Before the fateful day Luke Skywalker met Artoo and Threepio for the first time, those two troublesome droids had some amazing adventures all their own! Entangled with pirates, bounty hunters, rock monsters, and the notorious space criminal Olag Greck, they do their best to stick together in a dangerous galaxy where anything can happen. Including the classics "The Kalarba Adventures," "Rebellion," "Seasons of Revolt," and "The Protocol Offensive" (plotted by C-3PO himself, actor Anthony Daniels), these tales brim with the wonder and whimsy that made this unlikely pair the most popular droids in the galaxy. Presenting every Droids story published by Dark Horse, this vast volume follows R2-D2 and C-3PO in a series of stories fun for Star Wars fans of any age!
During the first 10 months of the war in the Pacific, Japan achieved air supremacy with its carrier and land-based forces. But after major setbacks at Midway and Guadalcanal, the empire's expansion stalled, in part due to flaws in aircraft design, strategy and command. This book offers a fresh analysis of the air war in the Pacific during the early phases of World War II. Details are included from two expeditions conducted by the author that reveal the location of an American pilot missing in the Philippines since 1942 and clear up a controversial account involving famed Japanese ace Saburo Sakai and U.S. Navy pilot James "Pug" Southerland.
Brown examines the social, cultural, political, and economic dimensions of the Communist takeover of China. He seeks to understand how the 1949-1953 period was experienced by various groups, including industrialists, filmmakers, ethnic minorities, educators, rural midwives, philanthropists, standup comics, and scientists.
Composed almost entirely of Midwesterners and molded into a lean, skilled fighting machine by Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, the Army of the Tennessee marched directly into the heart of the Confederacy and won major victories at Shiloh and at the rebel strongholds of Vicksburg and Atlanta.Acclaimed historian Steven Woodworth has produced the first full consideration of this remarkable unit that has received less prestige than the famed Army of the Potomac but was responsible for the decisive victories that turned the tide of war toward the Union. The Army of the Tennessee also shaped the fortunes and futures of both Grant and Sherman, liberating them from civilian life and catapulting them onto the national stage as their triumphs grew. A thrilling account of how a cohesive fighting force is forged by the heat of battle and how a confidence born of repeated success could lead soldiers to expect “nothing but victory.”
This title focuses on key battles, such as the Battle of Shiloh and the Battle of Antietam, that took place during the first half of the Civil War. Critical thinking questions and two “Voices from the Past” special features help readers understand and analyze the various views people held at the time.
The birth and baptism of fire of one of Britain's most illustrious military units Studded with numerous firsthand descriptions from soldiers in the African desert Head to head with Erwin Rommel in Africa, the British Eighth Army enjoyed superior numbers and a more effective air force, but despite the valor of its men, it had difficulty turning those advantages into battlefield victory because of command, equipment, and morale problems. After modest success during Operation Crusader in November 1941, the Eighth Army found itself battered and driven back for much of the ensuing year as Rommel scored victory after victory. Not until the fall of 1942 at the Alamein Line did the Eighth Army's fortunes begin to reverse.
History has tended to measure war's winners and losers in terms of its major engagements, battles in which the result was so clear-cut that they could be considered "decisive." Cannae, Konigsberg, Austerlitz, Midway, Agincourt-all resonate in the literature of war and in our imaginations as tide-turning. But these legendary battles may or may not have determined the final outcome of the wars in which they were fought. Nor has the "genius" of the so-called Great Captains - from Alexander the Great to Frederick the Great and Napoleon - play a major role. Wars are decided in other ways. Cathal J. Nolan's The Allure of Battle systematically and engrossingly examines the great battles, tracing what he calls "short-war thinking," the hope that victory might be swift and wars brief. As he proves persuasively, however, such has almost never been the case. Even the major engagements have mainly contributed to victory or defeat by accelerating the erosion of the other side's defences. Massive conflicts, the so-called "people's wars," beginning with Napoleon and continuing until 1945, have consisted of and been determined by prolonged stalemate and attrition, industrial wars in which the determining factor has been not military but matériel. Nolan's masterful book places battles squarely and mercilessly within the context of the wider conflict in which they took place. In the process it help corrects a distorted view of battle's role in war, replacing popular images of the "battles of annihilation" with somber appreciation of the commitments and human sacrifices made throughout centuries of war particularly among the Great Powers. Accessible, provocative, exhaustive, and illuminating, The Allure of Battle will spark fresh debate about the history and conduct of warfare.
