On the eightieth anniversary of the disastrous raid on Dieppe, this is the compelling story of the failures in its planning and execution and the bitter lessons learned in advance of D-Day.
A look at the evacuation of British and Allied forces from Dunkirk and other ports during the collapse of France following the German invasion of May 1940.
Fascinated by history? Wish you knew more? The Illustrated Introductions are here to help. In this lavishly illustrated, accessible guide, find out everything you need to know about the Second World War.
Fascinated by history? Wish you knew more? The Illustrated Introductions are here to help. In this lavishly illustrated, accessible guide, find out everything you need to know about the Battle of Britain.
In England today we enjoy a rich diversity of folk traditions, many of which can trace their beginnings back hundreds of years. They stem from every phase of our antiquity and embody all the peoples who have traditionally enriched our culture. In this book we visit some of the best known examples, including mumming, cheese rolling, tree dressing, rushbearing, beating the bounds, flitch trials and Wassailing, among many other customs, festivals and traditions.Covering all aspects of English folklore and tradition, including myths, legends, traditional song and dance, games, seasonal events and calendar customs, this volume encompasses the history of many of England’s best-loved folk traditions.
Wiltshire was understandably one of the most militarised wartime counties, encompassing the whole of Salisbury Plain. But the story of Wiltshire at War is also about weapon development, tactics and planning operations. British, Commonwealth and American troops made use of the facilities, and the civil population played their part, working in factories, the Home Guard or the Women's Voluntary Service. In this book we visit the places associated with the county's war effort. This fascinating selection of photographs traces some of the many ways in which Wiltshire has changed and developed since the war. Starting in Salisbury and Swindon, where Spitfires were built, we explore Boscombe Down, where Fighter Command's only Victoria Cross of the war was won, and Ramsbury, where airborne forces left for D-Day. We visit Highworth, gateway to the secret world of auxiliary units; Box, an underground city with bomb stores and Fighter Command control rooms; and many other places that give Wiltshire a diverse wartime landscape.
Recollects the community spirit and village life of days gone by, as villages around Britain are revisited through first-hand memories and historical research. This work features photographs that brings to us the places and faces of country village life. It looks at the hardships and the joys of village life in the first half of the 20th century.
Between 1942 and 1945, tens of thousands of young American servicemen arrived in Britain. This book is an examination of the way their presence affected them and the local people during the Second World War. It is a social history and studies the various relationships forged between the British public and their American guests.
Across Britain there are more than 3,000 lost villages once-thriving communities that time and fortune have reduced to ivy-clad remnants and weather-worn ruins. Echoes of a former age, they evoke a natural curiosity as to who lived in them, what caused their decline. Bestselling author Henry Buckton goes in search of some of the Britain's more recent lost villages: Hallsands in Devon, swept away in a violent storm; the communities of Vatersay and Mingulay, in Scotland, victims to the changing fortunes of the local laird; and the picture-perfect village of Imber in Wiltshire, requisitioned for the nation in time of war but never given back. Combining rare photographs and the memories of those who knew the villages, the author provides a timely account of communities whose stories would otherwise soon be lost for ever.
A fascinating collection of wartime memories from major political figures, many who are still household names today. Drawn from a political cross section, representing all major parties, these delightfully evocative accounts cover experiences in all three of the British armed services and across the ranks. This work is full of surprises with former prime ministers and other senior figures telling their stories with great modesty, and humility.
The period from 1066 to 1272, from the Norman Conquest to the death of Henry III, was one of enormous political change in England and of innovation in the Church as a whole. Religion, Politics and Society 1066-1272 charts the many ways in which a constantly changing religious culture impacted on a social and political system which was itself dominated by clerics, from the parish to the kingdom. Examining the various ways in which churchmen saw their relation to secular power, Henry Mayr-Harting introduces many of the great personalities of the time, such as Thomas Becket and Robert Grosseteste. At the same time he shows how religion itself changed over the course of two centuries, in response to changing social conditions – how rising population fuelled the economic activities of the monasteries, and how parish reform demanded a more educated clergy and by this increased the social prestige of the Church. Written by an acknowledged master in the field, this magisterial account will be an unmissable read for all students of Norman and Plantagenet England and of the history of the medieval Church as a political, social and spiritual force.
The Battle of Britain was a critical period in the history of WWII when, thanks to the heroics of the RAF & their Spitfire & Hurricane aircraft, Britain managed to withstand the Luftwaffe onslaught & avoid the invasion that would have followed. This account tells the story through the memories of surviving pilots & other military staff.
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