Royalists at War in Scotland and Ireland, 1638–1650

Royalists at War in Scotland and Ireland, 1638–1650

Author: Barry Robertson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-08

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1317061063

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Analysing the make-up and workings of the Royalist party in Scotland and Ireland during the civil wars of the mid-seventeenth century, Royalists at War is the first major study to explore who Royalists were in these two countries and why they gave their support to the Stuart kings. It compares and contrasts the actions, motivations and situations of key Scottish and Irish Royalists, paying particular attention to concepts such as honour, allegiance and loyalty, as well as practical considerations such as military capability, levels of debt, religious tensions, and political geography. It also shows how and why allegiances changed over time and how this impacted on the royal war effort. Alongside this is an investigation into why the Royalist cause failed in Scotland and Ireland and the implications this had for crown strategy within a wider British context. It also examines the extent to which Royalism in Scotland and Ireland differed from their English counterpart, which in turn allows an assessment to be made as to what constituted core elements of British and Irish Royalism.


Birds in North-East Scotland Then and Now

Birds in North-East Scotland Then and Now

Author: Adam Watson

Publisher: Paragon Publishing

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 178222033X

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Field observations mainly in the 1940s and comparison with recent records. Adam Watson as a schoolboy made field observations on birds in north-east Scotland during the 1940s and early 1950s. These are of special interest because hardly any local ornithologists lived there, and his main set of observations is published here for the first time. As well as accounts for all species seen, there is detailed information on several species whose status has changed greatly since: declines of breeding greenshanks and ring ouzels, and rapid increases in the proportions of feral doves and carrion crows. These and other observations form a useful baseline for comparison with what is now being seen and recorded by hundreds of ornithologists living in and visiting the area. Ian Francis came to north-east Scotland in the early 1990s and has taken part in many aspects of local ornithology. He was first editor of a major book: The Breeding Birds of North-East Scotland, published in 2011, which documents the current breeding distributions of birds and assesses changes over 40 years, allowing a modern perspective on Adam Watson's observations from the mid-1900s. The current book by Adam Watson and Ian Francis, Birds in north-east Scotland then and now, also includes a previously unpublished account of long-term research by Adam Watson, Rik Smith and Mick Marquiss on summering snow buntings, one of the UK's rarest regularly breeding birds.


Strategic Deception in the Second World War

Strategic Deception in the Second World War

Author: Michael Howard

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 9780393312935

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Told from confidential documents - some of which remain closed for the foreseeable future - here is the precisely detailed story of the British government's campaign of strategic deception of the German High Command. A volume in the British government's Official History of Intelligence in the Second World War, the book has been written by a master historian renowned for his narrative and analytical skills. Sir Michael Howard explains how the British were able to deceive the Germans about the strategic intentions of the Allies and make them greatly overestimate Allied resources. Here is the most authoritative account available of such classic deception operations as Operation Mincemeat, which preceded the invasion of Sicily; the nonexistent U.S. Army group that pinned down an entire German Army in the Pas de Calais until Montgomery's forces had achieved a secure foothold in Normandy; and the amazing trick played on the German intelligence authorities by the great double agent Garbo.


Singing the Gospel along Scotland’s North-East Coast, 1859–2009

Singing the Gospel along Scotland’s North-East Coast, 1859–2009

Author: Frances Wilkins

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-01-17

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 1351847414

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Following three years of ethnomusicological fieldwork on the sacred singing traditions of evangelical Christians in North-East Scotland and Northern Isles coastal communities, Frances Wilkins documents and analyses current singing practices in this book by placing them historically and contemporaneously within their respective faith communities. In ascertaining who the singers were and why, when, where, how and what they chose to sing, the study explores a number of related questions. How has sacred singing contributed to the establishment and reinforcement of individual and group identities both in the church and wider community? What is the process by which specific regional repertoires and styles develop? Which organisations and venues have been particularly conducive to the development of sacred singing in the community? How does the subject matter of songs relate to the immediate environment of coastal inhabitants? How and why has gospel singing in coastal communities changed? These questions are answered with comprehensive reference to interview material, fieldnotes, videography and audio field recordings. As one of the first pieces of ethnomusicological research into sacred music performance in Scotland, this ethnography draws important parallels between practices in the North East and elsewhere in the British Isles and across the globe.


