Roots of War

Roots of War

Author: David G. Winter

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017-09-01

Total Pages: 441

ISBN-13: 0199355770

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Ever since Thucydides pondered reasons for the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, writers, philosophers, and social scientists have tried to identify factors that promote conflict escalation: for example, history (tomorrow's wars are often rooted in yesterday's conflicts), changing balance of power among nations, or domestic political forces. In the end, however, these "causes" are constructed by human beings and involve the memories, emotions, and motives of both the leaders and the led. In July 1914, the long-standing peace of Europe was shattered when the Sarajevo assassinations quickly escalated to World War I. In contrast, at the height of the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis could have easily plunged the world into a thermonuclear world war, but was ultimately peacefully resolved. Why the different outcomes? In Roots of War: Wanting Power, Seeing Threat, Justifying Force, David G. Winter identifies three psychological factors that contributed to the differences in these historical outcomes: the desire for power, exaggerated perception of the opponent's threat, and justification for using military force. Several lines of research establish how these factors lead to escalation and war: comparative archival studies of "war" and "peace" crises, laboratory experiments on threat perception, and surveys of factors leading people to believe that a particular war is "just." The research findings in Roots of War also demonstrate the importance of power in preserving peace through diplomatic interventions, past and present.


How Labour Governments Fall

How Labour Governments Fall

Author: T. Heppell

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2013-07-30

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1137314214

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What similarities exist between the reasons for Labour losing office in 2010 and those behind why previous Labour governments were defeated? This edited volume provides a detailed historical appraisal which considers the importance of themes such as economic performance; political leadership and the condition of the Conservatives in opposition.


Defectors and the Liberal Party 1910–2010

Defectors and the Liberal Party 1910–2010

Author: Alun Wyburn-Powell

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2017-10-03

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 1526130815

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This book is the first analysis of political defections over a long time span. It investigates all the Liberal/Liberal Democrat MPs and former MPs who defected from the party between the elections of December 1910 and May 2010 - around one sixth of all those elected - as well as the smaller number of inward defectors. Each of the 122 defections was an expert judgment on the state of the party at a specific date. The research investigates the timing and reasons for all the defections and reveals long-term trends and underlying causes and apportions responsibility between leaders for them. The author finds some significant differences which distinguished defectors from loyalists and draws wider conclusions about the underlying factors which lead MPs to defect. This book will be of interest to students and lecturers of British politics and anyone interested in the relationship between British political parties in the last century.


Alive with death

Alive with death

Author: Jim Grundy

Publisher: Little Gully Publishing

Published: 2024-08-18

Total Pages: 679

ISBN-13: 1763626806

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In December 1914, with their soldiers ‘chewing barbed wire in Flanders’, British politicians looked for alternatives to stalemate on the Western Front. Their gaze settled upon the Dardanelles. The Turks, recently defeated by lesser powers, couldn’t resist the combined might of the British and French empires. They would run at the sight of the Allied fleet. Or so some chose to believe. This book offers an unparalleled collection of first-hand accounts by those who made history and those who lived it, from prime ministers to private soldiers, from the offices of Whitehall to the dusty dugouts of the peninsula. All accounts were written at the time, without the benefit or bias of hindsight. How did a naval demonstration to aid the Russians lead to the first amphibious landings on a defended shore in modern times? Was it a flash of strategic genius, a worthwhile gamble or did ‘criminal idiots attempt the impossible’? Gain a new perspective on the Gallipoli Campaign as you watch the story unfold with each passing day.


Rivals in the Storm

Rivals in the Storm

Author: Damian Collins

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2024-05-23

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 1399407139

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A vivid biography in cinematic snapshots of David Lloyd George, one of the world's greatest statesmen. Brought up in rural North Wales, David Lloyd George attended neither a grand school nor ancient university. He was very much an outsider. And yet he rose through the ranks with charisma, fierce intelligence and fighting spirit to become, as Churchill put it in his tribute, a man who 'stood, when at his zenith, without a rival'. But his rise was not without its hardships, and in Rivals in the Storm, experienced MP and author Damian Collins focuses on the impact of Lloyd George's personality on other leading politicians, in driving progressive reforms through government, changing the course of the First World War to lead the Allies to victory, and cementing Britain's alliance with America. Covering Lloyd George's emergence as the dominating political personality in Great Britain to the aftermath of his resignation, this fascinating biography takes you inside the rooms where the important decisions happened, and shows the bitter struggles as well as the triumphs of this great man of his or any other age, who nonetheless fell short of his own high expectations.


