Osprey Essential Histories SC (2001) comic books
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Issue #3-1ST
$6.00
$6.00
Volume 3 - 1st printing. "The Napoleonic Wars Part 1!" By Todd Fisher. While Napoleon prepared his army, on the coast of France, for an invasion of England that would never come, Russia and Austria prepared to move against his rear. Napoleon turned on the allies and crushed them in one of history's greatest campaigns. The following year, he met the legendary army of Frederick the Great and annihilated it completely. The year after it was Russia's turn again, and though the northern winter was the major foe, it could not save the Tsar. The world, and warfare, would never be the same again. The Empires of Russia, Austria, Prussia and Britain were not weak. How had Napoleon done this? Why were his methods, and his army, different? Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $14.95.
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Issue #4-1ST
$7.20
Volume 4 - 1st printing. "The American Civil War Part 1!" By Gary Gallagher. The United States saw long-simmering sectional tensions erupt into fighting at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in April 1861, beginning what would become the most cataclysmic military struggle in the western world between Waterloo and the First World War. This volume focuses on events in the Virginia theater during the conflict's first two years, highlighting Union and Confederate strengths and weaknesses, leadership and strategy on each side, and the ways in which events on the battlefield influenced politics, diplomacy, and debates about emancipation. Osprey Essential Histories are complete yet concise studies of each major conflict in history. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $14.95.
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Issue #5-1ST
$6.00
Volume 5 - 1st printing. "The American Civil War Part 3!" By Robert Krick. Great battles and famous commanders dominated the military history of the Civil War in the Eastern Theater during the period 1863-1865. This book includes revealing details of the clash at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the costliest battle ever waged in the Western Hemisphere, but, contrary to common belief, puts forward the theory that it was not a great turning point in the war. This book also examines the events that led to Robert E Lee accepting generous terms of surrender from Ulysses S Grant, bringing the war in Virginia to a close. A fascinating look at this crucial point in the American Civil War. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $14.95.
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Issue #10-1ST
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$6.00
Volume 10 - 1st printing. "The American Civil War Part 2!" By Stephen Engle. The American Civil War's vast Western Theater witnessed enormously important military campaigning during the period 1861 - 1863. This book, the third in a four-volume series, examines the geographical, logistical and strategic factors that shaped fighting in this theater, as well as assessing officers who played key roles . It covers the story of Ulysses S Grant's important capture of rebel positions before marching south to win the battle of Shiloh, as well as that of Albert Sidney Johnston, the pride of the Confederacy. Finally, it details the dramatic events of the siege of Vicksburg, the Confederates final fortress. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $14.95.
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Issue #11-1ST
$6.00
Volume 11 - 1st printing. "The American Civil War Part 4!" By Joseph T. Glatthaar. Union military forces suffered momentary defeat followed by sustained success in the Western Theater during the second half of the American Civil War. Following the Union's defeat at Chickamauga, Ulysses S. Grant took command at Chattanooga and orchestrated a striking victory which paved the way for a Union advance against Atlanta, a confederate city second in importance only to Richmond. This book traces the events that surrounded the capture of Atlanta, followed by Sherman's famous campaign of destruction through the southern interior which culminated in April 1865 with the surrender of the last major Confederate field army at Durham Station, North Carolina. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $14.95.
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Issue #18-1ST
$6.00
Volume 18 - 1st printing. " The Second World War Part 1!" By David Horner. The war in the Pacific began with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and ended with the atomic bombs on Hirsoshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, which led to the surrender in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. It was a war of great naval battles, such as those in the Coral Sea, at Medway, and at Leyte and of grim jungle battles, at Guadalcanal, New Guinea and Burma. This book explores the many facets of this complicated conflict, which reshaped the face of Asia and splintered forever European invincibility as a colonial power. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $14.95.
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Issue #23-1ST
$6.00
$6.00
Volume 23 - 1st printing. "The First World War Part 4!" By Michael Hickey. The First World War in the Mediterranean represented more than just a peripheral theatre to the war on the western front. This engaging volume includes details of allied attempts to capture Constantinople; bloody campaigning in Northern Italy; the defence of the Suez Canal and the defeat of the Turkish army in Palestine. The Arab revolt, skirmishes in North Africa and the entrapment of a huge allied garrison in Greece - the 'worlds biggest prison camp' as the Germans described it - are also covered. The result was the fall of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires and the birth of nations unknown in 1914. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $14.95.
