Innholdsfortegnelse for No.28 i History of War

“It is magnificent, but it is not war. It is madness” – Pierre Bosquet, French general at Balaclava, observing the Light Brigade’s charge On 25 October 1854, over 600 British light horse galloped headlong into a gauntlet of Russian cannon. The attack stood little chance of success, and many in the Brigade would be lucky to even survive. It was madness, surely, but was it really magnificent? Thanks in large part to Tennyson’s famous beatifying stanzas, the legend of the ‘Noble Six Hundred’ is more often remembered than Balaclava, or even the obscure war in which they were fighting. Some 60 years later, the mad slaughter of war would reach an as yet unprecedented scale, at battlefields such as Verdun. Here, the imagined ‘magnificent’ or ‘glorious’ war was nowhere to…

Castles and other fortified settlements were a major part of the medieval world; therefore, many kinds of siege weaponry and equipment were developed and improved throughout the era in order to seize these strategic locations. The complexity of the various medieval siege weapons ranged from simple scaling ladders used to climb over walls, to the intricate and highly powerful trebuchets and cannon of the later Middle Ages. “THIS WAS THE MOST EFFECTIVE PROJECTILE SIEGE WEAPON OF THE MIDDLE AGES BEFORE THE CANNON” COUNTERWEIGHT TREBUCHET This was the most effective projectile siege weapon of the Middle Ages before the cannon. Invented at either the end of the 11th century or in the early 12th, this design originated in the Middle East and by the 13th century was utilised throughout Western Europe.…

LORD RAGLAN ORDER: In a hastily scribbled note Lord Raglan writes, “cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, follow the enemy, and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns.” CAPTAIN NOLAN ORDER: “Tell Lord Lucan the cavalry is to attack immediately!” Lord Raglan shouts after an overexcited Nolan, before pointing vaguely at the Russian position at the far end of the north valley. LORD LUCAN ORDER: Nolan passes on the order to Lord Lucan, who instructs Lord Cardigan to lead the attack. “What choice have we?” he shrugs when the latter points out the suicidal order.…

“THE GERMANS WOULD CONCENTRATE 330,000 SHELLS ON AN AREA JUST 25 KILOMETRES SQUARE. TO THIS THE FRENCH WOULD ADD NEARLY 200,000 SHELLS IN COUNTER-BOMBARDMENTS. MORE THAN 500,000 SHELLS FELL WITHIN 20 HOURS” On 12 July 1916 the fate of Verdun, France’s ancient bastion, was all but secured. After nearly five months of hammering away at French positions, winning success after success and inching ever closer to that citadel on the Meuse River, the German army was within reach of Verdun. There was only one last obstacle: Fort Souville. This fort rested on the last imposing heights before Verdun. From there the Germans could easily swamp the ruined Fort Saint-Michel – standing modestly atop a hill just 344 metres tall – and be in a position to assault Verdun directly. The…

“WE’RE IN THE BUSINESS OF PRESERVING HISTORY” “The driving force for the project initially was that a lot of these aircraft had been suspended for 17 years and whilst we can inspect the suspensions manually, which we do, we cannot open up the aircraft to inspect the airframe itself. It’s still a mechanical object, even though it’s a museum piece, and some of them are over 100 years old so we had to get them all down to inspect them. We couldn’t find any information anywhere of other museums that had taken aircraft down and inspected them. “My colleagues in Exhibitions and Displays said that they would re-configure the whole setup and redo everything with new displays. The glass wall had to come down and we had five weeks to…

WHAT WAS THE EXTENT OF GERMAN INVOLVEMENT IN THE RISING AND WHAT DID THEY HOPE TO GAIN FROM IT? The rebels weren’t as successful as they would have liked to be in getting German support. They were hoping for a German landing not just with arms, [but also] military leadership and troops. I don’t think that was feasible because of the lack of German control of the seas. All they got was the promise of weapons. From the German point of view they saw this as the ability to cause a lot of trouble at a minimum cost to them so I don’t think they took it seriously as a military venture. WHAT IMPACT DID THE EXECUTION OF THE LEADING REBELS HAVE ON THE IRISH PUBLIC OPINION? It had a…