Beyond Scotland

Beyond Scotland

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2021-09-20

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 900448387X

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Scottish creative writing in the twentieth century was notable for its willingness to explore and absorb the literatures of other times and other nations. From the engagement with Russian literature of Hugh MacDiarmid and Edwin Morgan, through to the interplay with continental literary theory, Scottish writers have proved active participants in a diverse international literary practice. Scottish criticism has, arguably, often been slow in appreciating the full extent of this exchange. Preoccupied with marking out its territory, with identifying an independent and distinctive tradition, Scottish criticism has occasionally blinded itself to the diversity and range of its writers. In stressing the importance of cultural independence, it has tended to overlook the many virtues of interdependence. The essays in this book aim to offer a corrective view. They celebrate the achievement of Scottish writing in the twentieth century by offering a wider basis for appreciation than a narrow idea of 'Scottishness'. Each essay explores an aspect of Scottish writing in an individual foreign perspective; together they provide an enriching account of a national literary practice that has deep, and often surprisingly complex, roots in international culture.


Martial races

Martial races

Author: Heather Streets

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2017-03-01

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 1847793940

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This book explores how and why Scottish Highlanders, Punjabi Sikhs, and Nepalese Gurkhas became identified as the British Empire’s fiercest, most manly soldiers in nineteenth century discourse. As ‘martial races’ these men were believed to possess a biological or cultural disposition to the racial and masculine qualities necessary for the arts of war. Because of this, they were used as icons to promote recruitment in British and Indian armies - a phenomenon with important social and political effects in India, in Britain, and in the armies of the Empire. Martial Races bridges regional studies of South Asia and Britain while straddling the fields of racial theory, masculinity, imperialism, identity politics, and military studies. Of particular importance is the way it exposes the historical instability of racial categories based on colour and its insistence that historically specific ideologies of masculinity helped form the logic of imperial defence, thus wedding gender theory with military studies in unique ways. Moreover, Martial Races challenges the marginalisation of the British Army in histories of Victorian popular culture, and demonstrates the army’s enduring impact on the regional cultures of the Highlands, the Punjab and Nepal. This unique study will make fascinating reading for higher level students and experts in imperial history, military history and gender history.


A Separate Little War

A Separate Little War

Author: Andrew Bird

Publisher:

Published: 2003-09-19

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1909166707

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Every day for nine months from September 1944 to the end of the war, young British, Commonwealth and Norwegian airmen flew from Banff aerodrome in northern Scotland in their Mosquitoes and Beaufighters to target the German U-Boats, merchantmen and freighters plying along the coast and in the fjords and leads of southwest Norway, encountering the Luftwaffe and flakships every step of the way. This Scottish strike wing fought in some of the bitterest and bloodiest attacks of the war, all at very low level and at close quarters. Their contribution to winning the war was crucial and while the cost in precious lives and equipment was in the same proportion as Bomber Command, they inflicted far greater damage to the enemy in relation to their losses. With Group Captain The Hon. Max Aitken, DSO DFC as station commander, Banff was eventually to become the base for a total of six Mosquito squadrons (including 235, 248 and 143), together with B Flight of the elite 333 Norwegian Squadron, and would team up on missions with the nearby Dallachy Beaufighter strike wing (404 RCAF, 455 RAAF, 489 RNZAF and 144 Squadrons). A Separate Little War, then, is a well researched and detailed history of a microcosm of Coastal Command. Supported by many photographs, maps and charts, the vast majority never published before, the author has drawn on the personal accounts of, amongst others, British and Norwegian pilots, ground crew and civilians which augment the official sources, to give a compelling, accurate and fascinating depiction of an aerodrome at war. It is a subject which will be of great interest and value to the general reader and to those students of the Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, RAF and former Commonwealth Air Forces, the Polish Air Force and of maritime air operations during World War Two.


The Late Medieval Landscape of North-east Scotland

The Late Medieval Landscape of North-east Scotland

Author: Colin Shepherd

Publisher: Windgather Press

Published: 2021-10-31

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1914427076

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The landscape of the north-east of Scotland ranges from wild mountains to undulating farmlands; from cosy, quaint fishing coves to long, sandy bays. This landscape witnessed the death of MacBeth, the final stand of the Comyns earls of Buchan against Robert the Bruce and the last victory, in Britain, of a catholic army at Glenlivet. But behind these momentous battles lie the quieter histories of ordinary folk farming the land - and supping their local malts. Colin Shepherd paints a picture of rural life within the landscapes of the north-east between the 13th and 18th centuries by using documentary, cartographic and archaeological evidence. He shows how the landscape was ordered by topographic and environmental constraints that resulted in great variation across the region and considers the evidence for the way late medieval lifestyles developed and blended sustainably within their environments to create a patchwork of cultural and agricultural diversity. However, these socio-economic developments subsequently led to a breakdown of this structure, resulting in what Adam Smith, in the 18th century, described as 'oppression'. The 12th-century Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation and the Industrial Revolution are used here to define a framework for considering the cultural changes that affected this region of Scotland. These include the dispossession of rights to land ownership that continue to haunt policy makers in the Scottish government today. While the story also shows how a regional cultural divergence, recognized here, can undermine 'big theories' of socio-political change when viewed across the wider stage of Europe and the Americas.