Best of
European-History

1970

A Noble Treason: The Revolt of the Munich Students Against Hitler


Richard Hanser - 1970
    

The Normans in Sicily: The Normans in the South 1016-1130 and the Kingdom in the Sun 1130-1194


John Julius Norwich - 1970
    The books tell the story of the dazzling Norman kingdom of Sicily founded in the 11th century by an enterprising band of adventurers from Normandy under Robert Guiscard. The state they founded was outstanding in medieval civilization.

Grey Wolf, Grey Sea


E.B. Gasaway - 1970
    Kapitanleutnant Jochen Mohr commanded his German submarine and navigated it through the treacherous waters of one of the most destructive, savage wars the world has known.

Talleyrand: The Art of Survival


Jean Orieux - 1970
    Talleyrand, descended from the cadet branch of a noble family as old as that of the king, survived and prospered under every regime in France from monarchy thru the directorate and Napoleon's empire and beyond. (On taking his oath of allegiance to King Louis Phillipe, Talleyrand remarked, "Well, sire, that makes my thirteenth.") A major force in the post-Napoleanic world, his air of mystery and his laconic manner earned him the nickname "The Sphinx." In both virtues and vices, he was an odd mix; greedy, vain, amoral in many respects, but he had an iron will and an unquenchable love for France, no matter who ruled her. Orieux's book is both informative and eminently readable."-By James K. Burk (Wichita, Kansas United States)

Progress and Religion: An Historical Inquiry


Christopher Henry Dawson - 1970
    It has been described as a brilliant work of synthesis, for in this single volume he outlined his main thesis for the history of culture, which was his life's work. Anthropology, sociology, philosophy, religion, and history formed the backdrop for the key idea of his thought--namely, that religion is the soul of a culture and that a society or culture which has lost its spiritual roots is a dying culture. To Dawson, a return to the Christian culture that had formed Western civilization was the only remedy for a world adrift.Dawson was writing in a period between the two great wars of the twentieth century, a time when some thought that the idea of progress had finally been discredited by the carnage and barbarism of the First World War. Progress and Religion was clearly intended to challenge the doctrine of progress, the rather na�ve but persistent belief that 'in every day and in every way the world grows better and better.'Dawson argued that Western civilization was at a turning point and confronted with two real choices: reappropriate a vital Christian culture or move increasingly toward more dangerous and alienated expressions of consumerism and totalitarianism. In Progress and Religion, he contends that no culture could truly thrive if cut off from its religious roots.PRAISE FOR THE ORIGINAL EDITION:"Progress and Religion is undoubtedly a brilliant book. Its argument is closely reasoned, admirably presented, lucidly expressed. Its standpoint is original and suggestive, profound and illuminating. Without exaggeration, it may be regarded as one of the books of our generation."--The Manchester Guardian, 1929"A book of vast learning . . . a theme which invites the consideration of a stately procession of the greatest names in the history of the world's thought."--The Scotsman, 1929

The Mighty Eighth: A History of the Units, Men, and Machines of the Us 8th Air Force


Roger A. Freeman - 1970
    Eighth Air Force as "The Mighty" is back again in a revised edition. The most remarkable and most popular account of WWII aviation depicts the 8th from its arrival in Britain in 1942, to its spread across the country to operate from over 40 bases, on the way to becoming the largest air unit ever committed to battle. An extensively detailed and fully researched account covers intensive bomber and fighter sorties over Europe conducted by over 2,000 aircraft involving over 150,000 men. The exploits of B-17s, B-26s, and P-47s are told, along with little-known explanations of the vastly sophisticated supply chain that kept them flying. Over 700 photos of planes on the ground and in battle action depict formations and strategies, while over 150 full-color illustrations display aircraft group markings.

Prelude to Revolution: France in May 1968


Daniel Singer - 1970
    Prelude to Revolution is the indispensable study of May 1968. Generations have looked to this book for inspiration. Singer, who died in 2000, was widely considered the most adept interpreter of European politics for American audiences. He shows here how change happens—and why it is needed

Kingship and Law in the Middle Ages


Fritz Kern - 1970
    First published in 1914, this is one of the most important studies of early constitutional law. Kern observes that discussions of the state in the ninth, eleventh and thirteenth centuries invariably asked whose rights were paramount. Were they those of the ruler or the people? Kern locates the origins of this debate, which has continued to the twentieth century, in church doctrine and the history of the early German states. He demonstrates that the interaction of "these two sets of influences in conflict and alliance prepared the ground for a new outlook in the relations between the ruler and the ruled, and laid the foundations both of absolutist and of constitutional theory" (4). "[A] pioneering and classic study." --Norman F. Cantor, Inventing the Middle Ages, 106. Fritz Kern [1884-1950] was a professor, journalist and state official. From 1914 to 1918 he worked for the Foreign Ministry and the General Staff in Berlin. One of the leading medieval historians of his time, his works include Die Anfange der Franzosischen Ausdehnungspolitik bis zum Jahr 1308 (1910) and Recht und Verfassung im Mittelalter (1919).

