British Military History For Dummies
, by Perrett, BryanNote: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.
- ISBN: 9780470032138 | 0470032138
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 4/30/2007
A plain-English guide to Britons in battle, from the Roman invasion to the ongoing Iraqi warCharging through the Britain's military past, this accessible guide brings to life the battles and wars that shaped the history of Britain-and the world. The book profiles commanders, explains strategies andtactics, and covers key developments in weaponry and technology.Bryan Perrett (Lancashire, UK) served in the British army, has been a defense correspondent for the Liverpool Echo, and has written more than 50 books on military history.
Bryan Perrett served with the Royal Armoured Corps, the 17th/21st Lancers, the Westminster Dragoons, and the Royal Tank Regiment and has written more than 50 books on military history.
Introduction | |
About This Book | p. 1 |
Conventions Used in This Book | p. 2 |
What You're Not to Read | p. 2 |
Foolish Assumptions | p. 3 |
How This Book Is Organised | p. 3 |
Ancient and Medieval Warfare | p. 3 |
The Arrival of Gunpowder | p. 4 |
Wars of Succession, Independence, and Revolution | p. 4 |
Nineteenth-Century Wars | p. 4 |
The First World War | p. 5 |
The Second World War (and Beyond) | p. 5 |
The Part of Tens | p. 5 |
Icons Used in This Book | p. 5 |
Where to Go from Here | p. 6 |
Ancient and Medieval Warfare | p. 7 |
Small Islands with Lots of Clout | p. 9 |
Checking Out Britain's Wars Through the Ages | p. 10 |
Moving with the Times: Key Strategies through History | p. 12 |
Remembering the Regiment: Traditions and Spirit | p. 13 |
Realising the Army's Role in the Modern World | p. 14 |
Swords, Sandals, and Geometry: The Romans | p. 15 |
Fighting from the Start: The Ancient Britons | p. 16 |
Caesar Seizes an Opportunity | p. 17 |
Caesar's first raid, 55 BC | p. 18 |
Caesar's second raid, 54 BC | p. 19 |
The Roman Invasion, AD 43 | p. 21 |
Harvesting a landing | p. 21 |
Bring on the elephants! | p. 22 |
Caratacus, the first British hero | p. 22 |
Setting London Ablaze: The Boudiccan Rebellion | p. 23 |
Policing Roman Britain | p. 24 |
The Legions Depart | p. 26 |
Arthur, Alfred, and Aethelstan: The Dark Ages | p. 29 |
(Not) Welcoming New Arrivals: Angles, Saxons, and Jutes | p. 30 |
Riding to the Rescue: King Arthur | p. 31 |
Carving Up Saxon England | p. 31 |
An Unbeatable Offa | p. 33 |
Shipping in the Viking Menace | p. 34 |
The Saxons Fight Back: Alfred and Aethelstan | p. 35 |
The Battle of Brunanburgh, 937 | p. 36 |
Turning Back the Tide: Ethelred and Canute | p. 37 |
The Hard Knight's Day: The Norman Conquest and Medieval Period | p. 39 |
1066: The Disputed Throne | p. 40 |
The Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 | p. 41 |
The Battle of Hastings, 14 October 1066 | p. 42 |
William takes the crown | p. 43 |
Fighting over Medieval England | p. 43 |
Here a castle, there a castle | p. 44 |
The days of knights | p. 45 |
Looking north...and west | p. 46 |
The Scottish Wars of Independence | p. 48 |
The Battle of Bannockburn, 14 June 1314 | p. 49 |
Continuing Anglo-Scottish hostilities | p. 49 |
Fighting the French: A National Sport | p. 50 |
The Battle of Crecy, 26 August 1346 | p. 50 |
The Battle of Poitiers, 19 September 1356 | p. 51 |
The Battle of Agincourt, 25 October 1415 | p. 52 |
Roses Are Red, Roses Are White | p. 54 |
The Arrival of Gunpowder | p. 57 |
With Pike and Shot: Renaissance Warfare | p. 59 |
Introducing Gunpowder Artillery | p. 60 |
Getting to grips with different types of gun | p. 61 |