Prince Edward was actively involved in the foundation of the Order of the Garter in what is usually accepted as 1348. Today it is the third most prestigious honour that the British state can award after the Victoria and George Crosses, with membership numbers always capped at 24 Companions. It has a reputation for epitomising the chivalric knightly ideal but its foundation was grounded much more in the power politics of the time. The Order was designed to bring together the inner circle of Edward III’s military commanders in France, who also happened to be his companions in the jousting arena. Some of the earliest records of the Order’s existence come from Prince Edward’s wardrobe accounts. In December 1348 Edward’s wardrobe keeper bought 24 garters that were given to the…

“THE EVENTS OF 1916 HAVE CAST A LONG SHADOW OVER THE PAST 100 YEARS” Writer: Fearghal McGarry Publisher: Oxford University Press Price: £20 Released: Out now The Easter Rising of 1916 is the seminal moment of modern Irish history. Although the rebellion itself was a military failure, it led to a heavy-handed British response. In turn it helped to spark the chain of events that would lead to the creation of an Irish Free State in December 1922 and the partition of the states that still exist to this day. The events of 1916 have cast a long shadow over the past 100 years. In that time much has been written about the bloody rebellion that has taken on both a legendary and deeply controversial significance. To mark the centenary,…

HEROIC FAILURE AND THE BRITISH From the charge of the Light Brigade to Scott of the Antarctic, the tendency to turn tragedy into triumph has long been a staple British tendency. It’s often said that it is better to have tried and failed than not to have tried at all, and Stephanie Barczerski follows the mantra to its illogical extreme – those instances where it would probably have been better not to have tried at all. A CONCISE HISTORY OF THE WORLD It’s an ambitious author who believes they can condense tens of thousands of years of human history down into a single book, but that is what Merry E Wiesner-Hanks has attempted. Although possessing a solid historical background, there was some scepticism of what 395 pages could do. However,…

“BARRON IMMERSES THE READER IN THE MOST ENTHRALLING EXAMPLE OF VICTORY AGAINST THE ODDS” Author: Leo Barron Publisher: Stackpole Books Price: £20 Released: Out Now The Korean War of 1950-1953 is often referred to as the ‘forgotten war’ due to it falling between the end of WWII and the catastrophe of Vietnam. This is despite that fact that it claimed approximately 30,000 American lives. Author Leo Barron brings the horror of this war to a fresh audience. Told through the accounts of the men who were plucked from the peace of home to be dropped into the fire-storm of North Korea’s invasion of its Southern neighbour, Barron immerses the reader in the most enthralling example of victory against the odds. Vivid descriptions of the ambush and subsequent battle of Chipyong-ni…

TOM GARNER Things have been a bit grim and Medieval for Tom this month, as he trudged through the life of Edward, the Black Prince (page 84). To cheer himself up, he spoke with author Fearghal McGarry for his Easter Rising centenary feature (page 68). JONATHAN KRAUSE Jonathan is back with the second of his two-part epic on the Battle of Verdun. This time he gets stuck into the shocking, and harrowing, events of the six-month campaign, which almost crippled both the French and German armies (page 36). NICK SOLDINGER This issue Nick turns his characteristic wrath on the legend surrounding the Light Brigade, investigating the blunders that caused the disastrous charge, and the stories of the men who paid the ultimate price in the Valley of Death (page 24).…

Of the three charges made by the allies during the Battle of Balaclava, the one undertaken by the Light Brigade was by far the least successful. Two hours previous, eight squadrons of the British Heavy Brigade, under the command of the highly capable Colonel James Scarlett, had run into the main force of the Russian cavalry in the chaos of battle. Despite being significantly outnumbered – Scarlett’s force is thought to have consisted of between 300-400 men while the Russian force was more than 2,000 strong – the Heavies ploughed into the Russian flank. Eight minutes of hacking and slashing followed at close quarters until the Russians turned and fled back to the safety of their own lines. One French general said after witnessing the action, “It was truly magnificent…

“HE IS SIMULTANEOUSLY THE MAN WHO SAVED VERDUN, AND ALSO THE PRESIDENT OF VICHY FRANCE WHO COLLABORATED WITH THE NAZI REGIME” Philippe Pétain has a complicated history and occupies a bizarre place in historical memory. He is simultaneously the man who saved Verdun, and also the President of Vichy France who collaborated with the Nazi regime. A position he won in part because of the reputation he won in World War I. In WWI he is known for his tactical caution, and his desire to preserve the lives of his men above all other considerations. This made him hugely popular, and made him the obvious choice to succeed Nivelle during the French mutinies of 1917. At Verdun he did what he had always done: he insisted on a careful, scientific…

