Ian F. W. Beckett

Keith Simpson

The Great War was the first conflict to draw men and women into uniform on a massive scale. From a small regular force of barely 250,000, the British Army rapidly expanded into a national force of over five million. A Nation in Arms brings together original research into the impact of the war on the army as an institution, gives a revealing account of those who served in it and offers fascinating insights into its social history during one of the bloodiest wars.

The British Army in the First World War

A Nation in Arms

Insurgencies are at the centre of most of the conflicts that confront the modern world, and they have been since the Second World War. Leading armies across the globe have well-developed strategies for fighting counterinsurgency campaigns which are continually adjusted and refined as a result of direct experience gained in the field. Understanding this experience and learning the right lessons from it are essential as new insurgencies break out. Perhaps this is especially important today in the wake of the attacks on America and the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that is why this new edition of a pioneering survey of the subject, first published 25 years ago, is of such immediate relevance today. Editors Ian Beckett and John Pimlott brought together a team of expert contributors who provided an international overview of counter-insurgency strategies and techniques as they were perceived and put into practice a generation ago.This historical survey, which covers irregular warfare in countries as widely separated as Chad, Vietnam, Uruguay and Mozambique, will be fascinating reading for anyone studying insurgencies and the armed response to them.

Lessons from History

Counter Insurgency

Lt.-Gen. Sir Garnet Wolseley commented that history would record the formation of the Volunteers Movement as one of the most remarkable events in the century. In this study of the Rifle Volunteer Movement, the author Ian Beckett has drawn from a wide range of primary source material such as official, regimental, local and private repositories. He has been able to put into perspective the Movement within the structure of the Victorian and Edwardian social, political and military affairs from its formation in 1859 to its absorption in the Territorial Force in 1908.

A Study of the Rifle Volunteer Movement 1859-1908

Riflemen Form

The course of events of the Great War has been told many times, spurred by an endless desire to understand 'the war to end all wars'. However, this book moves beyond military narrative to offer a much fuller analysis of of the conflict's strategic, political, economic, social and cultural impact. Starting with the context and origins of the war, including assasination, misunderstanding and differing national war aims, it then covers the treacherous course of the conflict and its social consequences for both soldiers and civilians, for science and technology, for national politics and for pan-European revolution. The war left a long-term legacy for victors and vanquished alike. It created new frontiers, changed the balance of power and influenced the arts, national memory and political thought. The reach of this acount is global, showing how a conflict among European powers came to involve their colonial empires, and embraced Japan, China, the Ottoman Empire, Latin America and the United States.

1914-1918

The Great War

The story of Isandlwana, the battle that shocked the British empire at its zenith, and Rorke's Drift, which immediately followed it and went some way to restoring wounded British pride: how they were fought, how they have been remembered, and what they mean for us today.

Rorke's Drift and Isandlwana

Steven J. Corvi

An in-depth study of Douglas Haig's army commanders on the Western Front during the First World War. Assesses their careers and characters, looks critically at their performance in command and examines their relationship with their subordinates and with Haig himself. Chapters are devoted to Allenby, Byng, Birdwood, Gough, Horne, Monro, Plumer, Rawlinson and Smith-Dorrien. Offers a fascinating insight into the mentality of these men and into their methods as they sought a solution to the problem of war on the Western Front. A fascinating and original contribution to the history of the war in the trenches.Contributors include: John Bourne, Matthew Hughes, John Lee, William Philpott, Simon Robbins, Gary Sheffield, Peter Simkins, Ian F. W. Beckett, Steven J. Corvi.

Ian F. W. Beckett

About

Books

Join the club