English language to offer comprehensive coverage of how Germany and Austria-Hungary, two of the key belligerents, conducted the war and what defeat meant to them. This new edition has been thoroughly updated throughout, including new developments in the historiography and, in particular, addressing new work on the cultural history of the war. This edition also includes: - New material on the domestic front, covering Austria-Hungary's internal political frictions and ethnic fissures - More on Austria-Hungary and Germany's position within the wider geopolitical framework - Increased coverage of the Eastern front The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary, 1914-1918 offers an authoritative and well-researched survey of the role of the Central powers that will be an invaluable text for all those studying the First World War and the development of modern warfare.

The Wars of German Unification is the definitive account of the three of the most decisive conflicts in the history of modern Europe. In this new edition, Dennis Showalter offers a thoroughly updated look at the wars and their context that will be invaluable for those interested in the military, social and political history of the period. Showalter explores how the Schleswig-Holstein conflict of 1864; the ‘Six Weeks War' of 1866; and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 fundamentally altered the balance of power in 19th-century Europe. They marked the establishment of Prussian hegemony in central Europe, the creation of the Bismarckian Reich in 1871, the reduction of Habsburg influence and the collapse of Napoleon III's Second Empire. The Wars of German Unification offers a balanced and incisive account of the wars, their origins and their consequences, and firmly embeds these conflicts in their political, ideological and military contexts. This volume traces the transition from the ‘cabinet wars' of the 19th century and shows how the conflicts that made up the wars of German unification provided the foundation for the birth of modern warfare.