Tides of War

Tides of War PDF

Author: Steven Pressfield

Publisher: Bantam

Published: 2007-01-30

Total Pages: 452

ISBN-13: 055390406X

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Narrated from death row by Alcibiades’ bodyguard and assassin, a man whose own love and loathing for his former commander mirrors the mixed emotions felt by all Athens, Tides of War tells an epic saga of an extraordinary century, a war that changed history, and a complex leader who seduced a nation. Brilliant at war, a master of politics, and a charismatic lover, Alcibiades was Athens’ favorite son and the city’s greatest general. A prodigal follower of Socrates, he embodied both the best and the worst of the Golden Age of Greece. A commander on both land and sea, he led his armies to victory after victory. But like the heroes in a great Greek tragedy, he was a victim of his own pride, arrogance, excess, and ambition. Accused of crimes against the state, he was banished from his beloved Athens, only to take up arms in the service of his former enemies. For nearly three decades, Greece burned with war and Alcibiades helped bring victories to both sides — and ended up trusted by neither. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Steven Pressfield's The Profession. Praise for Tides of War “Pressfield’s battlefield scenes rank with the most convincing ever written.”—USA Today “Pressfield serves up not just hair-raising battle scenes . . . but many moments of valor and cowardice, lust and bawdy humor. . . . Even more impressively, he delivers a nuanced portrait of ancient athens.”—Esquire “Unabashedly brilliant, epic, intelligent, and moving.”—Kirkus Reviews “Pressfield’s attention to historic detail is exquisite. . . . This novel will remain with the reader long after the final chapter is finished.”—Library Journal “Astounding, historically accurate tale . . . Pressfield is a master storyteller, especially adept in his graphic and embracing descriptions of the land and naval battles, political intrigues and colorful personalities, which come together in an intense and credible portrait of war-torn Greece.”—Publishers Weekly

Tide of War

Tide of War PDF

Author: David R. Petriello

Publisher: Skyhorse

Published: 2018-01-16

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 151072821X

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The first comprehensive look at nature’s role on military history. Halley’s Comet helped to announce the fall of the Shang Dynasty in China, a solar eclipse frightened the Macedonian army enough at Pydna in 168 BC to ensure victory for the Romans, a massive rain storm turned the field of Agincourt to mud in 1415 and gave Henry V his legendary victory, fog secured the throne of England for Edward IV at Barnet in 1471, wind and disease conspired to wreck the Spanish Armada, snow served to prevent the American capture of Quebec in 1775 and confined the Revolution to the Thirteen Colonies, and an earthquake helped to spark the Peloponnesian War. But this is only a small sampling of the many instances where nature has tipped the balance in combat. Over the past 4000 years, weather and nature have both hindered and helped various campaigns and battles, occasionally even altering the course of history in the process. Today elements of nature still affect the planning and waging of war, even as we have tried to mitigate its impact. The growing concern over climate change has only heightened the need to study and understand this subject. Tide of War is the first book to comprehensively tackle this topic and traces some of the most notable intersections between nature and war since ancient times.