What's your gun called? | p. 62 |
Hiring in guns, gunners, and ammunition | p. 62 |
Upgrading the Infantry | p. 63 |
Waving goodbye to the longbow... | p. 63 |
...And saying hello to the arquebus | p. 64 |
Riding Around in Circles: Cavalry | p. 65 |
Testing Out the New Ideas | p. 66 |
The Battle of Flodden, 1513 | p. 66 |
The Spanish Armada, 1588 | p. 67 |
Hearties versus Gloomies: The Civil Wars | p. 69 |
The First Civil War | p. 71 |
Setting the Civil War in swing | p. 71 |
Campaigning in 1644 | p. 74 |
Reaching a conclusion: 1645-1646 | p. 75 |
The Second Civil War | p. 77 |
The Third Civil War | p. 77 |
The Battle of Worcester, 3 September 1651 | p. 78 |
The Irish Campaign, 1649-1652 | p. 79 |
Campaigning for the Commonwealth | p. 79 |
Founding a Regular Army: The Late Seventeenth Century | p. 81 |
The Changing Army | p. 82 |
Raising a regiment: The proprietary system | p. 82 |
Buying a commission | p. 83 |
Introducing new types of soldier | p. 84 |
Dressing for battle | p. 84 |
The First Regiments | p. 85 |
Colours | p. 87 |
Battle honours and honour titles | p. 87 |
Preparing for War: Logistics, Ballistics, and Fortification | p. 88 |
Getting Some Action! | p. 89 |
The Battle of Sedgemoor, 6 July 1685 | p. 89 |
The Battle of the Boyne, 1 July 1690 | p. 90 |
Wars of Succession, Independence, and Revolution | p. 91 |
O'er the Hills and Far Away: Marlborough Country and Beyond | p. 93 |
The War of Spanish Succession, 1701-1714 | p. 95 |
The Battle of Blenheim, 13 August 1704 | p. 96 |
The Battle of Ramillies, 22 May 1706 | p. 97 |
The Battle of Oudenarde, 11 July 1708 | p. 98 |
The Battle of Malplaquet, 11 September 1709 | p. 98 |
Handing out the spoils of war | p. 99 |
The War of Austrian Succession, 1740-1748 | p. 99 |
The Battle of Dettingen, 27 June 1743 | p. 100 |
The Battle of Fontenoy, 11 May 1745 | p. 101 |
The Seven Years' War, 1756-1763 | p. 103 |
Losing Minorca, 1756 | p. 104 |
The Battle of Minden, 1 August 1759 | p. 104 |
The Battle of Emsdorf, 14 July 1760 | p. 107 |
The Battle of Warburg, 31 July 1760 | p. 108 |
Same Old Enemy, Brand New Venues | p. 108 |
Possessing the West Indies | p. 108 |
The French and Indian War, 1754-1763 | p. 109 |
Getting curried away: War in India | p. 113 |
Defending Gibraltar | p. 115 |
Risings and Rebellions: Jacobites and Americans | p. 117 |
One Day My Prince Will Come, 1708 | p. 118 |
Here Comes James - Again! The 'Fifteen' | p. 118 |
Hola! Spain's (Mini) Invasion of Scotland, 1719 | p. 119 |
The Jacobites Return...And This Time They're Bonnie: The 'Forty-Five' | p. 120 |
The Battle of Prestonpans, 21 September 1745 | p. 120 |
The Battle of Falkirk, 17 January 1746 | p. 121 |
The Battle of Culloden, 15 April 1746 | p. 122 |
The American War of Independence, 1775-1783 | p. 123 |
The Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill, 1775 | p. 124 |
Rebel failures in Canada | p. 126 |
New York, New York | p. 126 |
Making plans with Johnny and George | p. 128 |
Georgia on my mind, 1779-1781 | p. 130 |
Turning the world upside down | p. 131 |
Revolting Frenchmen, The Grand Old Duke, and Boney: The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars | p. 133 |
Campaigning with the Grand Old Duke of York: The Low Countries, 1793-1795 | p. 134 |
The Battle of Fishguard, February 1797 | p. 135 |
The Great Irish Rebellion of 1798 | p. 136 |
Chasing the French out of Egypt, 1801 | p. 138 |
Fighting France Here, There, and Everywhere | p. 139 |
Wellington Boots the French Out: The Peninsula to Waterloo | p. 143 |
The Peninsular War, 1808-1814 | p. 144 |
The Battle of Corunna, 16 January 1808 | p. 146 |
