Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 127 i History of War

In contrast to Europe, where competing powers were always jostling for territory, the situation in Africa was calm when war broke out in 1914. The colonial powers had settled on their territorial borders in 1890, when the great ‘scramble for Africa’ had concluded, and there wasn’t much friction between German, French, Belgian, British and Portuguese holdings. There was little to tempt Britain and its allies in Germany’s African colonies, and although the Germans harboured ambitions of establishing a vast swathe of colonial possessions across Africa (a new ‘Fatherland’ to be known as German Central Africa), they did not possess the means to achieve this. Germany, therefore, would have happily accepted the status quo in return for being left alone. Its colonial neighbours had no intention of obliging. German territories may…

In the 1850s, Pulaski’s remains were taken from the plantation and buried at Pulaski’s Savannah Monument. According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, when plans were made to renovate the monument in 1996, the Pulaski DNA Investigation Committee exhumed the grave. The initial reaction was one of surprise, as the skeleton unearthed from the site appeared characteristically female, particularly the pelvic bones, delicate facial structure and rounded jawline. However, many of the skeleton’s features were consistent with Pulaski’s own, such as his height, an injury to the right hand, changes to the hip joints common in horse riders, and age of death. Researchers recovered DNA evidence from the remains, and when the results were compared to a known relative, they were a match. This led to the conclusion that Pulaski was…

BARI MUSTARD GAS DISASTER On 2 December 1943, Luftflotte 2 (Air Fleet 2) launched a surprise raid on the Italian east coast port of Bari, sinking 27 Allied cargo and transport ships, including the John Harvey. It was carrying 2,000 60-70lb (27-32kg) mustard gas bombs, which exploded, showering the remaining ships with liquid sulphur. Over 1,000 were killed, and Churchill ordered the deaths be reported as “burns due to enemy action” in a cover up to avoid a German chemical warfare escalation. SOVIET WAR CRIMES TRIALS The first war crimes trial of the Second World War was held on 18 December 1943 following the liberation of Kharkov in August that year. It was motivated by the discovery of mass graves of Jews murdered in the city. The court found Wilhelm…

Author: Neill Lochery Publisher: Public Affairs Price: £25 (Hardback) Released: Out now The Nazis may have portrayed their project as a noble ideological crusade, but in reality it was little more than gangster capitalism. In recent years, books like David de Jong’s Nazi Billionaires have shed light on this as well as the fortunes made by various oligarchs and organisations. This new book by historian Neill Lochery now seeks to expose the governments that also profited from the Nazi regime’s ill-gotten gains. Lochery starts by explaining that a fifth of Europe’s art and treasure was seized by the Nazis during the Second World War. It’s a staggering fact that sets up a staggering tale and we’re soon introduced to its key protagonist Walter Schellenberg. As head of German intelligence, Schellenberg…

ANTHONY TUCKER-JONES Anthony is a former defence intelligence officer, turned historian, whose latest book Churchill: Master and Commander explores the military career of the wartime leader. Starting on page 26 he recounts the tricky diplomacy on the fringes of WWII’s treacherous Arctic Convoys. MURRAY DAHM The Macedonian domination of the Greek City States came to a head with the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BCE), which saw Philip II, Alexander’s father, face off against an Athenian-Theban alliance. Murray recounts the battle on page 34. SERHII PLOKHY The roots of the Russo-Ukrainian War go back far beyond the 21st century, and even beyond the 20th, and are key to understanding the current conflict. This issue, Professor Serhii Plokhy, author of an acclaimed study of the war, discusses its origins and historical parallels…

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The Battle of Chaeronea was one of the most decisive in the ancient world. It decided the fate of Greece – would it come under Macedonian domination or remain free? The future of Greece rested on two of its hitherto greatest military powers: Athens and Thebes. The other great hoplite power, Sparta, had been humbled by Thebes 25 years earlier. The result of Chaeronea was, however, to be a crushing victory for Macedonia which kept all of Greece compliant to Macedonian will for the next 15 years – this in turn allowed Alexander to embark on his unprecedented conquest of the Persian Empire in 334 BCE. The history of the ancient world (and subsequent centuries) would have been very different had the result of the Battle of Chaeronea been an…

Pulaski was one of the main commanders of the Bar Confederation – an association of Polish nobles formed to defend the independence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against Russian political influence. It was an armed group, established at Bar in Podolia in February 1768 with the swearing of the founding act in defence of the Catholic faith and the independence of the Republic of Poland. It was directed against the protectorate of the Russian Empire, King Stanisław August Poniatowski and the Russian troops supporting him. The confederation’s aim was to abolish laws imposed by Russia and is considered by some historians as the first Polish national uprising. The Polish king had been imposed by Russia, under the ‘guardianship’ of Catherine II. The king initiated political changes that broke with the previous…