The Fall of the Third Napoleon


Theo Aronson - 1970
    Mr. Aronson knows how to appeal to our visual imagination." Spectator "One can only greet with pleasure a book on a historically most fertile theme that may be called a popular work of considerable appeal and relevance." History Today "Mr. Aronson's style is clear and effective and not unduly overcoloured; while the portraits he draws of his unlucky protagonists are both sensible and sympathetic." Financial Times "We shall have a lot of 1870 this year but I shall be surprised if anything is written which is much better than this." Books and Bookmen The year 1970 marks the centenary of one of the great turning-points in world history: the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war and the resulting downfall of the French Second Empire. For centuries, until the debacle of 1870, France had been mistress of Europe and Paris the capital of the civilized world. Then suddenly, in a matter of weeks, culminating in the Prussian victory at Sedan, the centre of European gravity swung from Paris to Berlin; Germany became the dominant country on the Continent and it took two of the greatest wars mankind has ever known to oust her from this position. Under its creator, the romantic, inscrutable Napoleon III (‘a sphinx without a riddle', said Bismarck), and his beautiful Empress, Eugenie, the Empire had known 'eighteen years of luxury, pleasure, recklessness and gaiety, of gallantry and incomparable elegance'. In the spring of 1870 a massive vote of confidence in the so-called Liberal Empire had seemed to assure the future of the regime; yet, by the end of the summer, the French armies had suffered ignominious defeat; the Emperor himself had been taken prisoner at Sedan, and the bewildered young Prince Imperial, robbed of his hopes of military glory, had made his escape to England. Eugenie, who had revelled in her dramatic role as Regent, could hardly bring herself to accept that total disaster had overtaken France. But, after one terrible outburst against the Emperor, she rallied with a courage that survived her escape from Paris, the proclamation of a Republic, the twilight years of exile in England, and the death of the Emperor. The Prince Imperial was never to forget the shame of Sedan; anxious to prove himself worthy of his destiny, he met his death fighting with the British army in the Zulu War when he was twenty-three. The seventeen assegai wounds which killed him were all in the front of his body; and in his wallet was found a vicious French newspaper article raking up yet again the charge of Bonaparte cowardice. The Fall of the Third Napoleon gives both a splendidly clear-cut analysis of the reasons for the collapse of the Empire, and a sympathetic, freshly angled presentation of the two main characters—of Napoleon, hardly the 'coward of Sedan' of his enemies' imaginings, and Eugenie who, though highhanded and impetuous, was far from the war-mongering virago of popular legend. The action takes place against a changing and colourful backdrop: Haussmann's grandiose Paris, the Taderies and Saint Cloud, the sodden roads and bloody battlefields of north-eastern France, a country house in Kent, a lonely hollow in the South African veld.. . `It is all very beautiful—for the moment,' said Alfred de Musset at a ball at the Tuileries during the Second Empire, but I would not give two sous for the last act!' This book is the story of that last act—a gaslit tragedy, both brilliant and

The Trail of the Dinosaur


Arthur Koestler - 1970
    At that time the West was on the defensive and the majority of its progressive intellectuals were still turning a benevolently blind eye to Soviet foreign policy and the facts of life behind the Iron Curtain. "Reflections on Hanging" started as a pamphlet, but grew into a book, as Koestler became more and more fascinated - and horrified - by the historical, psychological and philosophical background and implications of the death penalty in general, and its theory and practice in England.

Gypsies: Wanderers of the World (National Geographic Special Publications)


Bart McDowell - 1970
    Blue cloth w/gilt titles, front with debossed dark blue decorative border around two panels with debossed elaborate design within, which would be a gypsy design.

Fiasco: The Break-out of the German Battleships


John Deane Potter - 1970
    On 2/11/42, the ships left Brest at 21.15 & escaped detection for more than twelve hours, approaching the Straits of Dover without check. Despite British attacks by the Royal Air Force, the Fleet Air Arm & Coastal Artillery, by 2/13 all the ships had completed their transit. The action has entered history as the "Channel Dash". Illustrated with a map of the English channel & the North Sea & eight pages of black & white photos.