1918 World War I ends and the Ottoman Empire slides headlong into collapse. Proud yet humiliated, Sultan Mehmed VI agrees to his dominion’s forceful partition administered by British and French troops. 1920 The defeated Ottoman Empire’s southern vilayat or province dominated by the city of Mosul is ceded to an unnamed would-be Kurdish state guaranteed by the Treaty of Sevres. 1923 Emerging victorious in the War of Liberation against occupying European forces and the Greeks, the self-styled Mustafa Kemal Pasha Ataturk repudiates Sevres and preserves Turkey in the Treaty of Lausanne. 1946 Believing in the Soviet Union’s unfailing support, nationalists in Iran launch the Mahabad Republic and unfurl the tricolor of Kurdistan. Their nascent country is crushed by the Shah’s troops the same year. 1961 The KDP led by Mustafa…

Nájera was the Black Prince’s last great triumph and is interesting because it was a victory of the English longbow that was fought not in France, but in Spain. When Peter the Cruel of Castile was deposed by his half-brother Henry of Trastámara, he travelled to Bordeaux where he appealed to Edward to help regain his throne. Edward, who needed Peter to topple a French ally like Henry, assembled an Anglo-Gascon-Majorcan army of 28,000 men and crossed the Pyrenees in February 1367 and marched into Spain. On 3 April, he encountered a combined Castilian-French army of 60,000 men near the town of Nájera. He faced not just Henry, but the renowned Breton soldier Bertrand du Guesclin, the future Constable of France. “THE HEAVY CAVALRY CHARGE, BUT ARE SHOT DOWN BEFORE…

Writer: George Lucas Publisher: Oxford University Press Price: £10.99 Released: Out now As Dr George Lucas points out in the introduction to this book, “for many the phrase ‘military ethics’ is an oxymoron.” The good professor clearly expects a sceptical response from his audience, and it is hard, initially, not to sneer at a book that seems to be suggesting war can be ‘civilised’ through some sort of moral framework. But as you read on you realise Lucas isn’t some naïve apologist for war. He’s fully aware of its iniquity, the damage it does to combatants and civilians as well as the cost to our planet. Rather he seems to see war as almost a fact of life – something we continue to propagate despite ourselves. Sure, some politicians may…

Author: Richard van Emden Publisher: Pen and Sword Books Price: £25 Released: Out Now Due to the sheer numbers involved in the Battle of the Somme, it is often easy to overlook the stories of the individuals involved, their suffering lost amongst a sea of mud, blood and barbed wire. The fact that the British incurred over 57,000 casualties on the first day of the fighting goes some way toward demonstrating the extent of the carnage. However, thanks to authors such as van Emden, the voices of those who were there, the fallen and survivors alike, will echo through time. His dedication to ensuring that their story is heard is written across every page. This is the first book that has been published on the battle that uses the soldiers’…

“THE MERE DID PROVIDE FISH BUT IT WAS ALSO THE DISCHARGE POINT FOR MOST OF THE SEWAGE” Kenilworth Castle was the stronghold of the rebel noble Simon de Montfort during the Second Barons’ War (1264-67). When de Montfort was defeated and killed by Henry III at the Battle of Evesham in August 1265, his surviving supporters fled back to Kenilworth and prepared for the eventual vengeance of the king. Here, Chairman of Kenilworth History and Archaeology Society, Jan Cooper, explains just how the castle, and its hundreds of defenders, survived Henry III’s siege. WERE THE CASTLE’S DEFENCES PREPARED FOR A LENGTHY SIEGE? They had been well prepared because King John had made major improvements 50 years earlier, including the massive water defences known as the ‘Mere’. Simon de Montfort already…

“THOSE LEFT BEHIND SURRENDERED TO THE CRUSADERS BUT THE INVADERS SHOWED NO MERCY TO THE CONQUERED” “THE CRUSADERS HAD CONSIDERABLE SUCCESS WITH FLYING BRIDGES IN THE SUCCESSFUL ATTACK ON 12 APRIL, ATTACHING THEM TO THE TOPS OF THE MASTS OF THE VENETIAN VESSELS” In 1203, the main target of the Fourth Crusade changed when the ambitious Alexios IV Angelos convinced the campaign leaders to help him win the Byzantine throne instead of pursuing war in the Holy Land. The prospect of capturing Constantinople, one of the wealthiest cities in the world, was too great to pass up, so the crusaders, and the Venetian fleet that transported them, successfully assaulted the city in July. However, when Alexios V Doukas seized power, had Alexios IV murdered and rallied the Byzantines to resist…