The Battle of Talavera, 27 July 1809 | p. 146 |
The Battles of Torres Vedras and Busaco, 27 September 1810 | p. 147 |
The Battle of Fuentes de Onoro, 5 May 1811 | p. 148 |
The Battle of Albuera, 16 May 1811 | p. 149 |
The storming of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, 19 January and 7 April 1812 | p. 153 |
The Battle of Salamanca, 22 July 1812 | p. 153 |
The Battle of Vittoria, 21 June 1813 | p. 154 |
The War of 1812 | p. 155 |
The northern theatre | p. 155 |
The Atlantic front | p. 160 |
Fighting beyond the bitter end: New Orleans, 1815 | p. 163 |
Catching the 1815 to Waterloo | p. 163 |
The Battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras, 16 June 1815 | p. 164 |
The Battle of Waterloo, 18 June 1815 | p. 165 |
Nineteenth-Century Wars | p. 171 |
Britain's Little Wars: Imperial Expansion | p. 173 |
The Changing Face of the Army | p. 174 |
Have Guns, Will Travel, 1815-1852 | p. 174 |
South Africa | p. 174 |
Aden | p. 175 |
Persia (Iran) | p. 175 |
Ceylon (Sri Lanka) | p. 176 |
Burma | p. 176 |
China | p. 178 |
New Zealand | p. 180 |
India | p. 181 |
The First Afghan War | p. 181 |
The conquest of Scinde | p. 183 |
The First Sikh War | p. 183 |
The Second Sikh War | p. 185 |
Helping Turkey Fight the Bear: The Crimean War | p. 187 |
In the Red Corner: Commanding the British Army | p. 189 |
The Battle of the Alma, 20 September 1854 | p. 190 |
The British advance | p. 190 |
The Guards and Highlanders advance | p. 192 |
The Russians counter-attack | p. 193 |
Sauntering on to Sevastopol | p. 194 |
The Battle of Balaklava, 25 October 1854 | p. 194 |
The thin red line | p. 195 |
The charge of the Heavy Brigade | p. 196 |
The charge of the Light Brigade | p. 197 |
The Battle of Inkerman, 5 November 1854 | p. 199 |
Bungling Beyond Belief | p. 200 |
The Fall of Sevastopol, 8 September 1855 | p. 201 |
Rebels, Rajahs, and a Rani: The Indian Mutiny | p. 203 |
The Mutiny Begins | p. 204 |
The Siege of Delhi, 8 June-20 September 1857 | p. 206 |
Reinforcing the besiegers | p. 207 |
Assaulting Delhi's walls | p. 208 |
Fighting inside the city | p. 208 |
The Reliefs of Lucknow, 1857-1858 | p. 210 |
Defending Lucknow | p. 211 |
Havelock and Outram to the rescue: The First Relief | p. 211 |
Campbell is coming, hurrah! Hurrah!: The Second Relief | p. 214 |
Evacuating Lucknow | p. 216 |
Fighting in Central India, 1858 | p. 216 |
Action in Jhansi | p. 217 |
Fighting in Kalpi | p. 219 |
Ending the mutiny at Gwalior | p. 220 |
Waving Goodbye to John Company, 1860 | p. 221 |
Home and Away: Reorganisation, Re-Equipment, and More Trouble in India | p. 223 |
Addressing Matters Close to Home | p. 224 |
Shootin' fastest and bestest | p. 224 |
Introducing new uniforms | p. 226 |
Mr Cardwell knows best | p. 226 |
Seeing Action on the North West Frontier | p. 228 |
The Second Afghan War, 1878-1880 | p. 230 |
Defending the Kabul Residency | p. 230 |
Retaking the Kabul Residency | p. 231 |
Intriguing Afghan politics | p. 232 |
The Maiwand disaster, 27 July 1880 | p. 233 |
Marching from Kabul to Kandahar | p. 235 |
The Great Frontier Rising, 1897-1898 | p. 236 |
Boots, Boots, Boots, Boots: Marchin' Over Africa | p. 239 |
Rescuing Hostages in Abyssinia, 1868 | p. 240 |
The Ashanti War, 1873-1874 | p. 241 |
The Zulu War, 1879 | p. 243 |
The Battle of Isandhlwana, 22 January 1879 | p. 243 |
The Defence of Rorke's Drift, 22-23 January 1879 | p. 246 |
Ending the Zulu War | p. 248 |
The First Boer War, 1880-1881 | p. 249 |
Introducing Boer commandos | p. 249 |
The Battles of Laing's Nek and Majuba Hill, 28 January and 27 February 1881 | p. 249 |
Invading Egypt, 1882 | p. 250 |