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Issue #24-1ST
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Volume 24 - 1st printing. "The Second World War Part 5!" By Geoffrey Jukes. In 1940, fresh from the success in France, Hitler turned his attention to the East. In this volume Geoffrey Jukes explains what led to Hitler's decision to instigate the invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) and offers a concise account of the campaign that followed. The Germans expected to conquer Russia in only four months, but at Stalingrad and then Kursk the Russians fought back. At a human cost of 27 million Soviet lives Hitler was forced into a humiliating retreat and Russia emerged from the war as a super power ready to take on the capitalist world. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $14.95.
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Issue #26-1ST
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Volume 26 - 1st printing. "The Wars of Alexander the Great!" By Waldemar Heckel. The age of Alexander and his conquest of the Persian or 'Achaemenid' Empire, which had existed for over two centuries, represents a watershed in the history of the world. This book offers a fascinating insight into the achievements of one of the greatest generals ever known. Alexander's conquests are of profound significance. By perfecting the new weapons and tactics developed by his father, Philip II, and combining them with the use of specialist units and advancements in siege warfare, Alexander enabled the Macedonian kingdom to move beyond the restrictions of city-state armies and on to the stage of world conquest. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $17.95.
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Issue #27-1ST
$6.00
$6.00
Volume 27 - 1st printing. "The Peloponnesian War 431-404 BC!" By Philip de Souza. It is a testament to the fascination of the subject that even today the events of the Peloponnesian War are studied for what they can teach about diplomacy, strategy and tactics. This book reveals the darker side of Classical Greek civilization. From the horrific effects of overcrowding and the plague on the population of Athens, to the vicious civil strife that often erupted in cities allied with Athens or Sparta, this volume offers vivid and at times disturbing insights into the impact of warfare on the people who are celebrated as the founders of Western civilization. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $19.95.
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Issue #28-1ST
$6.00
Volume 28 - 1st printing. "The Arab-Israeli Conflict!" By Efraim Karsh. The Palestine War has been by far the most important military encounter in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. This book examines the origins of the war and its progression through two distinct stages: the guerrilla warfare between the Arab and Jewish communities of Mandatory Palestine, and the conventional inter-state war between the State of Israel and the invading Arab armies. In doing so it assesses the participants, their war aims, strategies and combat performance. Finally, it examines the reasons for Israel's success in the face of seemingly impossible odds and for the failure of the Arab nations to turn their military and numerical superiority into victory on the ground. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $17.95.
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Issue #30-1ST
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Volume 30 - 1st printing. "The Second World War Part 3!" By Alastair Finlan, Mark J Grove, and Philip D Grove. This volume provides a comprehensive guide to three major theatres of combat; the battles for the Atlantic, the war in the Mediterranean and the contest in the Indian Ocean. The war at sea was a vital contest, which if lost would have irreversibly altered the balance of the military forces on land. The sea lanes were the logistical arteries of British and subsequent Allied armies fighting on the three continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Second World War was ultimately won by land forces but it could always have been lost at sea. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $14.95.
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Issue #32-1ST
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$9.49
Volume 32 - 1st printing. "The Second World War Part 6!" By Russell Hart, and Stephen A Hart. This book examines the seminal Northwest Europe campaign of the Second World War. This hard-fought campaign conducted by the Western Allies against the Germans during 1944-45 represented, for the former, the decisive theatre of the entire Second World War. From the desperate and risk-laden D-Day landings on 6 June 1944 to the rapid charge through western and central Germany in the last weeks of the war, American, British, Canadian and French military forces took on and defeated the German military. This victory ensured that the scourge of Nazism was finally expunged from the face of Europe. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $14.95.
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Issue #34-1ST
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Volume 34 - 1st printing. "The French Wars 1667-1714!" By John A Lynn. Campaigns fought by Louis XIV, the Sun King, shaped the borders of European states, the destinies of royal dynasties, and even the patterns of absolutist government. This book presents the most authoritative yet accessible and succinct account of these all-important struggles available today, covering every aspect of the wars from decisions made by the king at his palace at Versailles to the life of the troops encamped in the field. Focusing on the French army, the greatest military force of the age, this tale of violence, victory, and victims balances siege and battle in a way that tells us much that is new about the Sun King and his adversaries. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $17.94.
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Issue #38-1ST
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Volume 38 - 1st printing. "The Vietnam War 1956-1975!" By Andrew Wiest. The Vietnam War was arguably the most important event, or series of events, of the American Century. America entered the brutal conflict certain of its Cold War doctrines and certain of its moral mission to save the world from the advance of communism. As this book explains, however, the war was not at all what the United States expected. Outnumbered and outgunned the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces resorted to a guerrilla war based on the theories of Mao Zedong of China. This was war reduced to its most basic level - find the enemy and kill him. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $19.95.
