Ancient Warfare XI.6, Feb-Mar 2018

Ancient Warfare XI.6 with Victory for Sparta - Finale of the Peloponnesian War

With financial aid from Persia, Sparta slowly brought Athens down in Attica, throughout its empire, and at sea.

Theme: Victory for Sparta

Seán Hußmann, 'Historical introduction - The Decelean War'.
Giannis Kadoglou, 'Rich man's warfare - The Athenian cavalry'.
Michael Park, 'The miracle of Arginusae - The decline of Athenian naval prowess'.
Paul Bardunias, 'Shifting shield-wall - The flexible phalanx'.

Features:

Michael Livingston and Myke Cole, 'Sources to results - Finding Cynoscephalae 197 BC'.
Tacticus, 'Tekne Taktike, part VI - Late Roman cavalry tactics'.
Duncan B. Campbell, 'Auxiliary centurions - the forgotten officers'.
Book reviews - A military history of Late Rome and Stilicho - the Vandal who saved Rome.

Ancient Warfare

10mm Fantasy Free Cities of Burgunzia from Magister Militum

The mercenaries of the Free Cities of Burgunzia burst on to the 10mm fantasy scene hot on the heels of the Goblins, Ratmen are close behind!

Free Cities of Burgunzia

FBZ101 (LME3) Burgunzian Pikemen

FBZ102 (LME5) Burgunzian Crossbowmen with Pavise

FBZ201 Burgunzian Flyers x3

Magister Militum

Hungarian Uprising: Budapest's Cataclysmic Twelve Days, 1956

When the world held its breath It is more than 25 years since the end of the Cold War. It began over 75 years ago, in 1944 long before the last shots of the Second World War had echoed across the wastelands of Eastern Europe with the brutal Greek Civil War.

The battle lines are no longer drawn, but they linger on, unwittingly or not, in conflict zones such as Syria, Somalia and Ukraine.

In an era of mass-produced AK-47s and ICBMs, one such flashpoint was Hungary Soviet troops had occupied Hungary in 1945 as they pushed towards Germany and by 1949 the country was ruled by a communist government that towed the Soviet line. Resentment at the system eventually boiled over at the end of October 1956.

Protests erupted on the streets of Budapest and, as the violence spread, the government fell and was replaced by a new, more moderate regime. However, the intention of the new government to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and declare neutrality in the Cold War proved just too much for Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

Soviet forces had intervened at the beginning of events to help the former regime keep order but were withdrawn at the end of October, only to return in November and quell the uprising with blunt force. Thousands were arrested, many of whom were imprisoned and more than 300 executed. An estimated 200,000 fled Hungary as refugees.

Despite advocating a policy of rolling back Soviet influence, the US and other western powers were helpless to stop the suppression of the uprising, which marked a realization that the Cold War in Europe had reached a stalemate.

Clacton-on-Sea and the Surrounding Coastline in the Great War

Clacton-on-Sea and the surrounding coastline is part of the Sunshine Coast, an area of sandy beaches and low-level cliffs facing the North Sea.

This book gives a brief history of the major nearby villages Brightlingsea, St Oysths, Clacton on Sea, Holland on Sea, Frinton and Walton on the Naze as they developed from agricultural areas, to seaside resorts in the mid to late 1800s, and then into heavily defended hives of activity.

They were considered by the authorities to be convenient spots for foreign invasion and, as a result, mock invasion exercises at Clacton had taken place since the early 1900s. Being close to the sea, many of the inhabitants were heavily involved with yachting and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, so it's not surprising that a great number joined the Royal or Merchant Navy.

Brightlingsea became a major naval port and the Australian and New Zealanders Engineers trained there for four years. Clacton itself saw over a 1,000 men sign up, and it also had a number of Military and Convalescent Homes that treated injured men.

Middlesex Hospital, for one, treated over 9,000 men. The local villages produced a considerable number of men who were awarded the Military Medal/Cross, and Walton on the Naze produced one VC in Herbert Columbine.

The tremendous efforts of others are also covered, in particular those of the local women folk. A number of appropriate poems, many written at the time, are included throughout the book, as well as rarely seen photographs and insightful reports from the local papers of that period.

