War and defence operations

In 1808, Napoleon Bonaparte treacherously outmaneuvered the corrupt Spanish Bourbons and installed his brother Joseph as King of Spain, igniting the flames of war across the Iberian Peninsula.

In the mid-19th century India was the focus of Britain's international prestige and commercial power.

Now in a shorter, easy-to-read guide, this book explains Israel's complex, often bloody, foreign policy, and provides a definitive history of these ancient conflicts.

The wars against the Barbary pirates not only signaled the determination of the United States to throw off its tributary status, liberate its citizens from slavery in North Africa, and reassert its right to trade freely upon the seas: they enabled America to regain its sense of national dignity.

The Spanish conquest of Mexico was one of the most difficult military expeditions in history, and in achieving it, Hernan Cortes proved himself as one of the ablest European generals of all time.

The Great Plains cover the central two-thirds of the United States, and during the nineteenth century were home to some of the largest and most powerful Native American tribes on the continent.

The history of the Mongol conquests is a catalogue of superlatives.

The Zulu War of 1879 remains one of the best known British colonial wars and included two battles whose names reverberate through history.

The Gulf War of 1991 heralded a new type of warfare that was characterised by astonishing speed and high technology with remarkably low numbers of casualties amongst the coalition forces.

The Wars of the Roses raged from 1455 to 1485 - the longest period of civil war in English history.

Victorious in its previous campaigns in Africa against native armies, Britain now confronted an altogether different foe.

An accessible introduction to the Franco-Prussian War, a war that marked the beginning of the creation of modern Europe.

The Texas Revolution is remembered chiefly for the 13-day siege of the Alamo and its immortal heroes.

In July 1956 Egyptian President Gamal Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, causing immediate concern to Britain and France.

The eight French Wars of Religion began in 1562 and lasted for 36 years.

The American Revolution has been characterized politically as a united political uprising of the American colonies and militarily as a guerrilla campaign of colonists against the inflexible British military establishment.

This concise guide explains the background to the wars and charts the military development of the British Army and the reforms that led to its eventual superiority.

The War of 1812-1815 was a bloody confrontation that tore through the American frontier, the British colonies of Upper and Lower Canada, and parts of the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico.

During the 19th and early 20th century, Britain entered into three brutal wars with Afghanistan.

In this concise introduction, now in e-guide format, leading Vietnam War historian Dr Andrew Wiest provides a concise overview of America's most divisive war.

Campaigns fought by Louis XIV, the Sun King, shaped the borders of European states, the destinies of royal dynasties, and even the patterns of absolutist government.

Byzantium survived for 800 years, yet its dominions and power fluctuated dramatically during that time.

More than three and a half centuries have passed since the Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War (1618-48); but this most devastating of wars in the early modern period continues to capture the imagination of readers: this book reveals why.

The Palestine War has been by far the most important military encounter in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

A concise guide to the war with Mexico, one of the most decisive conflicts in American history.

A concise overview of the Hundred Years War, the longest-running and the most significant conflict in western Europe in the later Middle Ages.

The Argentine invasion of the Falklands in 1982 sparked national outrage.

Now in e-guide format, a full introduction to the Norman Conquest, an event which resulted in dramatic changes to the nation's aristocracy, church and administration.

In this e-guide, Dr Carter Malkasian provides a concise overview of the so-called "e;Forgotten War"e; in Korea.

This concise, accessible guide details the events of the period, led by commanders whose names remain a by-word for excellence in leadership to this day: Napoleon and Nelson.

The closest thing to total war before World War One, the Seven Years' War was fought in North America, Europe, the Caribbean and India with major consequences for all parties involved.

This bitter war between Russia and Turkey, aided by Britain and France, was the setting for the stuff of legends.

This concise e-guide explores the Mediterranean theater of the Second World War as the first truly modern war.

Now in a compact, e-guide format, a short history of Julius Caesar's short but bloody conquest of the Celtic tribes, which led to the establishment of the Roman province of Gaul (modern France).

Now in a compact handy e-guide, Adrian Goldsworthy's account of the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great, two of the greatest generals Rome had ever produced.

This fourth volume of the Napoleonic Wars miniseries covers Napoleon's gradual fall from power, beginning in the spring of 1813, when France prepared to face the vengeance of Russia and Prussia.

While many of the participants were the same as the First World War, this conflict was far more than a re-match of 1914-1918.

Now in concise e-guide format, this book examines the seminal Northwest Europe campaign of the Second World War.

Now in compact e-guide form, this volume provides a comprehensive guide to three major theatres of combat; the battles for the Atlantic, the war in the Mediterranean and the contest in the Indian Ocean.

Even today, the events of the Peloponnesian War are studied for what they can teach about diplomacy, strategy and tactics.

The age of Alexander and his conquest of the Persian or 'Achaemenid' Empire, which had existed for over two centuries, represents a watershed in the history of the world.

In 1940, fresh from the success in France, Hitler turned his attention to the East.

The First World War in the Mediterranean represented more than just a peripheral theatre to the war on the Western Front.

In this, the second volume in the Guide To.

In the early third century AD the Roman Empire was a force to be reckoned with, controlling vast territories and wielding enormous political power from Scotland to the Sahara.

The United States saw long-simmering sectional tensions erupt into fighting at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in April 1861.

While Napoleon prepared his army, on the coast of France, for an invasion of England that would never come, Russia and Austria prepared to move against his rear.

Born amid immense suffering and bloodshed, the Kingdom of Jerusalem remained a battlefield for almost 200 years.

Even when Western Allied troops gained a foothold in Normandy, World War II in Europe was far from over.

Even when Western Allied troops gained a foothold in Normandy, World War II in Europe was far from over.