“THE FRENCH FIRED OVER A MILLION SHELLS, INUNDATING THE AREA. COMBINED WITH THE TIRED STATE OF GERMAN FORCES BY DECEMBER 1916 THIS ALL BUT GUARANTEED A RELATIVELY EASY FRENCH VICTORY” 1. OPENING ASSAULT The opening phase of the German Operation Gericht (sometimes translated as Operation ‘judgement’ or ‘execution site’). The German III, V and XVIII Corps attacked French positions on the eastern bank of the Meuse. They advanced in small packets, often assisted by specialised assault teams armed with flamethrowers. Assault tactics – what might later be called ‘stormtroop tactics’ – were becoming more advanced by this stage of the war with both the French and Germans doing more to specialise the roles played by their infantry units. 2. BOIS DES CAURES The bois des Caures was one of a…

Around 200 women took part in the Rising, some were members of the Irish Citizen Army but the majority belonged to the women’s paramilitary organisation, Cumann na mBan (The Irishwomen’s Council). Formed in Dublin, it became an auxiliary unit of the Irish Volunteers in 1916. Its constitution advocated the cause of Irish liberty and organised Irishwomen to assist the arming and equipping of the Volunteers. Many of their male comrades were reluctant to allow females to fight. In the Four Courts, the women were reduced to menial tasks of making tea and sandwiches. During the Rising, the women’s role was largely logistical. They risked their lives as despatch carriers and braved military cordons and sniper fire to maintain communications between rebel garrisons. They also carried weapons, ammunition and other supplies.…

Rebels came from two ideologically different political groups: the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army. The Volunteers were formed in response to the rise of the Ulster Volunteers, a militant unionist organisation that was opposed to Home Rule and was willing to secede Protestant Ulster away from the rest of predominately Catholic southern Ireland. The Irish Volunteers’ purpose was to achieve Home Rule and arm all Irish people in order to achieve that aim, but in 1914 it split into two groups. The majority formed the ‘National Volunteers’ who were led by the moderate John Redmond. He had pledged his support for the British war effort and over 30,000 ‘Redmondite’ Volunteers joined the British Army. The remaining Volunteers, numbering 13,000, refused to help the British and 1,250 of those…

“HIS CONDUCT IN FRANCE WAS COLDLY BRUTAL TO THOSE WHO DENIED THEIR ALLEGIANCE TO HIM. HIS LIFE IS A CONTRADICTORY MIXTURE OF IDEALISTIC HEROISM VERSUS BARBARIC TERROR” On the evening of 19 September 1356, the heir to the throne of the England entertained the King of France in his tent, near the town of Poitiers in western France. However, this was no ordinary royal meeting. The king had been captured on the field of battle and was at the mercy of one of the most legendary figures in medieval history. Although he was only in his mid-twenties, Edward, Prince of Wales, was at the pinnacle of his military career. His life personally symbolises the first half of the Hundred Years’ War, when England fought for the right to wear the…

Writer: Bill Kissane Publisher: Oxford University Press Price: £18.99 Released: Out now War takes on many forms and in the era since World War II, it has manifested itself most frequently in the shape of civil conflict with clashes between rival states growing increasingly rare. In Bill Kissane’s excellent new book he takes this truth as his starting point to explore just what causes civil wars, what sort of patterns they typically follow, the damage generally caused by them as well as investigate their most likely consequences. This is apparently the first time a general study of civil war has ever been written, and the results are fascinating. In the past, historians have tended to focus on specific conflicts such as the American Civil War or Spanish Civil War, writing…

Author: David Smith Publisher: Battle of Britain International Ltd Price: £37.50 Released: Out Now The vital role that the RAF coastal commands of WWII played in the final allied victory is beautifully outlined in this pick-up-put-down book. From the northern reaches of the United Kingdom to Gibraltar, Iceland and the Azores, Britain’s RAF flew countless sorties from these strategically positioned strongholds in their efforts to defend allied shipping from the dreaded German U-boats and in turn hunt these underwater assassins. With a wealth of stunning photographs supplemented by in-depth research, Smith catalogues each of the command bases in minute detail, recounting the day to day life of the brave servicemen who relied upon them to successfully repel Hitler’s navy. Many of these command centres still exist today, some functioning as…