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War, Agriculture, and Food: Rural Europe from the 1930s to the 1950s (Routledge Studies in Modern European History)
Par Paul Brassley, Yves Segers, Leen Van Molle. 2012
Between the 1930s and the 1950s rural life in Europe underwent profound changes, partly as a result of the Second…
World War, and partly as a result of changes which had been in progress over many years. This book examines a range of European countries, from Scandinavia to Spain and Ireland to Hungary, during this crucial period, and identifies the common pressures to which they all responded and the features that were unique to individual countries. In particular, it examines the processes of agricultural development over western Europe as a whole, the impact of the war on international trading patterns, the relationships between states and farmers, and the changing identities of rural populations. It presents a bold attempt to write rural history on a European scale, and will be of interest not only to historians and historical geographers, but also to those interested in the historical background to the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, to which the changes discussed here provided a dramatic prologue.Stalin as Warlord
Par Alfred J. Rieber. 2022
An authoritative account of Stalin as a wartime leader—showing how his paradoxical policies of mass mobilization and repression affected all…
aspects of Soviet society The Second World War was the defining moment in the history of the Soviet Union. With Stalin at the helm, it emerged victorious at a huge economic and human cost. But even before the fighting had ended, Stalin began to turn against the architects of success. In this original and comprehensive study, Alfred J. Rieber examines Stalin as a wartime leader, arguing that his policies were profoundly paradoxical. In preparation for the war, Stalin mobilized the whole of Soviet society in pursuit of his military goals and intensified the centralization of his power. Yet at the same time, his use of terror weakened the forces vital to the defense of the country. In his efforts to rebuild the country after the devastating losses and destruction, he suppressed groups that had contributed immeasurably to victory. His steady, ruthless leadership cultivated a legacy that was to burden the Soviet Union and Russia to the present day.Bat Bomb: World War II's Other Secret Weapon
Par Jack Couffer. 1992
It was a crazy way to win World War II in the Pacific— All the United States had to do…
was to attach small incendiary bombs to millions of bats and release them over Japan's major cities. As the bats went to roost, a million fires would flare up in remote crannies of the wood and paper buildings common throughout Japan. When their cities were reduced to ashes, the Japanese would surely capitulate... The plan made sense to a handful of eccentric promoters and researchers, who convinced top military brass and even President Roosevelt to back the scheme. It might have worked, except that another secret weapon—something to do with atoms—was chosen to end the war. Told here by the youngest member of the team, this is the story of the bat bomb project, or Project X-Ray, as it was officially known. In scenes worthy of a Capra or Hawks comedy, Jack Couffer recounts the unorthodox experiments carried out in the secrecy of Bandera, Texas, Carlsbad, New Mexico, and El Centro, California, in 1942-1943 by "Doc" Adams' private army. This oddball cast of characters included an eccentric inventor, a distinguished Harvard scientist, a biologist with a chip on his shoulder, a movie star, a Texas guano collector, a crusty Marine Corps colonel, a Maine lobster fisherman, an ex-mobster, and a tiger. Not to be defeated by minor logistical hurdles, the bat bomb researchers risked life and limb to explore uncharted bat caves and "recruit" thousands of bats to serve their country. Through months of personality conflicts, military snafus, and technical failures the team pressed on, certain that bats could end the war with Japan. And they might have—in their first airborne test, the bat bombers burned an entire brand-new military airfield to the ground. For everyone who relishes true tales of action and adventure, Bat Bomb is a must-read. Bat enthusiasts will also discover the beginnings of the scientific study of bats.Britain's Secret War against Japan, 1937-1945 (Studies in Intelligence)
Par Douglas Ford. 2006
A new look at how Britain’s defence establishment learned to engage Japan’s armed forces as the Pacific War progressed. Douglas Ford reveals that, prior…
to Japan’s invasion of Southeast Asia in December 1941, the British held a contemptuous view of Japanese military prowess. He shows that the situation was not helped by the high level of secrecy which surrounded Japan’s war planning, as well as the absence of prior engagements with the Imperial Japanese Navy and Army. The fall of ‘Fortress Singapore’ in February 1942 dispelled the notion that the Japanese were incapable of challenging the West. British military officials acknowledged how their forces in the Far East were inadequate, and made a concerted effort to improve their strength and efficiency. However, because Britain’s forces were tied down in their operations in Europe, North Africa and the Mediterranean, they had to fight the Japanese with limited resources. Drawing upon the lessons obtained through Allied experiences in the Pacific theatres as well as their own encounters in Southeast Asia, the British used the available intelligence on the strategy, tactics and morale of Japan’s armed forces to make the best use of what they had, and by the closing stages of the war in 1944 to 1945, they were able to devise a war plan which paved the way for the successful war effort. This book will be of great interest to all students of the Second World War, intelligence studies, British military history and strategic studies in general.The Secrets of D-Day