The Fleet at Flood Tide

The Fleet at Flood Tide PDF

Author: James D. Hornfischer

Publisher: Bantam

Published: 2017-11-14

Total Pages: 690

ISBN-13: 0345548728

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The extraordinary story of the World War II air, land, and sea campaign that brought the U.S. Navy to the apex of its strength and marked the rise of the United States as a global superpower Winner, Commodore John Barry Book Award, Navy League of the United States • Winner, John Lehman Distinguished Naval Historian Award, Naval Order of the United States With its thunderous assault on the Mariana Islands in June 1944, the United States crossed the threshold of total war. In this tour de force of dramatic storytelling, distilled from extensive research in newly discovered primary sources, James D. Hornfischer brings to life the campaign that was the fulcrum of the drive to compel Tokyo to surrender—and that forever changed the art of modern war. With a close focus on high commanders, front-line combatants, and ordinary people, American and Japanese alike, Hornfischer tells the story of the climactic end of the Pacific War as has never been done before. Here are the epic seaborne invasions of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam, the stunning aerial battles of the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot, the first large-scale use of Navy underwater demolition teams, the largest banzai attack of the war, and the daring combat operations large and small that made possible the strategic bombing offensive culminating in the atomic strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From the seas of the Central Pacific to the shores of Japan itself, The Fleet at Flood Tide is a stirring, authoritative, and cinematic portrayal of World War II’s world-changing finale. Illustrated with original maps and more than 120 dramatic photographs “Quite simply, popular and scholarly military history at its best.”—Victor Davis Hanson, author of Carnage and Culture “The dean of World War II naval history . . . In his capable hands, the story races along like an intense thriller. . . . Narrative nonfiction at its finest—a book simply not to be missed.”—James M. Scott, Charleston Post and Courier “An impressively lucid account . . . admirable, fascinating.”—The Wall Street Journal “An extraordinary memorial to the courageous—and a cautionary note to a world that remains unstable and turbulent today.”—Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander, NATO, author of Sea Power “A masterful, fresh account . . . ably expands on the prior offerings of such classic naval historians as Samuel Eliot Morison.”—The Dallas Morning News

Turning the Tide of War

Turning the Tide of War PDF

Author: Tim Newark

Publisher:

Published: 2003-09-15

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 9780600609834

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This atlas shows the decisive battles that changed the tide of war. It reveals how the upper hand was gained through a twist of fate, when US aircraft carriers were at sea on manoeuvres when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1942. With detailed strategic and battle plans it explains how superior forces were overwhelmed by a small well-trained army - the Turkish defence of Gallipoli agains the Allies in 1915. The atlas covers 200 years, from Napoleon's conquest of Europe through the first and second world wars to the Gulf War and the disintegration of Yugoslavia.

The Battle of Iwo Jima

The Battle of Iwo Jima PDF

Author: Steven Otfinoski

Publisher: Tangled History

Published: 2019-08

Total Pages: 113

ISBN-13: 1543575587

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On February 19, 1945, U.S. Marines landed on a tiny Pacific Island called Iwo Jima. Facing rugged terrain and a deeply entrenched enemy, they embarked on a fierce five-week battld to take the island and its airfields from the Imperial Japanese Army. Through vivid storytelling, experience one of the most important battles of World War II.

The Tide of War

The Tide of War PDF

Author: Seth Hunter

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2012-03-15

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 0755385063

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1794: Murder, mutiny and betrayal as war rips through the Caribbean . . . The second brilliant novel in Seth Hunter's naval adventure series, featuring Captain Nathan Peake. The perfect series for fans of HORNBLOWER and Iain Gale. 'This book has it all; naval battles, mutiny, pirates, spies - even a witch queen! Will be welcomed by lovers of naval historical fiction' Daily Mail Newly-promoted Captain Nathan Peake is despatched to the Caribbean to take command of the British navy's latest frigate, the 32-gun Unicorn. But the Unicorn already has a tragic history of mutiny - and murder. Meanwhile the Revolutionary authorities in Paris have sent the best frigate in the French fleet, the 44-gun Virginie, on a secret mission to spread mayhem from the shores of Cuba to the swamps of the Mississippi Delta. While the Unicorn embarks on her epic duel with the Virginie, Nathan confronts the seductive charms of Sabine Delatour, witch queen of the Army of Lucumi, the intrigues of the American agent Gilbert Imlay... What readers are saying about THE TIDE OF WAR: '[Seth Hunter is] a worthy challenger to the nautical stories of Patrick O'Brien and Dudley Pope. The pacing is relentless and totally absorbing' 'The research and description of the time is excellent. A first-class read' 'Seth Hunter's passion for history leaves the reader with a vivid sense of place and time'

A Blood-Dimmed Tide

A Blood-Dimmed Tide PDF

Author: Gerald Astor

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2015-01-27

Total Pages: 727

ISBN-13: 0698404971

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Drawing on firsthand accounts by survivors of the bloody Battle of the Bulge, diaries, letters, and official documents, this study describes the events of the campaign, hardships faced by the soldiers, the battle's horrifying costs, and the controversy surrounding the campaign.