Red China: Mao Crushes Chiang's Kuomintang, 1949

When the world held its breath It is more than 25 years since the end of the Cold War. It began over 75 years ago, in 1944 long before the last shots of the Second World War had echoed across the wastelands of Eastern Europe with the brutal Greek Civil War.

The battle lines are no longer drawn, but they linger on, unwittingly or not, in conflict zones such as Syria, Somalia and Ukraine. In an era of mass-produced AK-47s and ICBMs, one such flashpoint was China in 1949 China.

1949: two vast armies prepare for a final showdown that will decide Asia s future. One is led by Mao Tse-tung and his military strategists Zhou Enlai and Zhu De. Hardened by years of guerrilla warfare, armed and trained by the Soviets, and determined to emerge victorious, the People s Liberation Army is poised to strike from its Manchurian stronghold.

Opposing them are the teetering divisions of the Kuomintang, the KMT. For two decades Chiang Kai-shek's regime had sought to fashion China into a modern state. But years spent battling warlords, and enduring Japan's brutal conquest of their homeland, has left the KMT weak, corrupt, and divided. Millions of Chinese perished during the crucible of the Sino-Japanese War and the long, gruelling years of the Second World War.

But the Soviet victory against the Japanese Kwantung Army in 1945 allowed Mao s Communists to re-arm and prepare for the coming civil war. Within a few short years, the KMT were on the defensive while the Communists possessed the most formidable army in East Asia.

The stage was set for China s rebirth as a communist dictatorship ruled by a megalomaniac who would become the biggest mass-murderer in history.

The Somme 1916: Touring the French Sector

With a few notable exceptions, the French efforts on the Somme have been largely missing or minimised in British accounts of the Battle of the Somme.

And yet they held this sector of the Front from the outbreak of the war until well into 1915 and, indeed, in parts into 1916\. It does not hurt to be reminded that the French army suffered some 200,000 casualties in the 1916 offensive.

David O Mara s book provides an outline narrative describing the arrival of the war on the Somme and some of the notable and quite fierce actions that took place that autumn and, indeed, into December of 1914. Extensive mine warfare was a feature of 1915 and beyond on the Somme; for example under Redan Ridge and before Dompierre and Fay.

The French limited offensive at Serre in June 1915 is reasonably well known, but there was fighting elsewhere for example the Germans launched a short, sharp, limited attack at Frise in January 1916, part of the diversionary action before the Germans launched their ill-fated offensive at Verdun. The book covers the Somme front from Gommecourt, north of the Somme, to Chaulnes, at the southern end of the battle zone of 1916\.

The reader is taken around key points in various tours. For many British visitors the battlefields south of the Somme will be a revelation; there is much to see, both of cemeteries and memorials, but also substantial traces of the fighting remain on the ground, some of which is accessible to the public.

It has always been something of a disgrace that there is so little available, even in French, to educate the public in an accessible written form about the substantial effort made by France's army on the Somme; this book and subsequent, more detailed volumes to be published in the coming years will go some way to rectify this.

British visitors should be fascinated by the story of these forgotten men of France and the largely unknown part of the Somme battlefield.

Napoleon's Commentaries on Julius Caesar: A New English Translation

While in exile on St Helena, Napoleon dictated a commentary on the wars of Julius Caesar, later published in 1836. In each chapter he summarized the events of one campaign, then added comments from the standpoint of his own military knowledge.

Over the nearly two millennia between Caesar and Napoleon some aspects of warfare had changed, notably the introduction of firearms. But much remained the same: the rate of movement of armies (at the foot pace of horse or man); human muscle power as the main source of energy for construction work; some military techniques, notably bridge construction; as well as the actual territory fought over by Caesar and later by Napoleon.

Napoleon's commentary thus provides a fascinating and highly authoritative insight into Caesar's wars, as well as providing a window into Napoleon's own thinking and attitudes. Napoleon in places detects mistakes on the part of Caesar and his enemies, and says what they should have done differently. Remarkably, this is thought to be the first full English translation of Napoleon's work. Napoleon Bonaparte was born to an obscure Corsican family but rose through the ranks of the French army to become Emperor of France, conqueror of most of Europe and acknowledged military genius.

He wrote this book while in exile on St Helena.The translator. RA Maguire, is a former civil engineer with a longstanding interest in military and ancient history.