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Of all the conquerors who swept out of Central Asia, two names stand out in European memory - Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan the Mongol. Both are remembered for massacres and devastation; yet whereas Genghis is also famous for the laws he imposed on half of Asia and for the trade which flourished under Mongol rule, Attila's notoriety seems unrelieved by positive achievements. But what was Attila's short-lived empire really like? What happened to the Huns afterwards, and what role did the nomads of Central Asia play in the centuries between Attila and Genghis Khan?

This is a detailed study of the most consistently successful troops in the Vietnam War - the Australians and New Zealanders.

The decision, in Spring 1948, to form two battalions of Foreign Legion paratroopers was prompted by the requirement for enlarged airborne forces in the First Indochina War (1946), and the healthy recruitment then employed by the Legion. There were some initial doubts. The Legion were known to be magnificent heavy infantry, but were felt by some to lack the flexibility and agility demanded by independent airborne operations. In the Legion itself there were some misgivings over the possible clash between the self-consciously exclusive ''para mentality'', and the Legion''s own very marked ésprit de corps. Over time, however, all these doubts evaporated with experience.

Details the uniforms of one of the most skilled and professional navies in the world, the men who swept the seas clean of Britain's enemies. This book covers many of the most famous battles and personalities of that period, as well as the ships, combat and crews.

Under the leadership of rulers such as Rameses II, Egypt - the most ancient and enduring power of the biblical world - fought every other major power to control an empire that stretched from the Sudan to Palestine. In this book the arms and equipment of Ancient Egypt are examined.

In the 17th century, English, French and Dutch buccaneers launched a series of attacks on Spanish towns, ports and shipping. This volume details the buccaneer captains, such as Henry Morgan, the crews of their ships, how they recruited, and how they fought their battles on land and at sea.

In the 1840s, gold had officially been discovered in California, and many men made their way out West in search of riches. The early mining camps were dangerous places full of violence and crime. Law and order was needed, and the Vigilante Committee became the first organized deliverer of justice in these turbulent new towns. As more and more people headed out West, and many new towns sprang up, a more official system of law was needed. From the days of the California Gold Rush to the killing of Bill Tilghman, the last of the traditional frontier lawmen, this book discusses the men that shaped law and order in the 'Wild, Wild West'.

This title describes and illustrates the weapons and tactics of the specialist military marksman from World War I to the Gulf War. It focuses on the scout-sniper to snipers on the Russian Front; a role in which women excelled.

Osprey''s examination of Japan''s Samurai warriors of the medieval period. Perhaps the greatest warriors in history, the Samurai were a product of a social system totally geared to war. The Samurai became expert in fighting both on horseback and on the ground. Their way of life was dictated by the code of Bushido or ''way of the warrior'' and clad in their magnificent, multi-coloured armour they were perfectly suited to the violent clan and dynastic warfare that dominated medieval Japan as the most powerful families vied for supremacy. In this title Anthony J Bryant presents a fascinating overview of these truly élite warriors.

The years from 1914 to 1918 saw a whole series of complex and very rapid changes in infantry tactics, which fundamentally altered the way wars had been fought for 150 years. This second volume concentrates on the men who fought in such important battles as those of Ypres and the Somme.

Sparta was a city in the ancient Greek state of Lakedaimon, the only state in Greece to have a full-time army. Nick Sekunda examines this ancient military machine, describing the organizational system of the Spartan army, the battles they fought and the society that produced them.

Features distinguished German commanders of World War II from the Waffen-SS, the Luftwaffe and the Navy. This book details wartime experiences of those commanders such as, Josef Dietrich, Theodor Eicke, Kurt Meyer, Joachim Peiper and Karl Donitz.

The antagonism between the Persian and the Greek colonies on the Ionian coast of Asia Minor began with Cyrus I and continued for some 200 years until the Empire was destroyed by Alexander's Macedonians. This book looks at the arms, equipment and organization of these forces.