Winds of Folly

Winds of Folly PDF

Author: Seth Hunter

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2016-04-01

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 159013706X

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A compelling new historical naval adventure from a master of maritime storytelling. 1796: Nathan Peake, captain of the frigate Unicorn, is sent with a small squadron into the Adriatic to help bring Venice into an Italian alliance with Britain against the French. He establishes a British naval presence, harrying the French corsairs that swarm out of Ancona in Italy, and confronts the politics of "intrigue, poison, and the stiletto" in Venice, but learns that Bonaparte is negotiating a peace deal with the Austrians—Britain's only remaining ally. Worse, the Spanish are about to ally with the French. Nathan returns to the Unicorn and rejoins Nelson for the decisive Battle of St. Vincent against the entire Spanish fleet.

The Rising Tide

The Rising Tide PDF

Author: Jeff Shaara

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 2006-11-07

Total Pages: 578

ISBN-13: 0345495330

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “This is Jeff Shaara at his best, giving us another superb [and] historically grounded novel of one of the most dramatic struggles of World War II.”—George McGovern Utilizing the voices of the conflict’s most heroic figures, some immortal and some unknown, Jeff Shaara tells the story of America’s pivotal role in World War II: fighting to hold back the Japanese conquest of the Pacific while standing side-by-side with her British ally, the last hope for turning the tide of the war against Germany. As British and American forces strike into the soft underbelly of Hitler’s Fortress Europa, the new weapons of war come clearly into focus. In North Africa, tank battles unfold in a tapestry of dust and fire unlike any the world has ever seen. In Sicily, the Allies attack their enemy with a barely tested weapon: the paratrooper. As battles rage along the coasts of the Mediterranean, the momentum of the war begins to shift, setting the stage for the Battle of Normandy. The first book in a trilogy about the military conflict that defined thetwentieth century, The Rising Tide is an unprecedented and intimate portrait of those who waged this astonishing global war. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jeff Shaara's The Steel Wave. Praise for The Rising Tide “[A] sprawling tale thoroughly researched and told withmeticulous detail . . . All that’s missing is the smell of gunpowder.”—MSNBC online “Masterful.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “The Rising Tide imparts the actual sights, sounds and dialogue from the grounds of 1940s Sicily and North Africa.”—New York Daily News

The Turn of the Tide in the Pacific War

The Turn of the Tide in the Pacific War PDF

Author: Sean M. Judge

Publisher: University Press of Kansas

Published: 2018-03-15

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0700625984

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Midway through 1942, Japanese and Allied forces found themselves fighting on two fronts—in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. These concurrent campaigns, conducted between July 1942 and February 1943, proved a critical turning point in the war being waged in the Pacific, as the advantage definitively shifted from the Japanese to the Americans. Key to this shift was the Allies seizing of the strategic initiative—a concept that Sean Judge examines in this book, particularly in the context of the Pacific War. The concept of strategic initiative, in this analysis, helps to explain why and how contending powers design campaigns and use military forces to alter the trajectory of war. Judge identifies five factors that come into play in capturing and maintaining the initiative: resources, intelligence, strategic acumen, combat effectiveness, and chance, all of which are affected by political will. His book uses the dual campaigns in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands as a case study in strategic initiative by reconstructing the organizations, decisions, and events that influenced the shift of initiative from one adversary to the other. Perhaps the most critical factor in this case is strategic acumen, without which the other advantages are easily squandered. Specifically, Judge details how General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz, in designing and executing these campaigns, provided the strategic leadership essential to reversing the tide of war—whose outcome, Judge contends, was not as inevitable as conventional wisdom tells us. The strategic initiative, once passed to American and Allied forces in the Pacific, would never be relinquished. In its explanation of how and why this happened, The Turn of the Tide in the Pacific War holds important lessons for students of military history and for future strategic leaders.