Par Larry Collins. 2006
The battle known as D-Day— the Allied Armies invasion of France on June 6, 1944— has been remembered in hundreds…
of books, articles, and films. D-Day marked the true turning point in the war against the German Reich and the effort to liberate Europe from its occupation.In The Secrets of D-Day, master storyteller Larry Collins (author of The Road To Armageddon and co-author of Is Paris Burning?) breathes life into this amazing tale. Collins vividly describes the people and events, and his revelations of all the secrecy and covert planning are incredible. This is a fitting testimonial to the men and women whose courage and dedication made success possible.In Their Own Words: Untold Stories of the First World War
Par Anthony Richards. 2015
The First World War was the defining event of the last century. It claimed the lives of over 16 million…
people across the globe and had an enormous impact on all who experienced it. No nation in Europe was left untouched, and even neutral states felt its devastating impact. Yet it was the ordinary men and women who were affected the most. This gripping, revealing and poignant collection of stories tells the First World War from the perspective of those who were there, using letters, diaries and memoirs from Imperial War Museum's unparalleled archives.(P)2020 Headline Publishing Group LtdPatrol: Imperial War Museum Wartime Classics
Par Fred Majdalany. 2020
1943, the North African desert. Major Tim Sheldon, exhausted and battle weary, is tasked with carrying out a futile and…
unexpected patrol mission. Fred Majdalany's intimate, tense novel puts this so-called minor action centre stage, as over the course of the day and through the night of the patrol itself, Sheldon reminisces about his time as a soldier, his own future, and what it means to confront fear.Based on Fred Majdalany's own wartime experience with the Lancashire Fusiliers in North Africa, this new edition of a 1953 classic includes a contextual introduction from IWM which sheds new light on the true events that so inspired its author.'If poetry was the supreme literary form of the First World War then, as if in riposte, in the Second World War, the English novel came of age. This wonderful series is an exemplary reminder of that fact' WILLIAM BOYD'An absolute gem. The attention to detail, the rising tension and the utterly convincing characters... stunning' JAMES HOLLAND'When a man has been a soldier and seen action, he writes of war with true understanding, and with authority. When that man writes with wit, elegance and imagination, as Fred Majdalany does in Patrol, he produces a military masterpiece' ALAN MALLISON(P)2020 Headline Publishing Group LtdWomen of Steel: The Feisty Factory Sisters Who Helped Win the War
Par Michelle Rawlins. 2020
True stories of love and loss during WWII from a band of tough Northern women.When war broke out, the young…
women of Sheffield had their carefree lives turned upside down. With their sweethearts being sent away to fight, they had no choice but to step into the men's shoes and became the backbone of the city's steel industry. Through hard toil and companionship in the gruelling world of factory work, they vowed to keep the foundry fires burning and ensured that soldiers had the weapons, planes and ships needed to secure victory over Hitler.Women of Steel is the last chance to hear these unsung heroines' voices, as they share first-hand how a group of plucky young women rallied together to win the war for Britain. When the men returned from the front in 1945, many of these women tragically found themselves discarded 'like yesterday's fish and chip wrappers'. But decades later, a grassroots campaign spearheaded by the elderly Women of Steel finally brought their remarkable story to light.(P) 2020 Headline Publishing Group LtdFatal Voyage: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis
Par Dan Kurzman. 1988
Shortly after midnight on July 30, 1945, the Navy cruiser USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the…
Philippine Sea. The ship had just left the island of Tinian, delivering components of the atomic bomb destined for Hiroshima. As the torpedoes hit, the Indianapolis erupted into a fiery coffin, sinking in less than fifteen minutes and leaving nine hundred crewmen fighting for life in shark-infested waters. They expected a swift, routine rescue, unaware that the Navy high command didn't even realize that the Indianapolis was missing. Help would not arrive for another five days. Drawn from definitive interviews with key figures, Fatal Voyage recounts the horrific events endured as the number of water-treading survivors dwindled to just 316. Each gruesome day brought more madness and slow death, from explosion-related injuries, dehydration, and, most terrifying of all, shark attacks. But the pain did not end when the men finally returned home: The Indianapolis's commander, Captain Charles B. McVay III, was court-martialed for causing the clearly unavoidable disaster. With a new afterword chronicling the fifty-five-year campaign by Indianapolis survivors and their supporters to win public vindication for Captain McVay, this classic is restored, along with memories of the Indianapolis crew.Hitler and Nazi Germany (Questions and Analysis in History)
