Series: Warrior

For nearly 60 years, the clans of Highland Scotland proved to be an almost constant thorn in the side of a series of British monarchs. Fiercely independent, the clans comprised an agricultural peasantry dominated by a warrior aristocracy. They held most forms of authority in contempt and did not submit to London meekly. Their first loyalty was to the exiled...

In 1914, the Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps was subsumed into the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). With the bulk of the Royal Flying Corps engaged in France, the aircraft and seaplane pilots of the RNAS protected Britain from the deadly and terrifying Zeppelin menace. In 1915, the RNAS sent aircraft to support operations in the Dardanelles and...

An enemy in the shadows, the Viet Cong was the military arm of the National Liberation Front, the Communist Party of the Republic of Vietnam. Often working with the North Vietnamese Army, they were a constant factor amid the rice paddies and battlefields throughout the war. Despite fighting an enemy with overwhelming firepower and resources, they ingeniously made use of...

The enthralling new drama in the epic story of Caratacus: the barbarian king who led the tribes of Britannia against mighty Rome. AD 43, Britannia. A barbarian land... Caratacus is warlord of his tribe. Only King Cunobelinus holds more power. The island's clans are constantly at war. Caratacus has relentlessly driven new alliances, but those are ready to crumble at...

Immortalised through their exploits at the battle of Thermopylae under the legendary Leonidas, as well as countless other victories, the Spartans were some of the best-trained, organised and most-feared warriors of the ancient world. The small state of Sparta, known to the Ancient Greeks as Lakedaimon, developed a unique warrior society that used serfs and non-citizens to do all of...

The 3rd to the 6th centuries saw the collapse of the classical Mediterranean civilisation and the emergence of new states in western Europe based on the Germanic warrior society. Germanic Warrior AD 236–568 focuses particularly on the men who made up the retinues of the Germanic warlords who carved kingdoms out of the carcass of the West Roman Empire. Although...

This book documents the experiences of the Italian armed Fascist militia, the Camicie Nere (Blackshirts), from the Italian–Ethiopian war of 1935–36, through the Spanish Civil War to the end of World War II. It explores their origins, development, recruitment, training, conditions of service, uniforms and equipment, battle experience, political and ideological motivation. The Blackshirt legions were raised under army control...

The collapse of Roman rule in Britain was not so much a sudden catastrophe as a long and drawn-out decline. The 'Celtic' Britons retreated gradually to the highland areas of Wales, Cornwall and the south-west of Scotland. Control of the fertile eastern lowlands was lost to warriors of Germanic origin who migrated from the Continent. These Germanic conquerors have become...

During this period, the British army earned itself a formidable reputation as a fighting force. However, due to its role as a police force at home, and demonisation by American propaganda, the army was viewed as little removed from a penal institution run by aristocratic dilettantes. This view, still held by many today, is challenged by Stuart Reid, who paints...

Regarded as the elite arm of the military during the Middle Byzantine period, the cavalry executed high-speed reconnaissance, agile arrow barrages, and crippling blows to enemy formations. Its ranks were filled primarily through direct recruitment or hereditary service by holders of military lands, but in times of crisis, irregulars would be temporarily enlisted. Few books provide any accessible study of...

Green Beret in Vietnam by Gordon L. Rottman explores the U.S. Special Forces' most complex and controversial mission in Vietnam, spanning from 1957 to 1973. During this time, Special Forces soldiers were engaged in a variety of operations, including camp strike forces, mobile strike forces, mobile guerrilla forces, special reconnaissance projects, training missions, and headquarters duty. Each of these roles...

Written by Trevor Bryce, one of the world's leading experts on the Hittites, this book charts the rise and fall of a warrior people famed for their ferocity, who built an empire which stretched from Mesopotamia to Syria and Palestine. For nearly a century, the Hittites fought a draining war against the Egyptians—the climax of which saw the Hittites defeated...

Imperial Guardsman 1799–1815 by Philip Haythornthwaite explores one of the most famous military formations in history, Napoleon's Imperial Guard. This élite unit was renowned not only for its ceremonial duties but also for its exceptional performance as a combat formation. Even as the Guard grew to represent a significant portion of France's military forces, it remained the personal guard of...

Nicknamed the 'Libyan Desert Taxi Service' by the SAS, the Long Range Desert Group was tasked with strategic reconnaissance and raiding operations deep inside the enemy-held deserts of North Africa. Armed with light weapons only, and equipped with specially converted light cars and trucks capable of withstanding the harsh conditions, the LRDG quickly proved it could operate in parts of...

Throughout the 11th and 12th centuries, the Norman knight was possibly the most feared warrior in Western Europe. He was descended originally from the Vikings who had settled in Northern France under their leader Rollo in or around 911, at the behest of Charles the Simple. Throughout the following centuries, they remembered and built on their warlike reputation. Norman Knight...

The Huns were the most feared barbarians of the Ancient world, known to their Roman enemies as the 'scourge of god'. Superb horsemen and excellent archers, they fought with a reflex composite-bow that could penetrate armour at 100 metres. In battle, they would rush into the fray with surprising speed and apparent chaos, maintaining an incessant barrage until the enemy...