When originally published in 1967 and using archive material from official records in Ottawa, this book threw new light on the motives and actions of the intervening powers. Allied intervention took place in three main areas: Northern and Southern Russia as well as Siberia. Canada was the major Commonwealth contributor to the intervention in Siberia and a superfial account of the events and their political implications is contained in the official history of the Canadian Army in the First World War. This book discusses the subject in depth and from an international perspective. In this critical assessment the story of the Allied operations in Russia has been written against the double background of the issues and events of the Russian Civil War itself and of the international intrigues and rivalries of the Allies.
In December 1943, Lieutenant-General A.G.L. McNaughton resigned from command of the 1st Canadian Army amidst criticism of his poor generalship and of his abrasive personality. Despite McNaughton's importance to the Canadian Army during the first four years of the Second World War, little has been written about the man himself or the circumstances of his resignation. In The Politics of Command, the first full-length study of the subject since 1969, John Nelson Rickard analyses McNaughton's performance during Exercise SPARTAN in March 1943 and assesses his relationships with key figures such as Sir Alan F. Brooke, Bernard Paget, and Harry Crerar. This detailed re-examination of McNaughton's command argues that the long-accepted reasons for his relief of duty require extensive modification. Based on a wide range of sources, The Politics of Command will redefine how military historians and all Canadians look at not only "Andy" McNaughton but also the Canadian Army itself.
The establishment of the United Nations system at the conclusion of the Second World War was followed by a period of disillusion in the late 40s about the prospects for world order. With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 there came a regrouping of forces and revised calculations of what was possible. The first volume of The Shaping of the Peace described Canadian attitudes and policies towards international institutions as the Second World War ended. This volume is concerned with the developments in the decade after the war, with the changing Canadian concepts as they were shaped by events and challenges. Although principal attention is paid to the organs of the United Nations, other themes such as the establishment of NATO, the progress of the new Commonwealth, and the changing concepts of the North American relationship are analysed as essential elements in the Canadian search for equilibrium. The author was himself involved in many of the activities described in these volumes; this is not a personal memoir, however, but a third-person account based on recollections tempered by research of the records.
Secrecy and the Media is the first book to examine the development of the D-Notice system, which regulates the UK media's publication of British national security secrets. It is based on official documents, many of which have not previously been available to a general audience, as well as on media sources. From Victorian times, British governments have consistently seen the need, in the public interest, to prevent the media publishing secret information which would endanger national security. The UK media have meanwhile continuously resisted official attempts to impose any form of censorship, arguing that a free press is in the public interest. Both sides have normally seen the pitfalls of attempting to resolve this sometimes acrimonious conflict of interests by litigation, and have together evolved a system of editorial self-regulation, assisted by day-to-day independent expert advice, known colloquially as the D-Notice System. The book traces the development of this system from nineteenth-century colonial campaigns, through two world wars, to modern operations and counter-terrorism in the post-Cold War era, up to the beginning of the Labour government in 1997. Examples are drawn from media, political and official sources (some not yet open), and cover not only defence issues (including Special Forces), but also the activities of the secret intelligence services MI5, MI6 and GCHQ. These cases relate principally to the UK, but also to American and other allies' interests. The story of how this sometimes controversial institution now operates in the modern world will be essential reading for those in the media and government departments, and for academics and students in the fields of security, defence and intelligence, as well as being an accessible expos for the general reader. Nicholas Wilkinson served in the Royal Navy 1959-98, and from 1999 to 2004 he ran the independent Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee. He was a Press Complaints Commissioner from 2005 to 2008, and is a Cabinet Office Historian.
Science and Spectacle relates the construction of the telescope to the politics and culture of post-war Britain. From radar and atomic weapons, to the Festival of Britain and, later, Harold Wilson's rhetoric of scientific revolution, science formed a cultural resource from which post-war careers and a national identity could be built. The Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope was once a symbol of British science and a much needed prestigious project for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, but it also raised questions regarding the proper role of universities as sites for scientific research.
From a parish workhouse to the heart of the industrial revolution, from debtors' jail to Cambridge University and a prestigious London church, Robert Blincoe's political, personal and turbulent story illuminates the Dickensian age like never before. In 1792 as revolution, riot and sedition spread across Europe, Robert Blincoe was born in the calm of rural St Pancras parish. At four he was abandoned to a workhouse, never to see his family again. At seven, he was sent 200 miles north to work in one of the cotton mills of the dawning industrial age. He suffered years of unrelenting abuse, a life dictated by the inhuman rhythm of machines. Like Dickens' most famous character, Blincoe rebelled after years of servitude. He fought back against the mill owners, earning beatings but gaining self-respect. He joined the campaign to protect children, gave evidence to a Royal Commission into factory conditions and worked with extraordinary tenacity to keep his own children from the factories. His life was immortalised in one of the most remarkable biographies ever written, A Memoir of Robert Blincoe. Renowned popular historian John Waller tells the true story of a parish boy's progress with passion and in enthralling detail.
Prize Possession is a history of United States policy towards the Panama Canal, focusing principally on the first two generations of American tenure of the Canal Zone between 1904 and 1955. John Major also provides an extensive look at the nineteenth-century background, the making of the 1903 canal treaty with Panama, the move after 1955 towards the new treaty settlement of 1977, and the crucial significance of the Canal to American policy-makers and their public. The book is based for the most part on the hitherto largely untapped sources of US government agencies, namely, the State, War, and Navy Department, and the Canal Zone administration, as well as on the papers of notable dramatis personae such as Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt and Philippe Bunau-Varilla. As such it makes an important and original contribution to our knowledge and understanding of a subject which has not yet received its due from historians.
An exploration of Lovell's life and achievements in the scientific and political context of the time The extraordinary life of Bernard Lovell began before World War I and his story encompasses many of the great events of the last 100 years: World War II, the invention of radio astronomy, the space race, the Moon landings, the exploration of the solar system, the Cold War, the Cuban missile crisis, and the defense of Britain against nuclear attack. It can now be revealed that he was also a spy. The great radio telescope which Lovell built became and remains one of the most important scientific instruments in the world. The Jodrell Bank Observatory and the Lovell Telescope have held their place at the frontier of research for 55 years. His legacy remains great, as can be seen from the extensive media coverage and personal tributes that his death in 2012 attracted all over the world. With the 70th anniversaries of many wartime events in which he played a crucial role, as well as the recent declassification of information relating to his activities as an agent in the Cold War, this biography is sure to have a broad and timely interest.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.