The War Chronicles From Flintlocks To Machine Guns

Author : Joseph Cummins
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 431 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Military history, Modern
ISBN : 1742370314

Get Book

The War Chronicles, from Flintlocks to Machine Guns by Joseph Cummins Pdf

A global survey of modern warfare, from the first fervid days of the French Revolution of 1789 to the bloody stalemate that ended the Iran-Iraq war in 1988. In the modern era, warfare entered a new phase. Technological innovation yielded evermore destructive weaponry, international communications and alliances greatly extended the reach of conflicts, and military strategists increasingly targeted infrastructure and civilians, while new media - first photography, then film and television - conveyed the horror and brutality of industrialised comabt to those who had the good fortune to live beyond the battle zones. The War Chronicles: From Flintlocks to Machine Guns adopts the innovative and accessible format of its predecessor, which spanned the period from 500 BC to the American Revolution, to chart the astonishingly rapid evolution of modern warfare. In doing so, it traces the transformation of battle tactics, from the prearranged set-piece encounters of the Napoleonic Wars to the massive naval landings and aerial bombardments of World War II, explains the scientific innovations that yielded the machine gun, the tank, and the atom bomb, an vividly renders the key victories that turned the tide of war, from Waterloo to Gettysburd to D-Day. At the same time, it reiterates the constants of conflict: the slaughters and massacres, including the Holocaust and the little-known Taiping Rebellion, which killed up to forty million Chinese; the personal sacrifices made by those battling tyranny, among them the rebels of revolutionary France, Greece and Mexico; and the extraordinary influence of charismatic leaders, ranging from Napoleon and Pancho Villa to Mao Zedong and Hitler. Sweeping in its scope, yet intimate in its insights into the motivations of politicians, strategists, commanders, and soldiers, this is a collection that will enhance your understanding of the modern world and your own place in it.

Author : Joseph Cummins
Publisher : Fair Winds
Page : 436 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Military history, Modern
ISBN : 9781616734046

Get Book

The War Chronicles: From Flintlocks to Machine Guns by Joseph Cummins Pdf

Author : Joseph Cummins
Publisher : Crestline Books
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2013-07-26
Category : History
ISBN : 0785830537

Get Book

History's Greatest Wars by Joseph Cummins Pdf

Written in an accessible and engaging style by veteran history writer Joseph Cummins, this book spans most of recorded history and much of the globe in recounting the invasions, battles, and revolutions that have had the greatest effect on human affairs. Weaving together spellbinding narrative and startling facts and striking, frequently poignant images, these enthralling accounts yield new perspectives on the conflicts that created our contemporary world. The best and worst of humanity is on display here, in a collection that will act as a perfect primer for novices while offering seasoned history readers new perspectives on many famous and not so well known conflicts. Sweeping in its scope, yet intimate in its insights into the motivations of politicians, strategists, commanders, and soldiers, this is a collection that will enhance your understanding of the modern world and your own place in it.

Author : Joseph Cummins
Publisher : Fair Winds Press
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2009-12-01
Category : History
ISBN : 1592334024

Get Book

World's Bloodiest History by Joseph Cummins Pdf

In a somber survey leavened by sparse but inspiring accounts of heroism, author Joseph Cummins revisits some of the most dreadful and destructive acts of violence in history—from moments of sheer madness and merciless military offensives, such as that of the Spanish conquistadors in 1521 in what is now Mexico City, to clinically orchestrated campaigns of genocide, as took place in early twentieth-century Armenia, Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe, and 1970s Cambodia. Engaging, harrowing, and enlightening, his accounts convey the terror and trauma of these incidents while identifying the zealotry, prejudices, and animosities that fuelled them, and analyzing, in revealing fashion, their enduring and sometimes insidious influence on history. Handsomely illustrated with more than 100 striking, sometimes shocking, archival images gathered from around the world, The World’s Bloodiest History combines compelling depictions of momentous events with fascinating character portraits and arresting eyewitness accounts to create an absorbing, multifaceted chronicle of a sobering, all-too-human legacy.

Author : Joseph Cummins
Publisher : Quarto Publishing Group USA
Page : 281 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2010-11-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781610593861

Get Book

Why Some Wars Never End by Joseph Cummins Pdf

Fourteen of history’s longest-running military conflicts, from the Greco-Persian Wars to the Sudanese Civil War. Sometimes the causes of war are so intractable, the opponents so unyielding, and the rivalries so deep-rooted that the combat continues for years, decades, even centuries. And often when it does abate, the resentments still smolder, so that the slightest spark might reignite the conflagration. An at once captivating and unsettling volume, Why Some Wars Never End shines a spotlight on fourteen of history’s longest-running conflicts. They range from the almost century-long Punic Wars, which saw ancient Rome achieve dominance over the Mediterranean and lay the foundations of its world-changing empire, to the seventy years of uprisings and bloody encounters that triggered the Jewish Diaspora in the second century CE, to the nineteenth-century Seminole Wars, which virtually wiped out the Seminole Indians, to the violent British suppression of Afghan self-rule that set the stage for that nation’s distressing contemporary plight. Each of these wars had consequences and influences far beyond its source and the reach of its battles, not only redrawing political boundaries, but also coloring the worldview of generations of participants and bystanders, and thereby refashioning entire cultures. And all demonstrate, in harrowing fashion, why violence still stains our modern world, and why warfare shows no sign of ending any time soon. Praise for Joseph Cummins “This book is worthy of a place in the libraries of historians and politicians alike. Its stories of the past warn us about the future. Recommended.” —Armchair General on The World’s Bloodiest History “Gripping stories and lively writing.” —Library Journal on History’s Greatest Untold Stories

