The Hanseatic League was a commercial and defensive federation of merchant guilds based in harbour towns along the North Sea and Baltic coasts of what are now Germany and her neighbours, which eventually dominated maritime trade in Northern Europe and spread its influence much further afield.
SUNDAY TIMES BOOKS OF THE YEAR and FINANCIAL TIMES BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2014WINNER OF THE TEMPLER MEDAL AND THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE Sunday Times Top 10 BestsellerRichard Vinen's new book is a serious - if often very entertaining - attempt to get to grips with the reality of National Service, an extraordinary institution which now seems as remote as the British Empire itself.
For many young people weighing the pros and cons of joining the military, the details of what their lives would be like in uniform are often a mystery.
A companion volume to Hitler's Armies and Hitler's Eagles, Hitler's Elite: The SS 1939 45 tells the complete story of the SS at individual, unit and organizational levels.
In 1918 war broke out for Poland's independence, involving the the Poles, the Red and White Russian armies, at least two different Ukrainian forces, and Allied intervention troops.
From an exam insider, a vital guide to the ASVAB subtests essential to a successful start of your military careerOf the eight ASVAB subtests, four--word knowledge, paragraph comprehension, arithmetic reasoning, and mathematics knowledge--comprise what is called the Armed Forces Qualifying Test (AFQT).
In three volumes spanning centuries, Lieutenant Colonel Roman Jarymowycz recounts the story of the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, the oldest Highland regiment in the country.
Surveys show that the all-volunteer military is our most respected and trusted institution, but over the last thirty-five years it has grown estranged from civilian society.
By the end of the nineteenth century the fame of the Zulu was world-wide, and their army was one of the few non-European military organisations to have become the subject of serious historical study.
The two major Army units that operated in the Pacific the 11th Airborne Division and the 503rd Parachute Regimental Combat Team (PRCT) launched small-scale operations on extremely difficult, if not, outright dangerous, terrain, while also conducting amphibious assaults, fighting on jungled hills, swamps and mud.
In three volumes spanning centuries, Lieutenant Colonel Roman Jarymowycz recounts the story of the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, the oldest Highland regiment in the country.
Hermann G ring raised the Luftwaffe Field Divisions (LwFD) during 1942, when Nazi Germany was still making spectacular gains but was first feeling the pinch of its losses on the Eastern Front.
Hitler first considered an invasion of Great Britain in autumn 1940, then scheduled Operation Barbarossa, the conquest of the European part of the Soviet Union, for May 1941.
It is arguable that no group of fighting men in the history of European arms has been so misrepresented by ill-informed publicity as the French Foreign Legion.
When Frederick II (later known as Frederick the Great) came to the throne in 1740, he had three advantages for which he owed thanks to his father: a modern, well-organised state; full coffers; and a properly trained and equipped army.
In 1941 the US Navy had 17 battleships - of which eight would be knocked out on the first day of the war - four aircraft carriers, and about 340,000 men including reservists.
Becoming a man is difficult-even in the best of circumstances-but when it must be done in 1968 with the Year of the Monkey set to explode onto the cities and battlefields of a war-torn Vietnam, it is only the very best who make the grade.
This book examines the brief but colorful history of the 1st US Volunteer Cavalry, and details the rich experiences of the men who fought in its ranks.
This title deals with the experiences of the American soldiers who fought the Japanese across the Pacific islands, and the specific nature of this combat environment.
Contrary to popular belief, the capture of India was not accomplished by the British Army, but by the private armies of the East India Company, which grew in size to become larger than that of any European sovereign state.
On 28 September 1941, Hitler instituted a new, supreme class of the Knight's Cross decoration for gallantry and leadership: the Oak-Leaves with Swords and Diamonds.
Extraordinary maritime heroes of the late 18th and early 19th centuries stride across these pages - some, like Warren, Pellew, Cochrane and Collingwood, are still renowned; others are almost unknown today, yet their brilliant exploits deserve to be pulled from under the long shadow of the greatest naval figure of all, Horatio Nelson.
War Memories explores the patchwork formed by collective memory, public remembrance, private recollection, and the ways in which they form a complex composition of observations, initiatives, and experiences.
The ancient warrior code which persisted in medieval Christian Europe dictated that a man's greatest virtues were physical strength, skill at arms, bravery, daring, loyalty to the chieftain and solidarity within the tribe.
From the days of its occupation by South African forces under the Mandate System, to its first election in 1989, South-West Africa was a hotbed of revolutionary activity.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the unique requirements of dual wars in Iraq and Afghanistan radically altered the appearance and capabilities of the British Army's infantry soldiers.
