Bøker av Jeremy Black

Logistics is the vital subject in waging war. This book fills a gap in war studies with logistics as a huge subject at the centre of all conflict, globally and historically.

How a distinctively British form of monarchical government emerged 1714-1830, while the crowned heads of Europe faced serious, often insuperable crises - despite the decidedly mixed bag of British kings involved!

Now in its fourth edition, Introduction to Global Military History is an accessible, up-to-date account of modern warfare from the eighteenth century to the present.The book engages with the social, cultural, political and economic contexts of war, examining the causes and consequences of conflict beyond national and chronological boundaries. It challenges the dominant Western-centric, technologically focused view of military history and instead emphasises the ranges of circumstances faced by both Western and non-Western powers and the absence of any one direction of development. The chapters present integrated discussions of land, naval and air conflicts, addressing continuities and the ways in which common experiences affected different spheres. This edition revises the text throughout, has increased focus on the developments in the 2000s and 2010s, and adds a new chapter on the 2020s.Supported by a variety of illustrations, maps and case studies, this study is a valuable resource for students of military history and general readers alike.

One of the the leading historians of British history, Jeremy Black, turns his trenchant eye to the development of English culture since the eighteenth century - how does it reflect political and social conditions of the time? Here, Black looks at this question while offering an important and original account of English history.

Is it possible to overestimate the impact of the railway in history? Jeremy Black analyses that impact from the beginning to today. And of course it's not all a triumph. The network of the Congo today operates on three gauges run by separate companies; and a lot of it doesn't work.

A concise history of Paris and the great events and personalities, from prehistory to the present, that have shaped its unique cultural legacy. Once described as `that metropolis of dress and debauchery¿ by the Scottish poet David Mallet, then as now Paris had a reputation for a peculiar joie de vivre, from style to sex, cookery to couture, captivating minds and imaginations across the Continent and beyond. In Paris: A Short History, Jeremy Black explores the unique cultural circumstances that made Paris the vibrant capital it is today. Black explores how Paris has been shaped through the centuries from the first century BCE, when the city was founded by the Parisii. From a small Gallic capital conquered by the Romans, Paris transformed into a flourishing medieval city full of spectacular palaces and cathedrals, including Sainte-Chapelle and Notre-Dame de Paris. During the illustrious reigns of Louis XIV and XV Paris became one of the most beautiful and cosmopolitan capitals in the world, before the Revolution tore French society apart, changing the city forever. The Belle Époque brought new ideas and architecture to the city, including the iconic Eiffel Tower, before the destruction of the First and Second World Wars launched a massive regeneration project. Black completes his history by exploring present-day Paris and its role as the seat of a leading power on the world stage. Black deftly demonstrates that the history of Paris is about more than a city: it is the history of a culture, a society and a state that has impacted the rest of the world through centuries of changing fortunes.

It is a picture of the universal role of cavalry in warfare from earliest times to the present - and future.

Esteemed historian Jeremy Black examines the technological, social, political and economic reasons for the industrial revolution taking place in Britain.

A global history of the geography of war from antiquity to modern and contemporary conflict illustrated and brought to life by histories of inter-state war, geopolitical rivalry, 'hot' and 'cold' war and terrorism.

Jeremy Black charts the story of Britain's rise to naval supremacy across the long eighteenth century.

Beginning with an overview of the age of Dickens, Professor Jeremy Black guides the reader through the biography and writings of the great man to show how his work not only expressed his experience of Victorian England, but also defined it, for his contemporaries and for generations to come. In some ways for us, Victorian England simply is Dickens' England. Professor Black considers London as the centre of all but also examines Dickens' effect on concepts of gender and social structure. Then there is government - from the Circumlocution Office to Britain as the supreme imperial power. There is also a valuable account of Dickens' relationship with America. Dickens describes a culture - popular, middle and lite - and at the same time creates one. It takes a historian of Professor Black's standing to differentiate between the two and show how they inter-react.