Author : Joseph Cummins
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 404 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Military history
ISBN : 1616734035

Get Book

The War Chronicles: From Chariots to Flintlocks by Joseph Cummins Pdf

Author : Joseph Cummins
Publisher : Crestline Books
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2018-08-07
Category : History
ISBN : 0785836640

Get Book

The World's Bloodiest History by Joseph Cummins Pdf

Handsomely illustrated with striking, sometimes shocking, often poignant images, this book combines the depictions of momentous events with fascinating character portraits and arresting eyewitness accounts to create an absorbing, multifaceted chronicle of a sobering all too human legacy. Though it simmers ceaselessly beneath the surface of society, violence is, for the most part, held in check by conscience and will, laws and social conventions. Even in war, it is constrained to some extent by human rights treaties, codes of honor, and traditional rules of engagement. Every once in a while, however, it erupts uncontrollably, unleashing atrocities that are almost beyond our comprehension. World's Bloodiest History recounts some of the most horrifying episodes of the past, from ancient times to our own, in searing detail, while rigorously investigating their causes-from religious fanaticism and ethnic rivalry to political power struggles and hunger for vengeance-and their consequences. It explores, for example, what led Romans in 146 BCE to abandon their typically civilized policy to co-opt conquered peoples and instead raze the city of Carthage to the ground and slaughter thousands of its inhabitants. It questions what drove the U. S. Militia, in Colorado in the winter of 1864, to gun down and bludgeon to death and then barbarically mutilate 150 Cheyenne (two-thirds of which were women and children) and how this changed the course of North American history. It strives to understand why, in 1994, ethnic Hutu villagers in Rwanda abruptly tured on their Tutsi neighbors and colleagues, massacring eight hundred thousand of them, and why the international community did nothing to stop them. Engrossing in their descriptions of diverse historical periods and cultures, intriguing in their insights into human impulses and motivations, perplexing in their implications, these are stories that lead us to reflect on our own character and strength of will, and to question, at the most basic levels, what it means to be human.

Author : Christopher David Thrasher
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 300 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2015-06-14
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9781476618234

Get Book

Fight Sports and American Masculinity by Christopher David Thrasher Pdf

Throughout America's past, some men have feared the descent of their gender into effeminacy, and turned their eyes to the ring in hopes of salvation. This work explains how the dominant fight sports in the United States have changed over time in response to broad shifts in American culture and ideals of manhood, and presents a narrative of American history as seen from the bars, gyms, stadiums and living rooms of the heartland. Ordinary Americans were the agents who supported and participated in fight sports and determined its vision of masculinity. This work counters the economic determinism prevalent in studies of American fight sports, which overemphasize profit as the driving force in the popularization of these sports. The author also disputes previous scholarship's domestic focus, with an appreciation of how American fight sports are connected to the rest of the world.

Author : Harold E. Raugh, Jr.
Publisher : Scarecrow Press
Page : 686 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2011-06-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780810874671

Get Book

Anglo-Zulu War, 1879 by Harold E. Raugh, Jr. Pdf

Anglo-Zulu War, 1879: A Selected Bibliography is a research guide and tool for identifying obscure publications and source materials in order to encourage continued original and thought-provoking contributions to this popular field of historical study. From the student or neophyte to the study of the Anglo-Zulu War, its battles, and its opponents to the more experienced historian or scholar, this selected bibliography is a must for anyone interested in the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War.

Author : Jeffrey S. Dixon,Meredith Reid Sarkees
Publisher : CQ Press
Page : 816 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2015-08-12
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781506300818

Get Book

A Guide to Intra-state Wars by Jeffrey S. Dixon,Meredith Reid Sarkees Pdf

Sourcing data and analyses from the rigorous Correlates of War Project, A Guide to Intra-state Wars describes how civil war is defined and categorized and presents data and descriptions for nearly 300 civil wars waged from 1816 to 2014. Analyzing trends over time and regions, this work is the definitive source for understanding the phenomenon of civil war, bringing together an explanation of the theoretical premises driving the Correlates of War Project, along with revisions to categories of, and actors in, civil wars that have been made over the years, and data from the Nations, States and Entities civil war dataset. Features: Provides detailed case studies of nearly 300 civil wars from 1816 to 2014. Combines the systematic study of war with analyses of trends over time and regions. Includes discussion of the different types of actors in international relations and presents data from the Nations, States, and Entities dataset. Considers data describing non-state participants (rebels) in civil wars.

