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This exploration into the development of women's self-defence from 1850 to 1914 features major writers, including H.G. Wells, Elizabeth Robins and Richard Marsh, and encompasses an unusually wide-ranging number of subjects from hatpin crimes to the development of martial arts for women.
The siege of London on 12-14 May 1471 is a largely forgotten episode in the Wars of the Roses, but its implications were far-reaching in that it sealed the fate of the Lancastrian dynasty. Edward IV's gamble to reclaim the throne for the House of York was a triumph against the odds, but even after winning two important battles against the Lancastrians his position was far from secure. He might have been confident of total victory but for Thomas Neville, the Bastard of Fauconberg, who along with thousands of ordinary people stormed London in a desperate gamble to free Henry VI from the Tower of London. In this first ever full-length study of the siege of London and its aftermath Andrew Boardman uses contemporary evidence to uncover the truth behind the rebellion of 1471 and the death of the last Lancastrian King of England. Where did the battles for London take place? Who were the heroes and villains of the siege? Why did Henry VI continue to be revered as a saint long after his death? And was the Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III) really responsible for Henry's murder.
Exposes the mechanics of power across the military-industrial complex from battlefield to back office
From the Crimean War through the Second Boer War, the British Empire sought to solve the "Great Gun Question"--to harness improvements to ordnance, small arms, explosives and mechanization made possible by the Industrial Revolution. The British public played a surprising but overlooked role, offering myriad suggestions for improvements to the civilian-led War Office. Meanwhile, politicians and army leaders argued over control of the country's ground forces in a decades-long struggle that did not end until reforms of 1904 put the military under the Secretary of State for War. Following the debate in the press, voters put pressure on both Parliament and the War Office to modernize ordnance and military administration. The "Great Gun Question" was as much about weaponry as about who ultimately controlled military power. Drawing on ordnance committee records and contemporary news reports, this book fills a gap in the history of British military technology and army modernization prior to World War I.
“Looks at British infantry doctrine . . . from the British Civil Wars of the seventeenth century up to just before the American War of Independence.” —British Civil Wars Blog In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the British Army’s victories over the French at battles such as Blenheim in 1704, Minden and Quebec in 1759, and over the Jacobites at Culloden in 1746, were largely credited to its infantry’s particularly effective and deadly firepower. For the first time, David Blackmore has gone back to original drill manuals and other contemporary sources to discover the reasons behind this. This book employs an approach that starts by considering the procedures and practices of...
Authoritative reference guide, using the documents in which arms and armour first appeared to explain and define them. Medieval arms and armour are intrinsically fascinating. From the smoke and noise of the armourer's forge to the bloody violence of the battlefield or the silken panoply of the tournament, weapons and armour - and those who made and bore them - are woven into the fabric of medieval society. This sourcebook will aid anyone who seeks to develop a deeper understanding by introducing and presenting the primary sources in which these artefacts are first mentioned. Over seventy original documents are transcribed and translated, including wills, inventories, letters and chronicle accounts, from a period which saw rapid advances in military technology. The book also includes an extensive glossary, lavishly illustrated with forty images of extant armour and weapons from the period, and contemporary artistic depictions from illuminated manuscripts and other sources. This book will therefore be of interest to a wide audience, from the living history practitioner, crafter, and martial artist, to students of literature, military history, art, and material culture.
Largely due to the tastes of nineteenth century Western collectors and curators, weaponry abounds in ethnographic museums. However, the relative absence of Asian, African, Native American and Oceanic arms and armour from contemporary gallery displays neither reflects this fact, nor accords these important artefacts the attention they deserve. Weapons are often those objects in museums which most strongly record traumatic histories of colonial conquest around the world, showcase a society’s most complex technologies, and encode a wealth of historical information relating to violent conflict, cultural identities, and indigenous masculinities. This volume brings together an international coll...
Authoritative reference guide, using the documents in which arms and armour first appeared to explain and define them."A substantial and impressive piece of scholarship, one that will serve scholars and enthusiasts of medieval arms and armour very well indeed". Dr Robert W. Jones, Franklin and Marshall CollegeMedieval arms and armour are intrinsically fascinating. From the smoke and noise of the armourer's forge to the bloody violence of the battlefield or the silken panoply of the tournament, weapons and armour - and those who made and bore them - are woven into the fabric of medieval society. This sourcebook will aid anyone who seeks to develop a deeper understanding by introducing and pre...
The speakers at the 2018 Helion conference offer a variety of insights into the depth and direction of research into the Thirty Years’ War, with particular reference to the war’s effect on the British Isles, the careers of the officers from its shores who participated in the conflict, and the ‘trickle-down’ effect of the war into the military thinking and technology of those isles. Keynote speaker Professor Steve Murdoch examines the changes in understanding of British military participation in the Thirty Years’ War from a once unsophisticated and dismissive approach to a more enriched and interesting field of study. Keith Dowen examines the work of Catholic Irish colonel Gerat Bar...
This is the second update of A Cumulative Bibliography of Medieval Military History and Technology, which appeared in 2002. It is meant to do two things: to present references to works on medieval military history and technology not included in the first two volumes; and to present references to all books and articles published on medieval military history and technology from 2003 to 2006. These references are divided into the same categories as in the first two volumes and cover a chronological period of the same length, from late antiquity to 1648, again in order to present a more complete picture of influences on and from the Middle Ages. It also continues to cover the same geographical area as the first and second volume, in essence Europe and the Middle East, or, again, influences on and from this area. The languages of these bibliographical references reflect this geography.