A concise, accessible account of strategy and the Second World War. How the war was won . . . and lost..In 1941, the Second World War became global, when Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union; Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor; and Germany declared war on the United States.In this timely book, which fills a real gap, Black engages with the strategic issues of the time - as they developed chronologically, and interacted - and relates these to subsequent debates about the choices made, revealing their continued political resonances.Beginning with Appeasement and the Soviet-German pact as key strategic means, Black examines the consequences of the fall of France for the strategies of all the powers. He shows how Allied strategy-making was more effective at the Anglo-American level than with the Soviet Union, not only for ideological and political reasons, but also because the Americans and British had a better grasp of the global dimension.He explores how German and Japanese strategies evolved as the war went badly for the Axis powers, and discusses the extent to which seeking to mould the post-war world informed Allied strategic choices from 1943 onwards, and the role these played in post-war politics, notably in the Cold War. Strategy was a crucial tool not only for conducting the war; it remains the key to understanding it today.

A concise history of the Caribbean's long and fascinating history, from pre-contact civilisations to the present day This is a concise history, intended for travellers, but of inestimable value to anyone looking for an overview of the Caribbean and its mainland coastal states, with a focus on the past few centuries. The history of the Caribbean does not make much sense without factoring in the cities - Pensacola, New Orleans, Galveston - and the ambitions of the states on its continental shores, notably the United States. This account is grounded in a look at the currents and channels of the sea, and its constraints, such as the Mosquito Coast, followed by the history of 'pre-contact' civilisations, focusing on the Maya and the Toltec Empire.With the arrival of the Europeans, from the late fifteenth century to the early years of the seventeenth century, the story becomes one of exploration, conquest and settlement. Black charts the rise of slave economies and the Caribbean's place in the Atlantic world, also the arrival of the English - Hawkins and Drake - to challenge the Spanish. He examines the sugar and coffee slave economies of the English, French, Spanish and Dutch, also the successful rebellion in Haiti in the eighteenth century, and how the West Indies were further transformed by the Louisiana Purchase, the American conquest of Florida and the incorporation of Texas.He discusses the impact of Bolivar's rebellion in Spanish America, the end of slavery in the British Caribbean, and war between Mexico and America; also the defeat of the South by the Union, the American takeover of the Panama Canal project from France, and the Spanish-American War.The first half of the twentieth century focuses on growing US power: intervention in Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Haiti and the Dominican Republic; Cuba as an American protectorate, and civil wars in Mexico.The Cold War brought new tensions and conflict to the region, but the same period also saw the rise of the leisure industry. The last part of the book looks at the Caribbean today - political instability in Venezuela and Colombia, crime in Mexico, post-Castro Cuba - and the region's future prospects.

In 'A History of Britain in 100 Maps' Jeremy Black takes readers deep into the unparalleled collections of the British Library Map Room to tell a new story of the British Isles through acknowledged treasures and previously undiscovered and unpublished items. Presenting in detail 100 important maps Black explores major themes in British history, from settlement, environmental change, state formation and ecclesiastical development to industrialisation, urbanisation, and modern socio-political developments. In doing so he also tells the story of how a rich mapmaking tradition developed from the medieval Mappa Mundi to the work of pioneering cartographers including Matthew Paris, John Speed and Christopher Saxton and on through institutions such as the Ordnance Survey and the A-Z Company. Cartographic records of the Civil War and Great Fire, or curiosities including Emil Reich's 'Map of British Genius', are contrasted with infographic maps of recent elections and the COVID-19 epidemic. The book also considers the growing field of fine and digital artists using delineated images of Britain as their subject matter.

This innovative book analyzes the strategic dimensions of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, critiquing Napoleon's broader strategic weaknesses. The first history to look holistically at the strategies of the leading belligerents from a global perspective, it is an essential read for military professionals, students, and history buffs.

A wonderfully engaging, accessible introduction to war, from ancient times to the present and into the future