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In the mid-19th century India was the focus of Britain's international prestige and commercial power - the most important colony in an empire which extended to every continent on the globe and protected by the seemingly dependable native armies of the East India Company. When, however, in 1857 discontent exploded into open rebellion, Britain was obliged to field its largest army in forty years to defend its 'jewel in the crown'. This book, drawing on the latest sources as well as numerous first-hand accounts, explains why the sepoy armies rose up against the world's leading imperial power, details the major phases of the fighting, including the massacres at Cawnpore and the epic sieges of Delhi and Lucknow, and examines many other aspects of this compelling, at times horrifying, subject.

IN AUGUST 1805, Napoleon abandoned his plans for the invasion of Britain and diverted his army to the Danube Valley to confront Austrian and Russian forces in a bid for control of central Europe. The campaign culminated with the Battle of Austerlitz, regarded by many as Napoleon’s greatest triumph, whose far-reaching effects paved the way for French hegemony on the Continent for the next decade. In this concise volume, acclaimed military historian Gregory Fremont-Barnes uses detailed profiles to explore the leaders, tactics and weaponry of the clashing French, Austrian and Russian forces. Packed with fact boxes, maps and more, Napoleon’s Greatest Triumph is the perfect way to explore this important battle and the rise of Napoleon’s reputation as a supreme military leader.

Napoleon Bonaparte is renowned as one of the great military commanders in history, and the central figure in so many of the events of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Throughout the first decade of the 19th century he won battle after battle by wielding the Grande Armée decisively against the other powers of Europe – Prussia, Austria and Russia. Yet his fortunes changed in 1812 when the invasion of Russia wrecked his forces, and Napoleon suffered his final defeat at Waterloo in 1815. This military biography lifts the lid on the combat history of one of the most famous military commanders of all time.

Gregory Fremont-Barnes examines the lives of the American Bomber Crewmen of the Eighth Air Force, 'The Mighty Eighth', who manned, maintained and repaired the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and the B-24 Liberators that flew from the airfields of England. He highlights the physical and psychological strain placed on these men, who required brute strength to control the aircraft on long bombing missions and extraordinary endurance to fly for hours at 20,000 feet at temperatures below freezing in unpressurised cabins. In addition to this, with Luftwaffe fighters and anti-aircraft fire to contend with, it required incredible skill and some luck to return from a mission unscathed. This book is a fitting tribute to these often uncelebrated heroes who took the war deep into the Third Reich, as well as a fascinating historical account of their experiences.

Europe's great powers formed two powerful coalitions against France, yet force of numbers, superior leadership and the patriotic fervour of France's citizen-soldiers not only defeated each in turn, but closed the era of small, professional armies fighting for limited political objectives. This period produced commanders whose names remain a by-word for excellence in leadership to this day, Napoleon and Nelson. From Italy to Egypt Napoleon demonstrated his strategic genius and mastery of tactics in battles including Rivoli, the Pyramids and Marengo. Nelson's spectacular sea victories at the Nile and Copenhagen were foretastes of a century of British naval supremacy.

This authoritative military reference provides detailed analysis of the various armed forces that fought in the Napoleonic Wars. The Napoleonic Wars were some of the most devastating and consequential in modern European history. Yet for all the attention paid to these dramatic conflicts, little focus is given to the composition, organization and fighting efficiency of the armies who fought them. Each force tends to be examined in isolation, either in the context of an individual battle or as the instrument of a single commander. Rarely have these armies been studied together in a single volume as they are in this fascinating reassessment edited by Gregory Fremont-Barnes. Leading experts on the Napoleonic Wars have been specially commissioned to produce an in-depth analysis of a specific army. The result is a vivid comparative portrait of ten of the most significant armies of the period, and of military service and warfare in the early nineteenth century. The volume covers the armies of Austria, Britain, the Confederation of the Rhine, the Duchy of Warsaw, France, the Kingdom of Italy, Portugal, Prussia, Russia and Spain.

This volume covers Napoleon's gradual fall from power, beginning in the spring of 1813, when France prepared to face the vengeance of Russia and Prussia. quickly raising new armies composed of inexperienced conscripts and invalided veterans, and with a critical shortage of cavalry, Napoleon resolved to preserve his empire in Germany, where he initially managed to achieve some hard-fought victories. When at last Austria threw in her lot with the Allies and the epic Battle of Leipzig followed, Napoleon was forced to retreat across the Rhine, there to resist the onslaught on home soil. The pressure against him proved too great, and with Paris lost and his marshals refusing to fight on, no option remained but abdication. Yet his last battle, and one of the most decisive in military history, was still to come: Waterloo.

Filled with the promise of adventure and glory, the Royal Navy of the Napoleonic era enticed hundreds of young men to enlist as officers in its bitter struggle against the French fleet. With some as young as nine, these boys were confronted with the harsh realities of warfare at sea: cramped conditions, ruthless storms and fierce combat. In spite of their youth, these sailors showed enormous courage and valour in the face of battle, their bravery immortalised in the literary works of Patrick O'Brian, C. S. Forester and Alexander Kent. Drawing from letters, poems and personal accounts, this book uncovers the remarkable story of those boys who fought aboard His Majesty's mighty ships-of-the-line to defend their kingdom against the French.

A fully illustrated overview of the USSR's bloody conflict in Afghanistan and its long legacy. The Soviet invasion of its neighbour Afghanistan in December 1979 sparked a nine-year conflict until Soviet forces withdrew in 1988–89, dooming the communist Afghanistan government to defeat at the hands of the mujahideen, the Afghan popular resistance backed by the USA and other powers. Gregory Fremont-Barnes reveals how the Soviet invasion had enormous implications on the global stage; it prompted the US Senate to refuse to ratify the hard-won SALT II arms-limitation treaty, and the USA and 64 other countries boycotted the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics. For Afghanistan, the invasion served to prolong the interminable civil war that pitted central government against the regions and faction against faction. Updated and revised for the new edition, with full-colour maps and new images throughout, this succinct account explains the origins, events and consequences of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, shedding new light on the more recent history – and prospects – of that troubled country.

Fully illustrated with colour maps and images, this is an accessible introduction to one of history's most heavily romanticized and mythologized campaigns. Dr Gregory Fremont-Barnes presents a detailed overview of the Forty-five Rebellion, dispelling the myths that have grown up around battles like Culloden and the figures of the Highlanders. Led by the charismatic Bonnie Prince Charlie and fought in the main by clansmen loyal to the Stuarts, the revolt initially saw government forces outmanoeuvred and outfought before the Prince's march on London halted at Derby. But the following spring, pursued back into the Highlands by the Duke of Cumberland, the Prince's army made its doomed last stand on the moor of Culloden. Fremont-Barnes examines this key turning point in British history, analysing the dynastic struggle of two royal houses, the Rebellion's manoeuvres and battles and the tragic aftermath for the Highlands. Updated and revised for the new edition, with full-colour maps and 30 new images, this is an accessible introduction to the famous campaign which saw the Stuart dynasty's final attempt to regain the British throne, and the end of the Highland clans' way of life.