Par Stephen J. Lee. 2009
Hitler and Nazi Germany provides a concise introduction to Hitler’s rise to power and Nazi domestic and foreign policies through…
to the end of the Second World War. Combining narrative, the views of different historians, interpretation and a selection of sources, this book provides a concise introduction and study aid for students. This second edition has been extensively revised and expanded and includes new chapters on the Nazi regime, the SS and Gestapo, and the Second World War. Expanded background narratives provide a solid understanding of the period and the analyses and sources have been updated throughout to help students engage with recent historiography and form their own interpretation of events.Warriors for the Working Day: Imperial War Museum Wartime Classics
Par Peter Elstob. 2020
May 1944, the Royal Armoured Corps prepares for the invasion of north-west Europe. Young and conscientious, Michael Brook is quickly…
promoted to tank commander. He must overcome not only his own fear, but the dissent and doubts of his ever-changing crew, as the war takes them over the Rhine and into Germany. The men encounter both jubilant civilians and stiff enemy resistance as the conflict exacts a heavy toll.Based on Peter Elstob's own wartime experience, Warriors for the Working Day brilliantly evokes the particular ferocity, heat and terror of tank warfare. This new edition of a 1960 classic features a contextual introduction from IWM which sheds new light on the true events that so inspired its author.'If poetry was the supreme literary form of the First World War then, as if in riposte, in the Second World War, the English novel came of age. This wonderful series is an exemplary reminder of that fact.' WILLIAM BOYD'Few other novels of the war describe the grinding claustrophobia, violence and lethal danger of being in a tank crew with the stark vividness of Peter Elstob... a forgotten classic that deserves to be read and read.' JAMES HOLLAND(P) 2020 Headline Publishing Group LtdA Brief History of the Mediterranean: Indispensable for Travellers
Par Jeremy Black. 2020
A wonderfully concise and readable, yet comprehensive, history of the Mediterranean Sea, the perfect companion for any visitor -- or…
indeed, anyone compelled to stay at home.'The grand object of travelling is to see the shores of the Mediterranean.'Samuel Johnson, 1776The Mediterranean has always been a leading stage for world history; it is also visited each year by tens of millions of tourists, both local and international. Jeremy Black provides an account in which the experience of travel is foremost: travel for tourism, for trade, for war, for migration, for culture, or, as so often, for a variety of reasons. Travellers have always had a variety of goals and situations, from rulers to slaves, merchants to pirates, and Black covers them all, from Phoenicians travelling for trade to the modern tourist sailing for pleasure and cruising in great comfort.Throughout the book the emphasis is on the sea, on coastal regions and on port cities visited by cruise liners - Athens, Barcelona, Naples, Palermo. But it also looks beyond, notably to the other waters that flow into the Mediterranean - the Black Sea, the Atlantic, the Red Sea and rivers, from the Ebro and Rhone to the Nile. Much of western Eurasia and northern Africa played, and continues to play, a role, directly or indirectly, in the fate of the Mediterranean. At times, that can make the history of the sea an account of conflict after conflict, but it is necessary to understand these wars in order to grasp the changing boundaries of the Mediterranean states, societies and religions, the buildings that have been left, and the peoples' cultures, senses of identity and histories.Black explores the centrality of the Mediterranean to the Western experience of travel, beginning in antiquity with the Phoenicians, Minoans and Greeks. He shows how the Roman Empire united the sea, and how it was later divided by Christianity and Islam. He tells the story of the rise and fall of the maritime empires of Pisa, Genoa and Venice, describes how galley warfare evolved and how the Mediterranean fired the imagination of Shakespeare, among many artists. From the Renaissance and Baroque to the seventeenth-century beginnings of English tourism - to the Aegean, Sicily and other destinations - Black examines the culture of the Mediterraean. He shows how English naval power grew, culminating in Nelson's famous victory over the French in the Battle of the Nile and the establishment of Gibraltar, Minorca and Malta as naval bases. Black explains the retreat of Islam in north Africa, describes the age of steam navigation and looks at how and why the British occupied Cyprus, Egypt and the Ionian Islands. He looks at the impact of the Suez Canal as a new sea route to India and how the Riviera became Europe's playground. He shows how the Mediterranean has been central to two World Wars, the Cold War and ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. With its focus always on the Sea, the book looks at the fate of port cities particularly - Alexandria, Salonika and Naples.Of all the threats that faced his country in World War II, Winston Churchill said, just one really scared him--what…
