Tag Archives: military

The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc

Posted on December 12, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc © 1896 Mark Twain 455 pages         In 1428,  a young French teenager arrived at the court of Robert Baudricourt and announced that she and he were to be allies in … Continue reading →

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Gates of Fire

Posted on November 27, 2014 by smellincoffee

Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae© 1998 Steven Pressfield442 pages When Xerxes, Ruler of Asia, god-king of men, finally stood over the bodies of the few Greeks who had withstood his hordes drawn from half … Continue reading →

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Gallipoli

Posted on November 25, 2014 by smellincoffee

Gallipoli© 1956 Alan Moorehead416 pages           As the Great War ensnared powers beyond Middle Europe, it became  in truth a world war,  providing the spark to reignite old tensions in places like the middle east.  In late … Continue reading →

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Under the Eagle

Posted on November 10, 2014 by smellincoffee

Under the Eagle© 2000 Simon Scarrow256 pages If given the choice between being attacked by foul-smelling, weirdly-painted Germans, and being attacked by foul-smelling, weirdly-painted Celts, which would you choose? For Centurion Macro, it’s rather obvious: the Germans! At least monitoring … Continue reading →

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Master of Rome

Posted on November 8, 2014 by smellincoffee

Master of Rome384 pages© 2011 John Stack     Winning a naval war against the Carthaginians is such a pain in the ol’ gluteus maximus. Invade Africa, threaten their very capital, and what do they do? They break an entire Roman legion … Continue reading →

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The Unknown War

Posted on October 25, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Unknown War© 1931 Winston Churchill396 pages The war to end all wars, what Sir Winston Churchill aptly described as the world crisis, began when a Serbian partisan assassinated the heir of Austria-Hungary’s throne, setting into motion a Rube Goldberg … Continue reading →

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Collision of Empires

Posted on September 20, 2014 by smellincoffee

Collision of Empires488 pages© 2014 Prit Buttar                   A quirk of the Great War is that its initial contestants usually cease to be subjects of interest to the historical imagination once Europe’s titans … Continue reading →

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The Red Baron

Posted on September 1, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Red BaronManfred von Richthofen© 1969 ed. Stanley Ulanoff240 pages The average man on the street may not know the first thing about the Great War, but he’ll have heard of the Red Baron. Attribute that to a silly song, … Continue reading →

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The Men Who Lost America

Posted on August 7, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of an Empire© Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy480 pages The Men Who Lost America is a rare history of the American Revolution, one which follows not the revolutionaries, but their … Continue reading →

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Castles of Steel

Posted on July 31, 2014 by smellincoffee

Castles of Steel© 2004 Robert K. Massie880 pages Everyone’s recipe for cooking up the First World War is slightly different, but one essential ingredient is that of the arms races between various countries,  especially the Anglo-Germanic quest for naval supremacy. … Continue reading →

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