Send Sir Garnet! The Sudan, 1884-1885 | p. 252 |
Khartoum or bust! | p. 253 |
Sallying from Suakin against Osman Digna | p. 255 |
Reconquering the Sudan, 1896-1898 | p. 256 |
Steaming along Kitchener's desert railway | p. 257 |
The Battle of Omdurman, 2 September 1898 | p. 258 |
The Second Boer War, 1899-1902 | p. 260 |
Opening moves | p. 261 |
Defending Mafeking | p. 262 |
Struggling on through Black Week, 10-15 December 1899 | p. 263 |
Taking the initiative from the Boers | p. 264 |
Fighting the guerrilla war | p. 266 |
The First World War | p. 267 |
Hangin' On the Old Barbed Wire': The Western Front, 1914-1917 | p. 269 |
All Noisy on the Western Front | p. 271 |
The Battle of Mons, 23 August 1914 | p. 271 |
The Battle of Le Cateau, 26 August 1914 | p. 272 |
The Battle of the Marne, 5-10 September 1914 | p. 272 |
The First Battle of Ypres, 18 October-30 November 1914 | p. 273 |
Digging In to Trench Warfare | p. 274 |
Coping with shell shock | p. 274 |
'Your Country Needs You!' | p. 275 |
The Second Battle of Ypres, 22 April-25 May 1915 | p. 276 |
The Battle of Loos, 25 September-8 October 1915 | p. 277 |
The Battle of the Somme, 1916 | p. 277 |
Starting the Somme offensive | p. 278 |
Turning the tide | p. 280 |
Bringing on the tanks | p. 281 |
The Battles of 1917 | p. 283 |
Storm Troopers and Tank Attacks: The Western Front, 1918 | p. 287 |
The Ludendorff Offensives, March-June 1918 | p. 289 |
The Allies Fight Back | p. 291 |
The Battle of Amiens, 8 August 1918 | p. 292 |
Breaking the Hindenburg Line | p. 294 |
Reflecting on the War: Lions, Donkeys, and Poets | p. 294 |
Turkey With All the Trimmings: The Middle East and Beyond, 1914-1918 | p. 297 |
Defending Egypt | p. 298 |
Attacking the Suez Canal | p. 298 |
Fighting in the Western Desert | p. 299 |
Landing in the Dardanelles | p. 302 |
Optimism gone mad - the Dardanelles plan | p. 302 |
Getting everything wrong: Gallipoli | p. 303 |
Fighting in Mesopotamia | p. 305 |
Baghdad or bust: Take one | p. 305 |
Baghdad or bust: Take two | p. 307 |
Campaigning in Palestine | p. 309 |
Fending off early Turkish advances | p. 310 |
Taking the Gaza Line | p. 312 |
Battle of Megiddo, 19-21 September 1918 | p. 313 |
Engaging Enemies World Wide | p. 317 |
The Second World War (and Beyond) | p. 319 |
Phoney War, Panzers, and Miracles: The Outbreak of the Second World War | p. 321 |
Campaigning between the Wars | p. 322 |
The Phoney War, 1939-1940 | p. 324 |
The Arras counter-attack, 21 May 1940 | p. 325 |
The Dunkirk evacuation, 26 May-4 June 1940 | p. 326 |
Standing Alone after Dunkirk | p. 328 |
Sun, Sand, Sea, and Tanks: The Middle East and North Africa, 1940-1943 | p. 331 |
Facing the Italians in Libya | p. 334 |
The Battle of Sidi Barrani, 9-12 December 1940 | p. 335 |
Chasing 'Electric Whiskers' | p. 336 |
Taking Tobruk, 6-22 January 1941 | p. 337 |
The Battle of Beda Fomm, 5-7 February 1941 | p. 338 |
Rommel Arrives in the Desert | p. 339 |
Holed up at Tobruk, April-December 1941 | p. 340 |
Operation Battleaxe, 15-17 June 1941 | p. 341 |
Operation Crusader, 18 November-7 December 1941 | p. 341 |
First Battle of Alamein, 1-27 July 1942 | p. 345 |
Second Battle of Alamein, 23 October-4 November 1942 | p. 347 |
Operation Bertram, October 1942 | p. 348 |
Operation Supercharge, 2 November 1942 | p. 350 |
Pursuing Rommel to Tunisia | p. 351 |
One Bloomin' Ridge After Another: The Italian Campaign, 1943-1945 | p. 353 |
Warming Up for Italy: Sicily | p. 354 |
Landing at Salerno | p. 354 |
Monte Cassino and the Gustav Line | p. 356 |
The Anzio Beachhead | p. 357 |
Fighting through the Gothic Line | p. 358 |