he called the "measureless peril" of the German U-boat campaign. In that global conflagration, only one battle--the struggle for the Atlantic--lasted from the very first hours of the conflict to its final day. Hitler knew that victory depended on controlling the sea-lanes where American food and fuel and weapons flowed to the Allies. At the start, U-boats patrolled a few miles off the eastern seaboard, savagely attacking scores of defenseless passenger ships and merchant vessels while hastily converted American cabin cruisers and fishing boats vainly tried to stop them. Before long, though, the United States was ramping up what would be the greatest production of naval vessels the world had ever known. Then the battle became a thrilling cat-and-mouse game between the quickly built U.S. warships and the ever-more cunning and lethal U-boats. The historian Richard Snow captures all the drama of the merciless contest at every level, from the doomed sailors on an American freighter defying a German cruiser, to the amazing Allied attempts to break the German naval codes, to Winston Churchill pressing Franklin Roosevelt to join the war months before Pearl Harbor (and FDR's shrewd attempts to fight the battle alongside Britain while still appearing to keep out of it). Inspired by the collection of letters that his father sent his mother from the destroyer escort he served aboard, Snow brings to life the longest continuous battle in modern times. With its vibrant prose and fast-paced action, A Measureless Peril is an immensely satisfying account that belongs on the small shelf of the finest histories ever written about World War II.From Left to Right: Lucy S. Dawidowicz, the New York Intellectuals, and the Politics of Jewish History is the first…
comprehensive biography of Dawidowicz (1915–1990), a pioneer historian in the field that is now called Holocaust studies. Dawidowicz was a household name in the postwar years, not only because of her scholarship but also due to her political views. Dawidowicz, like many other New York intellectuals, was a youthful communist, became an FDR democrat midcentury, and later championed neoconservatism. Nancy Sinkoff argues that Dawidowicz’s rightward shift emerged out of living in prewar Poland, watching the Holocaust unfold from New York City, and working with displaced persons in postwar Germany. Based on over forty-five archival collections, From Left to Right chronicles Dawidowicz’s life as a window into the major events and issues of twentieth-century Jewish life. From Left to Right is structured in four parts. Part 1 tells the story of Dawidowicz’s childhood, adolescence, and college years when she was an immigrant daughter living in New York City. Part 2 narrates Dawidowicz’s formative European years in Poland, New York City (when she was enclosed in the European-like world of the New York YIVO), and Germany. Part 3 tells how Dawidowicz became an American while Polish Jewish civilization was still inscribed in her heart and also explores when and how Dawidowicz became the voice of East European Jewry for the American Jewish public. Part 4 exposes the fissure between Dawidowicz’s European-inflected diaspora nationalist modern Jewish identity and the shifting definition of American liberalism from the late 1960s forward, which also saw the emergence of neoconservatism. The book includes an interpretation of her memoir From that Place and Time, as well as an appendix of thirty-one previously unpublished letters that illustrate the broad reach of her work and person. Dawidowicz’s right-wing politics, sex, and unabashed commitment to Jewish particularism in an East European Jewish key have resulted in scholarly neglect. Therefore, this book is strongly recommended for scholars and general readers interested in Jewish and women’s studies.The Channel Islands 1941-45
Par Chris Taylor, Charles Stephenson. 2006
Following the fall of France and the surrender of Paris on 14 June 1940, the British Government announced that the…
Channel Islands had no strategic importance and would not be defended. The Germans occupied the islands from the end of June onwards and remained in control until the end of the war. On 10 October 1941 Hitler announced his intention to 'convert them into an impregnable fortress', and the islands formed the most heavily fortified and defended section of the entire Atlantic Wall. This book describes the design, construction and manning of these defensive positions, as well as considering more widely the occupation of the Channel Islands by the Germans.Clipped Wings: The Rise and Fall of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) of World War II
Par Molly Merryman. 1997
During World War II, all branches of the military had women's auxiliaries. Only the Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) program,…
