"The leading academic vehicle for scholarly publication in the field of medieval warfare." Medieval Warfare The articles in volume 22 of the Journal of Medieval Military History range widely, not only in chronology but also in geography and approach. Sven Ekdahl looks at the big picture of the role of Swedish castles in the north; L. J. Andrew Villalon focuses on the very particular and culturally significant rewards given by the Catholic Kings to two noble families to celebrate minor victories on the borders of Granada in the far south. Subjects include fighting at the tactical level (the unexpectedly substantial tradition of mounted archery in England, the Low Countries and France, revealed by Sanders Goevarts), the operational level (Emperor Louis II's logistics in Italy, treated by Elijah T. Wallace), and the strategic level (King John's employment of naval power, analyzed by Adam M. McNeil). Vladimir Aleksic and Damnjan Prlinčevic consider military, political, geographical, demographic, and economic factors to contextualize the military history of the rich mining town of Novo Brdo in Serbia as it faced the rising tide of Ottoman conquest in the last century of the Middle Ages. Three contributions draw on the rich resources of the English royal archives to illuminate the material and technological tools of medieval warfare: individual weapons (most significantly both longbows and short bows) described with exceptional detail in a murder case of 1315 (Clifford J. Rogers); the horses of Henry V in the Agincourt campaign of 1415 (Gary P. Baker); and the military equipment stored at Dover Castle as described in inventories dating from 1320 to 1437 (Dan Spencer).

This volume focuses on the idea of proxy actors and irregular forces in medieval warfare, with contributions on the military role of non-noble combatants, Muslim responses to the Crusades, and foreign fights in North African states and Byzantium.

Mariners made a major - but neglected - contribution to England's warfare in the middle ages. Here their role is examined anew, showing their importance. During the fourteenth century England was scarred by famine, plague and warfare. Through such disasters, however, emerged great feats of human endurance. Not only did the English population recover from starvation and disease butthousands of the kingdom's subjects went on to defeat the Scots and the French in several notable battles. Victories such as Halidon Hill, Neville's Cross, Crécy and Poitiers not only helped to recover the pride of the English chivalrous class but also secured the reputation of Edward III and the Black Prince. Yet what has been underemphasized in this historical narrative is the role played by men of more humble origins, none more so than the medievalmariner. This is unfortunate because during the fourteenth century the manpower and ships provided by the English merchant fleet underpinned every military expedition. The aim of this book is to address this gap. Its fresh approach to the sources allows the enormous contribution of the English merchant fleet to the wars conducted by Edward II and Edward III to be revealed; the author also explores the complex administrative process of raising a fleet andprovides career profiles for many mariners, examining the familial relationships that existed in port communities and the shipping resources of English ports. Craig L. Lambert is Research Assistant at the University ofHull.

American Military History provides the United States Army-in particular, its young officers, NCOs, and cadets-with a comprehensive but brief account of its past. The Center of Military History first published this work in 1956 as a textbook for senior ROTC courses. Since then it has gone through a number of updates and revisions, but the primary intent has remained the same. Support for military history education has always been a principal mission of the Center, and this new edition of an invaluable history furthers that purpose. The history of an active organization tends to expand rapidly as the organization grows larger and more complex. The period since the Vietnam War, at which point the most recent edition ended, has been a significant one for the Army, a busy period of expanding roles and missions and of fundamental organizational changes. In particular, the explosion of missions and deployments since 11 September 2001 has necessitated the creation of additional, open-ended chapters in the story of the U.S. Army in action. This first volume covers the Army's history from its birth in 1775 to the eve of World War I. By 1917, the United States was already a world power. The Army had sent large expeditionary forces beyond the American hemisphere, and at the beginning of the new century Secretary of War Elihu Root had proposed changes and reforms that within a generation would shape the Army of the future. But world war-global war-was still to come. The second volume of this new edition will take up that story and extend it into the twenty-first century and the early years of the war on terrorism and includes an analysis of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq up to January 2009.

Volume II of The Cambridge History of War covers what in Europe is commonly called 'the Middle Ages'. It includes all of the well-known themes of European warfare, from the migrations of the Germanic peoples and the Vikings through the Reconquista, the Crusades and the age of chivalry, to the development of state-controlled gunpowder-wielding armies and the urban militias of the later middle ages; yet its scope is world-wide, ranging across Eurasia and the Americas to trace the interregional connections formed by the great Arab conquests and the expansion of Islam, the migrations of horse nomads such as the Avars and the Turks, the formation of the vast Mongol Empire, and the spread of new technologies – including gunpowder and the earliest firearms – by land and sea.

Part of the 'Soldiers' Lives Through History' series, this book vividly brings to life the soldier in the Middle Ages, from Scotland to Portugal, and the Mediterranean to the Baltic. All aspects of soldiers' lifes, including weaponry, clothing, medicine, transport, and more, are examined.

Shortly after 300 AD, barbarian invaders from Inner Asia toppled China's Western Jin dynasty, leaving the country divided and at war for several centuries. Despite this, the empire gradually formed a unified imperial order. Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900 explores the military strategies, institutions and wars that reconstructed the Chinese empire that has survived into modern times. Drawing on classical Chinese sources and the best modern scholarship from China and Japan, David A. Graff connects military affairs with political and social developments to show how China's history was shaped by war.

Released in 1969, the film Battle of Britain went on to become one of the most iconic war movies ever produced. The film drew many respected British actors to accept roles as key figures of the battle, including Sir Laurence Olivier as Hugh Dowding and Trevor Howard as Keith Park. It also starred Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer and Robert Shaw as squadron leaders. As well as its large all-star international cast, the film was notable for its spectacular flying sequences which were on a far grander scale than anything that had been seen on film before. At the time of its release, Battle of Britain was singled out for its efforts to portray the events of the summer of 1940 in great accuracy. To achieve this, Battle of Britain veterans such as Group Captain Tom Gleave, Wing Commander Robert Stanford Tuck, Wing Commander Douglas Bader, Squadron Leader Bolesław Drobiński and Luftwaffe General Adolf Galland were all involved as consultants. This detailed description of the making of the film is supported by a mouth-watering selection of pictures that were taken during the production stages. The images cover not only the many vintage aircraft used in the film, but also the airfields, the actors, and even the merchandise which accompanied the film’s release in 1969 – plus a whole lot more. There are numerous air-to-air shots of the Spitfires, Messerschmitts, Hurricanes and Heinkels that were brought together for the film. There are also images that capture the moment that Battle of Britain veterans, some of whom were acting as consultants, visited the sets. Interviews with people who worked on the film, such as Hamish Mahaddie, John Blake and Ron Goodwin, among others, bring the story to life.

Gaining an understanding of China's long and sometimes bloody history can help to shed light on China's ascent to global power. Many of China's imperial dynasties were established as the result of battle, from the chariot warfare of ancient times to the battles of the Guomindang (KMT) and Communist regimes of the twentieth century. China's ability to sustain complex warfare on a very large scale was not emulated in other parts of the world until the Industrial Age, despite the fact that the country is only now rising to economic dominance. In A Military History of China, Updated Edition, David A. Graff and Robin Higham bring together leading scholars to offer a basic introduction to the military history of China from the first millennium B.C.E. to the present. Focusing on recurring patterns of conflict rather than traditional campaign narratives, this volume reaches farther back into China's military history than similar studies. It also offers insightful comparisons between Chinese and Western approaches to war. This edition brings the volume up to date, including discussions of the Chinese military's latest developments and the country's most recent foreign conflicts.