Author : Joseph Cummins
Publisher : Fair Winds
Page : 324 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Genocide
ISBN : 9781616734633

Get Book

The World's Bloodiest History by Joseph Cummins Pdf

Handsomely illustrated with more than 100 striking, sometimes shocking, archival images gathered from around the world, The World's Bloodiest History combines compelling depictions of momentous events with fascinating character portraits and arresting eyewitness accounts to create an absorbing, multifaceted chronicle of a sobering, all-too-human legacy.

Author : Mia Bloom
Publisher : Cornell University Press
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2019-05-15
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781501709425

Get Book

Small Arms by Mia Bloom Pdf

Why do terrorist organizations use children to support their cause and carry out their activities? Small Arms uncovers the brutal truth behind the mobilization of children by terrorist groups. Mia Bloom and John Horgan show us the grim underbelly of society that allows and even encourages the use of children to conduct terrorist activities. They provide readers with the who, what, when, why, and how of this increasingly concerning situation, illuminating a phenomenon that to most of us seems abhorrent. And yet, they argue, for terrorist groups the use of children carries many benefits. Children possess skills that adults lack. They often bring innovation and creativity. Children are, in fact, a superb demographic from which to recruit if you are a terrorist. Small Arms answers questions about recruitment strategies and tactics, determines what makes a child terrorist and what makes him or her different from an adult one, and charts the ways in which organizations use them. The unconventional focus on child and youth militants allows the authors to, in essence, give us a biography of the child terrorist and the organizations that use them. We are taken inside the mind of the adult and the child to witness that which perhaps most scares us.

Author : Matthias van Rossum,Jeannette Kamp
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 208 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2016-02-25
Category : History
ISBN : 9781474216012

Get Book

Desertion in the Early Modern World by Matthias van Rossum,Jeannette Kamp Pdf

Early modern globalization was built on a highly labour intensive infrastructure. This book looks at the millions of workers who were needed to operate the ships, ports, store houses, forts and factories crucial to local and global exchange. These sailors, soldiers, craftsmen and slaves were crucial to globalization but were also confronted with the process of globalization themselves. They were often migrants who worked, directly or indirectly, for trading companies, merchants and producers that tried to discipline and control their labour force. The contributors to this volume offer an integrated, thematic study of the global history of desertion in European, Atlantic and Asian contexts. By tracing and comparing acts and patterns of desertion across empires, economic systems, regions and types of workers, Desertion in the Early Modern World illuminates the crucial role of practices of desertion among workers in shaping the history of imperial and economic expansion in the early modern period.

Author : Candice Millard
Publisher : Anchor
Page : 449 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2023-05-23
Category : History
ISBN : 9780525435648

Get Book

River of the Gods by Candice Millard Pdf

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The harrowing story of one of the great feats of exploration of all time and its complicated legacy—from the New York Times bestselling author of The River of Doubt and Destiny of the Republic A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE WASHINGTON POST • GOODREADS "A lean, fast-paced account of the almost absurdly dangerous quest by [Richard Burton and John Speke] to solve the geographic riddle of their era." —The New York Times Book Review For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe – and extend their colonial empires. Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke were sent by the Royal Geographical Society to claim the prize for England. Burton spoke twenty-nine languages, and was a decorated soldier. He was also mercurial, subtle, and an iconoclastic atheist. Speke was a young aristocrat and Army officer determined to make his mark, passionate about hunting, Burton’s opposite in temperament and beliefs. From the start the two men clashed. They would endure tremendous hardships, illness, and constant setbacks. Two years in, deep in the African interior, Burton became too sick to press on, but Speke did, and claimed he found the source in a great lake that he christened Lake Victoria. When they returned to England, Speke rushed to take credit, disparaging Burton. Burton disputed his claim, and Speke launched another expedition to Africa to prove it. The two became venomous enemies, with the public siding with the more charismatic Burton, to Speke’s great envy. The day before they were to publicly debate,Speke shot himself. Yet there was a third man on both expeditions, his name obscured by imperial annals, whose exploits were even more extraordinary. This was Sidi Mubarak Bombay, who was enslaved and shipped from his home village in East Africa to India. When the man who purchased him died, he made his way into the local Sultan’s army, and eventually traveled back to Africa, where he used his resourcefulness, linguistic prowess and raw courage to forge a living as a guide. Without Bombay and men like him, who led, carried, and protected the expedition, neither Englishman would have come close to the headwaters of the Nile, or perhaps even survived. In River of the Gods Candice Millard has written another peerless story of courage and adventure, set against the backdrop of the race to exploit Africa by the colonial powers.

Author : Max Longley
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 312 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2015-05-23
Category : History
ISBN : 9781476619996

Get Book

For the Union and the Catholic Church by Max Longley Pdf

Four men joined the Catholic Church in the mid-1840s: a soldier, his bishop brother, a priest born a slave and an editor. For the next two decades they were in the thick of the battles of the era--Catholicism versus Know-Nothingism, slavery versus abolition, North versus South. Much has been written about the Catholic Church and about the Civil War. This book is the first in more than half a century to focus exclusively on the intersection of these two topics.