Control of Enemy Alien Civilians in Great Britain, 1914-1918 (Routledge Revivals)

Control of Enemy Alien Civilians in Great Britain, 1914-1918 (Routledge Revivals)

Author: J. C. Bird

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-06-03

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 1317513169

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This study, first published in 1986, examines the evolution and application of the policies of wartime governments designed to deal with the danger to national security thought to be posed by enemy alien residents, and considers the social and political forces which helped shape these policies. The scope of the powers assumed by the authorities to regulate the entry, departure, movement, employment, business activities and many other facets of the lives of aliens were unprecedented in war or peace. This book will be of interest to students of history.


British Food Policy During the First World War (RLE The First World War)

British Food Policy During the First World War (RLE The First World War)

Author: Margaret Barnett

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-04-24

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 1317704231

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Because of the exceptionally high proportion of imports in Britain’s food supply and the determined efforts of the enemy to sever the supply lines, efficient management of food resources was an essential element in the British national war effort. This volume was the first comprehensive study of this vital aspect of government strategy and fills a gap in the historiography of this period. This volume provides a balanced picture by drawing together the diverse elements that went into food policy: economic and social trends, international trade relations and labour issues. The author also traces the evolution of food policy during the pre-war planning period and the early part of the war, and analyses the roles of the United States and the labour organizations.


The Presidents

The Presidents

Author: Stephen Graubard

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2009-05-07

Total Pages: 807

ISBN-13: 0141042907

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In this magisterial examination of the Presidency over the course of the 20th Century, the author explores the history of the world's greatest elective office and the role each incumbent has played in changing the scope of its powers. Using individual presidential portraits of each of the presidents of the past century Graubard asks, and answers, a wide variety of crucial questions about each President. What intellectual, social and political assets did they bring to the White House, and how quickly did they deplete or mortgage that capital? How well did they cope with crises, foreign and domestic? How much attention did they pay to their election pledges after they were elected? How did they use the media, old and new? Above all, how did they conduct themselves in office and what legacy did they leave to their successors? Graubard provides original analysis in each case, and reaches many surprising conclusions.


God In Number 10

God In Number 10

Author: Mark Vickers

Publisher: SPCK

Published: 2022-10-20

Total Pages: 621

ISBN-13: 028108730X

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'Mark Vickers has given us a wonderful new reference book of the beliefs (and non-beliefs) of 20th-century PMs - a meaty volume that can also be consumed as a social history of British religion.' THE TELEGRAPH 'This carefully researched and well-written study reveals the religious faith of our Prime Ministers, or lack of it, in vivid colours. Prepare to be shocked and surprised as the author lays bare their souls.' SIR ANTHONY SELDON Mark Vickers' acclaimed volume on the faith of the twentieth-century Prime Ministers casts a new perspective on these holders of the highest political office in the realm. While there are biographies aplenty on the 18 men and 1 woman who took up residence behind the famous black door, it is notable that that many of these works fail to reflect an important - sometimes the most important - aspect of the life of their subject. God in Number 10 rectifies this omission, offering intriguing insights into Margaret Thatcher's legendary 'Sermon on the Mound', Tony Blair's perception of Jesus as a modernizer, Arthur Balfour's recourse to spiritualism, Stanley Baldwin's mystical experiences, and Winston Churchill's involvement with astrology. The book considers the role of religion generally in the political classes of the period, the reasons for the declining influence of faith in the public forum, and the relationship between Church and State. The families of H. H. Asquith, Bonar Law, Ramsay MacDonald, Neville Chamberlain, Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home and Harold Wilson have all expressed their support for God in Number 10 and, where able, helped in the research, while John Major has assisted fully.