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Issue #39-1ST
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Volume 39 - 1st printing. "The Napoleanic Wars Part 4!" By Gregory Fremont-Barnes. This volume covers Napoleon's gradual fall from power, beginning in the spring of 1813, when France prepared to face the vengeance of Russia and Prussia. quickly raising new armies composed of inexperienced conscripts and invalided veterans, and with a critical shortage of cavalry, Napoleon resolved to preserve his empire in Germany, where he initially managed to achieve some hard-fought victories. When at last Austria threw in her lot with the Allies and the epic Battle of Leipzig followed, Napoleon was forced to retreat across the Rhine, there to resist the onslaught on home soil. The pressure against him proved too great, and with Paris lost and his marshals refusing to fight on, no option remained but abdication. Yet his last battle, and one of the most decisive in military history, was still to come: Waterloo. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $14.95.
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Issue #48-1ST
$6.00
Volume 48 - 1st printing. "The Second World War Part 4!" By Paul Collier. This book explores the idea that the Mediterranean theater of the Second World War was the first truly modern war. It was a highly mobile conflict, in which logistics were a critical and often deciding factor, and from the very beginning a close relationship between the land, sea, and air elements was vital. Victory could not be achieved by either side unless the three services worked in intimate cooperation. Each side advanced and withdrew across 1,000 miles of desert until the Axis forces were decisively defeated at El Alamein in 1942. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $14.95.
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Issue #49-1ST
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Volume 49 - 1st printing. "The Suez Crisis 1956!" By Derek Varble. In July 1956 Egyptian President Gamal Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, causing immediate concern to Britain and France. They already opposed Nasser and were worried at the threat to maritime traffic in the Canal. This book traces the course of subsequent events. Together with Israel, Britain and France hatched a plot to occupy the Canal Zone and overthrow Nasser. Israel attacked Sinai, and Britain and France launched offensives throughout Egypt, but strategic failures overshasdowed tactical success. Finally, Britain, France and Israel bowed to international pressure and withdrew, leaving the Suez Canal, and Egypt, firmly in the hands of President Nasser. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $17.95.
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Issue #55-1ST
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$6.00
Volume 55 - 1st printing. "The Gulf War 1991!" By Alastair Finlan. The Gulf War of 1991 heralded a new type of warfare that was characterised by astonishing speed and high technology with remarkably low numbers of casualties amongst the coalition forces. Just under a million coalition personnel were deployed to the Gulf region to face a variety of threats from extreme temperatures to weapons of mass destruction (biological, chemical and suspected nuclear) and a formidable Iraqi occupation force. This book assesses the defensive Operation Desert Shield (the build up of coalition forces) and the offensive Operation Desert Storm (the liberation of Kuwait) as well as the key personalities on both sides. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $19.95.
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Issue #60-1ST
$6.00
Volume 60 - 1st printing. "The Spanish Invasion of Mexico 1519-1521!" By Charles M Robinson III. The Spanish conquest of Mexico was the most remarkable military expedition in history, and in achieving it, Hernan Cortes proved himself as one of the greatest generals of all time. This book explains the background of the Aztec Empire and of the Spanish presence in Mexico. It describes the lives of the Aztecs in their glittering capital and of the Europeans who learned to adapt and survive in an alien and often dangerous world. The invasion was a war between civilizations, pitting the fatalism and obsessive ritual of the Aztecs against soldiers fighting for riches, their lives, and eventually their souls. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $19.95.
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Issue #63-1ST
$6.00
$6.00
Volume 63 - 1st printing. "The Collapse of Yugoslavia 1991-1999!" By Alastair Finlan. In 1991, an ethnically diverse region that had enjoyed decades of peaceful coexistence descended into bitter hatred and chaos, almost overnight. Communities fractured along lines of ethnic and religious affiliation and the ensuing fighting was deeply personal, resulting in brutality, rape and torture, and ultimately the deaths of thousands of people. This book examines the internal upheavals of the former Yugoslavia and their international implications, including the failure of the Vance-Owen plan; the first use of NATO in a combat role and in peace enforcement; and the war in Kosovo, unsanctioned by the UN but prosecuted by NATO forces to prevent the ethnic cleansing of the region. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W Cover price $19.95.