Philip the Good: The Apogee of Burgundy


Richard Vaughan - 1970
    Professor Vaughan portrays not only Philip the Good himself, perhaps the most attractive personality among the four great dukes, butthe workings of the court and of one of the most efficent - if not necessarily the most popular - administrations in fifteenth-century Europe. The complex diplomatic history of Philip the Good's long ducal reign (1419-1467) occupies much of the book, in particular Burgundy's relations with England and France. The central theme is Philip the Good's policy of territorial and personal aggrandisement, which culminated in his negotiations with the Holy Roman Emperor for a crown. And due attention is given to the great flowering of artistic life in Burgundy which made Philip's court at Dijon an important cultural centre in the period immediately preceding the Renaissance. All this is based on the close study of the considerable surviving archives of Philip's civil service, and on the chronicles and letters of the period.Philip the Good provides a definitive study of the life and times of the rulerwhose position and achievements made him the greatest magnate in Europe during what has been called "the Burgundian century".

The Sarmatians


T. Sulimirski - 1970
    73)

Letters of Thomas Mann, 1889-1955


Thomas Mann - 1970
    Covering two world wars and exile in Europe and America, Mann's letters offer the reader insight into the concerns and values of one of the great writers of our time.

The Decisive Battles of the Western World: 480BC-1757


J.F.C. Fuller - 1970
    F. C. Fuller, a pioneer of mechanized warfare in Great Britain, was one of this century's most renowned military strategists and historians. In this magisterial work he spans military history from the Greeks to the end of World War II, describing tactics, battle lines, the day-to-day struggles while always relating affairs on the field to the larger questions of social, political, and economic change in Western civilization. A masterpiece of scholarship and biting prose. This is the 1970 abridged edition in two volumes of the original 1954 complete edition.

Lord Palmerston


Jasper Ridley - 1970
    Linking the world of the Regency with the middle of Queen Victoria's reign, he was made Secretary at War in 1809 at the age of twenty-five, and held the post for nineteen years. From 1830 to 1841 he was Foreign Secretary. At first he was regarded as weak and ineffectual, a 'Lord Cupid' who was more active in love affairs than in diplomacy; but before the end of his term of office he had raised English prestige in Europe to a record height. Without any special following in Parliament, he became the most popular statesman in the country, because of his vigorous defence of the rights Englishmen abroad.He played a crucial part in the creation of Belgium, saved Portugal and Spain from complete tyranny, rescued Turkey from Russia and saved the route to India from France. He was again Foreign Secretary from 1846-51, when he was in effect dismissed by Queen Victoria after undertaking to show her his foreign dispatches and then manifestly failing to do so. He would probably have averted the Crimean War if he had been Foreign Secretary at the time; and in 1855, at the age of seventy, he finally became Prime Minister, because the public believed he was the only man who could win the war. With a break of sixteen months, he was Prime Minister until he died in 1865.Palmerston was not greatly concerned with morality. His policy, first, last and all the time, was to protect and strengthen British interests, not least by a policy of brinkmanship that preserved the international balance of power and thus made British nineteenth-century prosperity possible.His personal energy and vitality were phenomenal-at the age of seventy-nine he rode from Piccadilly to Harrow in fifty-five minutes-and his treatment of his fellow men and women, from the humblest clerk in the Foreign Office to Metternich, Napoleon III and Queen Victoria, was consistently robust.

Khrushchev Remembers


Nikita Khrushchev - 1970
    Publisher's NoteIntroductionTranslator-Editor's NoteEarly CareerParty work in MoscowThe terror Return to the UkrainePrelude to the war The great patriotic warFamine in the Ukraine Stalin's last years Succession The fraternal countriesThe Korean War Burying the hatchet with TitoThe Geneva SummitVisit to London Restoring order in Hungary Nasser, Suez & the Aswan Dam The Berlin crises Mao Tse-tung & the schismHo Chi Minh & the war in Vietnam Fidel Castro & the Caribbean crisisDefending the socialist paradiseAppendicesIndex

The End Of Glory: An Interpretation Of The Origins Of World War Ii


Laurence Lafore - 1970
    By 1919 the Great Powers of the nineteenth century were dismembered or exhausted, and the Great Powers of the twentieth century, Russia and the United States, lingered in the wings, unwilling to assume their new roles as arbiters of Europe's and the world's fate. The old diplomatic machinery no longer worked, and no one was capable of devising a means for re-establishing a balance of power. Even Churchill, the author points out, did many of the right things for the wrong reasons. The End of Glory provides an accessible view of interwar diplomacy and describes the tragic decades of the 1920s and 1930s with dramatic clarity.