Assaulting the Po | p. 359 |
Beachheads and Bridges: Normandy and Northwest Europe, 1944-1945 | p. 361 |
The Raid on Dieppe, 19 August 1942 | p. 364 |
D Day, 6 June 1944: The Greatest Amphibious Invasion in History | p. 365 |
Pushing on through the hedgerows | p. 366 |
Pursuing through France and Belgium | p. 368 |
Operation Market Garden, 17-26 September 1944 | p. 369 |
The drops | p. 370 |
Withdrawing from Arnhem | p. 371 |
Fighting Through to Germany: The Last Winter | p. 372 |
The Battle of the Bulge, 16 December 1944-16 January 1945 | p. 372 |
Operation Veritable, 8 February-8 March 1945 | p. 373 |
Crossing the Rhine | p. 374 |
Advancing across Germany to Victory | p. 375 |
Welcome to the Jungle: The Far East, 1941-1945 | p. 377 |
Losing the Empire in the Far East (For the Time Being) | p. 378 |
The Malayan Debacle, December 1941-February 1942 | p. 379 |
Retreating from Burma, 1942 | p. 381 |
Ending the Myth of Jungle Supermen | p. 383 |
Defending New Guinea | p. 383 |
Chasing out the Japanese | p. 384 |
Fighting Back into Burma, 1943-1944 | p. 385 |
The Admin Box, 6-25 February 1944 | p. 385 |
Kohima and Imphal | p. 387 |
Destroying the Japanese Burma Area Army | p. 389 |
The capture of Meiktila, 28 February-4 March 1945 | p. 390 |
Driving to Rangoon | p. 391 |
Around the World in 60 Years: Operations 1945-2006 | p. 393 |
Withdrawing from the Empire | p. 395 |
Palestine, 1945-1948 | p. 395 |
India and Pakistan, 1947 | p. 395 |
Malaya, 1948-1960 | p. 396 |
Kenya, 1952-1956 | p. 397 |
Cyprus, 1954-1974 | p. 398 |
Aden, 1964-1967 | p. 398 |
The 'Real' Wars: Great and Small | p. 399 |
Korea, 1951-1953 | p. 399 |
Suez, 1956 | p. 401 |
Borneo, 1962-1966 | p. 402 |
The Falkland Islands, 1982 | p. 403 |
The First Gulf War, 1991 | p. 406 |
Afghanistan, 2001 onwards | p. 407 |
The Second Gulf War, 2003 | p. 407 |
Peacekeeping Around the World | p. 408 |
Ulster, 1969-1998 | p. 409 |
Yugoslavia, post-1992 | p. 410 |
The Part of Tens | p. 417 |
Ten Great British Generals | p. 413 |
King Edward I (Chapter 4) | p. 413 |
Oliver Cromwell (Chapter 6) | p. 413 |
The Duke of Marlborough (Chapter 8) | p. 414 |
The Duke of Wellington (Chapters 10 and 11) | p. 414 |
General Sir Colin Campbell (Chapters 13 and 14) | p. 414 |
Field Marshal Lord Roberts (Chapters 14-16) | p. 415 |
Field Marshal Lord Wolseley (Chapters 15 and 16) | p. 416 |
Field Marshal Lord Allenby (Chapter 19) | p. 416 |
Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (Chapters 21-23) | p. 417 |
Field Marshal Viscount Slim (Chapters 21 and 24) | p. 418 |
Ten Decisive Battles in British Military History | p. 419 |
Hastings, 1066 (Chapter 4) | p. 419 |
Bannockburn, 1314 (Chapter 4) | p. 419 |
Blenheim, 1704 (Chapter 8) | p. 420 |
Saratoga, 1777 (Chapter 9) | p. 420 |
Waterloo, 1815 (Chapter 11) | p. 420 |
Amiens, 1918 (Chapter 18) | p. 421 |
Operation Compass and its Sequels, 1940-1941 (Chapter 21) | p. 421 |
The Second Battle of Alamein, 1942 (Chapter 21) | p. 421 |
Normandy, 1944 (Chapter 23) | p. 422 |
Meiktila, 1945 (Chapter 24) | p. 422 |
Ten British Military Museums Worth Visiting | p. 423 |
Housesteads Roman Fort, Northumberland | p. 423 |
The Tower of London | p. 423 |
Caernarfon Castle | p. 424 |
Edinburgh Castle | p. 424 |
The Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds | p. 424 |
Firepower! The Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich | p. 424 |
The Imperial War Museum, London | p. 424 |
The National Army Museum, London | p. 425 |
The Tank Museum, Bovington | p. 425 |
The D Day Museum, Southsea | p. 425 |
Index | p. 427 |
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