It was still early in the morning on 6 June 1944, but Staff Sergeant Walter Ehlers sensed something had gone terribly wrong. Glancing up from his overloaded headquarters LCI (Landing Craft, Infantry), poised in the English Channel, he watched as dozens of Allied fighters, bombers and gliders buzzed overhead, bound for inland targets in France. Fading into the distance, the armada passed over the Normandy beachline beyond, where the first wave of the 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions were already in the thick of the fight. In command of L Company, 18th Infantry, Ehlers was waiting anxiously as part of the planned second wave to take the beach from the Germans. However, it was already clear things were not going to plan, and the airwaves were filled with frantic calls…

With the war in Ukraine already within its tenth year, since the first annexation of Crimea and insurrection in the Donbas region, there is opportunity to reflect on the deeper roots of the conflict, as well as what history can teach us about where it might lead. Serhii Plokhy is professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University, and has multiple books published on the history of the region. His critically acclaimed history of the conflict, The Russo-Ukrainian War, was written during the first year of the war and is now out in paperback. This latest addition details some of the critical events that transpired since the first publication of the book in early 2023. Here, Plokhy discusses the history of the conflict, its parallels with history and what lessons past…

Author: Dermot Turing Publisher: The History Press Price: £20 (Hardback) Released: Out now The story of Bletchley Park’s code breakers has achieved near-mythic status in recent years and this book seeks to explode that myth, or at least stand it on its head. Like RT Howard’s Spying on The Reich, it sets out to show how incompetence and hubris caused frequent, often fatal, errors to be made. However, Enigma Traitors arguably offers us a more rounded picture by demonstrating that these shortcomings weren’t restricted to the Allies’ intelligence endeavours. Structured by the author Dermot Turing into three acts (complete with a cast list) it seeks to retell this famous story through a dramatised narrative, one in which each of its key players gets to take a turn in the spotlight.…

Pancho Villa was a Mexican revolutionary leader who played a critical role in ousting the technocratic and US-backed President Porfirio Díaz, and bringing the democrat Francisco I Madero to power in 1911. The Ten Tragic Days coup of 1913 left Madero dead, replaced by Díaz’s ally General Victoriano Huerta, and Villa was forced back into guerilla fighting as part of the Constitutionalist Army. This 38-calibre gold-plated Colt Single Action Army revolver, complete with factory engraving and pearl grips, came into Villa’s possession during his revolutionary activities. It features two inscriptions carved personally for Villa. The weapon dates back to 1910 and was crafted in Eibar, Spain, a city famous for its iron manufacturing and thriving arms industry. However, little is certain about how Villa obtained it. Two stories speculate on…

Casimir Pulaski, in contrast to his renowned fellow Polish volunteer Tadeusz Kosciuszko, was not a leading thinker and faced considerable disfavour from many of his contemporaries. Kosciuszko was a military engineer and supreme commander of the National Armed Forces during the Kosciuszko Uprising of 1794, and lieutenant general of the army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was then brevet brigadier general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He had travelled to the United States in 1776, and was nominated as an engineer in the Continental Army, initially tasked with developing Philadelphia’s fortifications. He was then sent north to the Canadian border under General Horatio Gates, where he fortified various military camps. He became famous for his fortification work that contributed to the American victory at the Battle…

Blavatnik Art, Film and Photography Galleries The Imperial War Museums’ new permanent exhibition explores how artists, photographers and filmmakers tell the story of war In their first exhibition entirely dedicated to visual art, the Imperial War Museums helps visitors to understand how creatives bear witness to and document war. A substantial work to look out for is Steve McQueen’s Queen and Country prints, a collection of 160 images on the Iraq War featuring portraits of British soldiers killed on active service. The gallery also features work by the artists Paul Nash and Laura Knight, filmmakers Peter Jackson and Geoffrey Malins, and photographers Cecil Beaton and Tim Hetherington. The Blavatnik Art, Film and Photography Galleries have been divided into four parts. It begins with Practice and Process, which examines the challenges,…

Author: David Reynolds Publisher: William Collins Price: £25 (Hardback) Released: Out now Professor David Reynolds needs no introduction – he is a hugely accomplished historian with numerous books published on the 20th century. He is therefore no stranger to Winston Churchill, having written extensively on the wartime Anglo-American alliance, and this is his fourth book on Churchill. In Mirrors of Greatness he takes a new approach and looks at a dozen figures who helped shape Churchill. Those included read rather like a greatest hits list and hold no real surprises. The key ones are Winston’s father Lord Randolph; Liberal politician David Lloyd George, a father figure and political mentor; Neville Chamberlain, who Churchill succeeded as prime minister in May 1940; and Franklin D Roosevelt. The author includes just one woman,…

Author: Helen Doe Publisher: Grub Street Publishing Price: £25 (Hardback) Released: Out now Most who are familiar with the story of Bob Stanford Tuck, one of the RAF’s greatest fighter pilots of the Second World War, will be familiar with his tale through the breathlessly exciting 1956 biography Fly for Your Life by Larry Forrester. Hitherto, that ripping Boys’ Own-style adventure story was the only source of biographical detail about a man dubbed ‘The Immortal Tuck’. The trouble was that this book was written when authors needed to add excitement in those drab post-war years. As a result, many of the accounts in Forrester’s work were somewhat embellished. In writing a historically accurate biography of Tuck, Helen Doe faced considerable challenges – not least to present his story in an…