Vladimir Putin clearly fancies himself something of a historian – even if, as a professional historian, I feel much of his ‘work’ would struggle to get a passing grade, laden as it is with factual inaccuracies and the careful cherry picking of evidence to fit his...
Osprey Publishing
Mark Galeotti on Forged in War
Mark, many congratulations on the new book. There is a lot of myth surrounding Russia’s history, not least from Vladimir Putin. How much of its military past is in the average Russian’s consciousness? More, honestly, than we might anticipate from a Western standpoint....
Extract from Hero City
In many respects, it seemed as if the year of 1943 commenced with the war in Eastern Europe finely poised. The German Sixth Army was surrounded in Stalingrad and much of the southern sector of the long front line was highly fluid, with Soviet units attempting to push...
Crete ’41: Hill 107
Individuals in conflict can decisively influence the outcome of a battle. Examples abound. Leonidas and his lonely Spartan defence of the narrow pass at Thermopylae in 480 BC against the might of the invading Persian army; an unknown standard bearer from Caesar’s...
Robert Kershaw on The Hill
Robert Kershaw, many congratulations on The Hill. Why was Crete so important for the Germans to capture? In hindsight one could argue Crete was not so important to capture as it subsequently tied up two fortress infantry divisions and Luftwaffe and shipping assets for...
The Siege of Leningrad
Leo Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina commences with one of the best-known opening sentences of literature in any language: ‘Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.’ In a similar manner, the relatively few nations that enter conflicts...
The Pirate Menace, by Angus Konstam
Few other outlaw groups in history have left such an enduring legacy as the seafaring pirates of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In The Pirate Menace, Angus Konstam explores how, when, why, and where the world’s most infamous (and many lesser known) pirates...
Angus Konstam on The Pirate Menace
Angus Konstam, many congratulations on the new book. Before the prologue we see wonderful maps that evoke the romantic locations of the period: the Caribbean, West Africa, the eastern seaboard of the American colonies, the Florida keys and of course the Bahamas. What...
Graham Turner on The Wars of the Roses
Graham Turner, many congratulations on a quite stunning collection of paintings for the book. What is it about the Wars of the Roses that make such an attractive subject for your art? Thank you. As a child my imagination was captured by seeing armour in places like...
The Wars of the Roses: The Medieval Art of Graham Turner
The Wars of the Roses: The Medieval Art of Graham Turner Graham Turner is a leading historical artist, well-known for his illustration of the medieval era and his work for Osprey Publishing. As the title suggests, this latest Osprey volume is a compendium of his...