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Illustrates life on the home front, important battles, war from the perspective of generals and soldiers, the collapse of empires, and glimpses of World War II through photographs, paintings, cartoons, and posters.
With the aid of more than 250 photographs and artworks, The Illustrated History of World War I recreates the battles and campaigns that raged across the surface of the globe, on land, at sea and in the air, including maps of specific actions and campaigns and feature boxes explaining important events and personalities involved in the conflict.
A fascinating and detailed chronological study of the war, including the decisive encounters, profiles of important political and military figures, as well as the experiences of those who lived through it.
World War Two was the most devastating conflict in recorded human history. It was both global in extent and total in character. It has understandably left a long and dark shadow across the decades. Yet it is three generations since hostilities formally ended in 1945 and the conflict is now a lived memory for only a few. And this growing distance in time has allowed historians to think differently about how to describe it, how to explain its course, and what subjects to focus on when considering the wartime experience. For instance, as World War Two recedes ever further into the past, even a question as apparently basic as when it began and ended becomes less certain. Was it 1939, when the war in Europe began? Or the summer of 1941, with the beginning of Hitler's war against the Soviet Union? Or did it become truly global only when the Japanese brought the USA into the war at the end of 1941? And what of the long conflict in East Asia, beginning with the Japanese aggression in China in the early 1930s and only ending with the triumph of the Chinese Communists in 1949? In The Oxford Illustrated History of World War Two a team of leading historians re-assesses the conflict for a new generation, exploring the course of the war not just in terms of the Allied response but also from the viewpoint of the Axis aggressor states. Under Richard Overy's expert editorial guidance, the contributions take us from the genesis of war, through the action in the major theatres of conflict by land, sea, and air, to assessments of fighting power and military and technical innovation, the economics of total war, the culture and propaganda of war, and the experience of war (and genocide) for both combatants and civilians, concluding with an account of the transition from World War to Cold War in the late 1940s. Together, they provide a stimulating and thought-provoking new interpretation of one of the most terrible and fascinating episodes in world history.
A. J. P. Taylor was one of the most acclaimed and uncompromising historians of the twentieth century. In this clear, lively and now-classic account of the First World War, he tells the story of the conflict from the German advance in the West, through the Marne, Gallipoli, the Balkans and the War at Sea to the offensives of 1918 and the state of Europe after the war. Containing photographs and maps, this an essential history of the war that 'cut deep into the consciousness of modern man'.
First published in 1995 and now available in paperback, an illustrated reference based on thirty years research, which records and describes in detail every airship built or used by Great Britain during the First World War.
This text begins by looking at the origins of World War I and then chronicles the war a year at a time. The second half of the book details the history of World War II, from the rise of Hitler and the persecution of the Jewish race to the attacks on Pearl Harbour and the dropping of atom bombs.
World War 1 was a global military conflict. It began as a skirmish between Serbia and Austria-Hungary with the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand in June 1914 and was transformed into a European war when Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914. The loss of life was unequalled, with some 8 million solders and more than 6 million civilians dying during four years of stagnant trench warfare and in failed attacks. It was the first time that many of the military technologies we now take for granted were seen, including aircraft, submarines and tanks. Yet, these were overshadowed by more established weapons such as machine guns, and artillery, the most lethal weapon of all. This visual encyclopedia looks at the key weapons used during the Great War. Each is listed chronologically within sections on the Army, Air Force and Navy. Each weapon features a brief history with a description on how it was used and key specifications, such as calibre, magazine, system, length, weight and muzzle velocity. The first section on Army Weapons features weapons used by the armies and infantry men, such as mortars, rifles and tanks. This is followed by Airforce Weapons and Airships, which includes bombers, fighter aircraft and Zeppelins. Finally Naval Weapons features the warships of Germany's Imperial Navy, the Royal Navy and the Allied powers' fleets, from the early battleships to more modern dreadnoughts and destroyers. From rifles, the main weapon used by British infantry men, to machine guns which needed four to six men to work them, and from tanks which were used for the first time during the battle of Somme to the new torpedo-boats whose main targets were the older battleships and more modern dreadnoughts, this is a detailed and fascinating guide to the military technologies developed during the First World War. Illustrated with more than 180 evocative contemporary photographs, the book will offer new insights for both general and specialist readers.