however, was comprised entirely of women who flew dangerous missions more commonly associated with and desired by men. Within military hierarchies, the World War II pilot was projected as the most dashing and desirable of servicemen. "Flyboys" were the daring elite of the United States military. More than the WACs (Army), WAVES (Navy), SPARS (Coast Guard), or Women Marines, the WASPs directly challenged these assumptions of male supremacy in wartime culture. WASPs flew the fastest fighter planes and heaviest bombers; they test-piloted experimental models and worked in the development of weapons systems. Yet the WASPs were the only women's auxiliary within the armed services of World War II that was not militarized. In Clipped Wings, Molly Merryman draws upon military documents (many of which were declassified only in the 1980s), congressional records, and interviews with the women who served as WASPs during World War II, to trace the history of the over 1,000 pilots who served their country as the first women to fly military planes. She examines the social pressures which culminated in their disbandment in 1944even though a wartime need for their services still existedand documents their struggles and eventual success, in 1977, to gain military status and receive veterans benefits.Voglia Per Favore Il Vero Albert Speer Alzarsi? I Molteplici Volti Dell'architetto Di Hitler
Par Cristina Ventrella, Geetanjali Mukherjee. 2017
Ha presentato al mondo molti volti, ma qual era quello vero? Nel corso degli anni, Albert Speer, è stato insignito…
di molti titoli: ‘il buon Nazista’, ‘l’architetto di Hitler’, ‘il futuro Cancelliere del Reich’ e persino ‘l’unico imputato pentito di Norimberga’. Non c’è dubbio che Alber Speer abbia mille volti: è stato un uomo dal potere più sconfinato di chiunque altro fosse al fianco di Hitler e si credeva che gli sarebbe succeduto. Le sue enormi capacità organizzative hanno portato al culmine la produttività tedesca in un’epoca in cui le risosrse disponibili erano ai minimi storici. Tutti, incluso lui, si aspettavano una pena di morte per lui, così come gli altri leader nazisti. Invece, scampò all’impiccagione con solo vent’anni. Alla luce del suo importante coinvolgimento nel partito nazista, sia in qualità di architetto di Hitler che di Ministro degli Armamenti, e dei suoi contributi alla guerra illegale finanziata dal regime, si pone una questione: Speer ha ricevuto una punizione adeguata? Il verdetto rifletteva forse la percezione che, in qualche modo, Speer fosse ‘meno colpevole’ degli altri imputati, o pianificò la sua difesa in modo da ottenere uno sconto di pena? gli eventi che portarono al processo di Norimberga, e il processo stesso, ci forniscono indizi per rispondere a queste domande: cosa possiamo imparare da una personalità come quella di Speer, in base alle prove tangibili, e perché è importante?The Economic Consequences of U.S. Mobilization for the Second World War
Par Alexander J. Field. 2022
A reminder that war is not always, or even generally, good for long-term growth Many believe that despite its destructive…
character, war ultimately boosts long‑term economic growth. For the United States this view is often supported by appeal to the experience of the Second World War, understood as a triumph of both production and productivity. Alexander Field shows that between 1941 and 1945 manufacturing productivity actually declined, depressed by changes in the output mix and resource shocks from enemy action, including curtailed access to natural rubber and, on the Eastern Seaboard, petroleum. The war forced a shift away from producing goods in which the country had a great deal of experience toward those in which it had little. Learning by doing was only a partial counterbalance to the intermittent idleness and input hoarding that characterized a shortage economy and dragged down productivity. The conflict distorted human and physical capital accumulation and once it ended, America stopped producing most of the new goods. The war temporarily shut down basic scientific research and the ongoing development of civilian goods. U.S. world economic dominance in 1948, Field shows, was due less to the experience of making war goods and more to the country&’s productive potential in 1941.Reading Art Spiegelman (Routledge Advances in Comics Studies)
Par Philip Smith. 2016
The horror of the Holocaust lies not only in its brutality but in its scale and logistics; it depended upon…
the machinery and logic of a rational, industrialised, and empirically organised modern society. The central thesis of this book is that Art Spiegelman’s comics all identify deeply-rooted madness in post-Enlightenment society. Spiegelman maintains, in other words, that the Holocaust was not an aberration, but an inevitable consequence of modernisation. In service of this argument, Smith offers a reading of Spiegelman’s comics, with a particular focus on his three main collections: Breakdowns (1977 and 2008), Maus (1980 and 1991), and In the Shadow of No Towers (2004). He draws upon a taxonomy of terms from comic book scholarship, attempts to theorize madness (including literary portrayals of trauma), and critical works on Holocaust literature.The Fall of Singapore 1942 (Routledge Library Editions: World War II in Asia)
Par Timothy Hall. 2015
Singapore fell to the Japanese on 15 September 1942, but in 1941 Europeans on the island felt still untouched by…
war, lulled into security by the belief that Singapore was impregnable from the sea. However, the Planning Chief of Imperial Army Headquarters in Tokyo had realised a successful invasion could come from the north, down the Malay peninsula... Requests from less naive members of the allied forces for more men, arms and equipment were not filled. Authorities were unwilling to reveal to the civilian population the true situation. And so through accident or miscalculation, Singapore was totally unable to repel the Japanese attack. This accessible book, illustrated with black and white photos charts the course of these events.