The Military category has 1,612 audiobooks on Listento.it, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 5,283 ratings. The most-rated is The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.
The Opium War
Summary
1839. Trade is the stalwart of the British Empire. China threatens Britain's Opium trade. Britain and China go to war. When Britain sent troops to compel the Chinese to accept imports of opium, they opened what is argued to be one of the most disgraceful chapters in the history of the Empire. How did the situation arise? How did opium exports become so crucial to the British economy? How did the British come to be as addicted to opium revenue as the Chinese were to the drug itself? Brian Inglis gives the answers to these and other questions in this meticulously researched study of The Opium War. Shocking, shaming, but fascinating throughout.
©1976 Brian Inglis (P)2021 Tantor
The Road Less Traveled
Summary
During a pivotal few months in the middle of the First World War all sides - Germany, Britain, and America - believed the war could be concluded. Peace at the end of 1916 would have saved millions of lives and changed the course of history utterly. Two years into the most terrible conflict the world had ever known, the warring powers faced a crisis. There were no good military options. Money, men, and supplies were running short on all sides. The German chancellor secretly sought President Woodrow Wilson's mediation to end the war, just as British ministers and France's president also concluded that the time was right. The Road Less Traveled describes how tantalizingly close these far-sighted statesmen came to ending the war, saving millions of lives, and avoiding the total war that dimmed hopes for a better world. Theirs was a secret battle that is only now becoming fully understood, a story of civic courage, awful responsibility, and how some leaders rose to the occasion while others shrank from it or chased other ambitions. "Peace is on the floor waiting to be picked up!" pleaded the German ambassador to the United States. This book explains both the strategies and fumbles of people facing a great crossroads of history. The Road Less Traveled reveals one of the last great mysteries of the Great War: that it simply never should have lasted so long or cost so much. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2021 Philip Zelikow (P)2021 Hachette Audio
The Byzantine World War
Summary
The Crusades shook the world. But why did they happen? Their origins are revealed in a new light. As part of a medieval world war that stretched from Asia to Europe. At its center was an ancient empire Byzantium. Told for the first time as a single, linked narrative are three great events that changed history: The fall of Byzantium in the 11th century, the epic campaign of the First Crusade and the origins of modern Turkey. Nick Holmes not only presents the First Crusade in a wider global context but he also puts forwards new interpretations of the original sources, suggesting that its success was in fact largely accidental, and that the central role of Byzantium in the Crusades has been underestimated.
©2019 Nick Holmes (P)2020 Nick Holmes
In the Path of Conquest
Summary
This book offers a fresh insight into the conquests of Alexander the Great by attempting to view the events of 336-323 BCE from the vantage point of the defeated. The extent and form of the resistance of the populations he confronted varied according to their previous relationships with either the Macedonian invaders or their own Achaemenid rulers. The internal political situations of many states - particularly the Greek cities of Asia Minor - were also a factor. In the vast Persian Empire that stretched from the Aegean to the Indus, some states surrendered voluntarily and others offered fierce resistance. Not all regions were subdued through military actions. Indeed, as the author argues, the excessive use of force on Alexander's part was often ineffective and counterproductive. In the Path of Conquest examines the reasons for these varied responses, giving more emphasis to the defeated and less to the conqueror and his Macedonian army. In the process, it debunks many long-held views concerning Alexander's motives, including the idea that his aim was to march to the eastern limits of the world. It also provides a fresh reevaluation of Darius III's successes and failures as a commander.
©2020 Oxford University Press (P)2021 Tantor
The Crooked Path to Abolition
Summary
An award-winning scholar uncovers the guiding principles of Lincoln's antislavery strategies. Lincoln adopted the antislavery view that the Constitution made freedom the rule in the United States, slavery the exception. Where federal power prevailed, so did freedom. Where state power prevailed, that state determined the status of slavery, and the federal government could not interfere. It would take state action to achieve the final abolition of American slavery. With this understanding, Lincoln and his antislavery allies used every tool available to undermine the institution. Wherever the Constitution empowered direct federal action, they intervened. As a congressman in 1849 Lincoln sponsored a bill to abolish slavery in Washington, DC. He reentered politics in 1854 to oppose what he considered the unconstitutional opening of the territories to slavery by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. President Lincoln took full advantage of the antislavery options opened by the Civil War. The Emancipation Proclamation, a military order of the president, undermined slavery across the South. It led to abolition by six slave states, which then joined the coalition to affect what Lincoln called the "King's cure": state ratification of the constitutional amendment that in 1865 finally abolished slavery.
©2021 James Oakes (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
D-Day et la bataille de Normandie
Summary
Le Débarquement allié en Normandie, le 6 juin 1944, passe à juste titre pour un des grands tournants de la Seconde Guerre mondiale - à tel point que dans l'esprit de beaucoup de Français le reste de la guerre ne fut qu'une formalité. Or, il n'en est rien. Si le Débarquement fut un de ces moments où se forgent les légendes, la bataille qui s'ensuivit, connue sous le nom de bataille de Normandie, fut autrement plus longue, difficile et décisive. Antony Beevor révèle, pour la première fois, à quel point le désordre, l'improvisation, les erreurs stratégiques et tactiques, l'impréparation de leurs troupes faillirent coûter leur victoire aux Alliés. Seule leur écrasante supériorité aérienne leur permit de l'emporter - mais à quel prix, notamment en vies civiles françaises et en morts accidentelles dans leurs propres rangs ! Grâce à des archives inédites et aux debriefings des soldats américains sur le terrain, Antony Beevor nous livre une reconstitution entièrement nouvelle et à rebours des mythes dominants. Une immersion fascinante sur les plages du Débarquement et au sein des états-majors des différentes armées. TABLE DES MATIERES Chapitre 1 - La décision ; Chapitre 2 - Le poids de la croix de Lorraine ; Chapitre 3 - Surveillance sur la Manche ; Chapitre 4 - Le bouclage de la zone d'invasion ; Chapitre 5 - La nuit des parachutistes ; Chapitre 6 - La traversée de la Manche ; Chapitre 7 - Omaha ; Chapitre 8 - Utah Beach et les paras ; Chapitre 9 - Gold et Juno ; Chapitre 10 - Sword ; Chapitre 11 - La consolidation des têtes de pont ; Chapitre 12 - Échec à Caen ; Chapitre 13 - Villers-Bocage ; Chapitre 14 - Les Américains dans le Cotentin ; Chapitre 15 - Epsom ; Chapitre 16 - La bataille du Bocage ; Chapitre 17 - Caen et la colline du Calvaire ; Chapitre 18 - Ultime combat pour Saint-Lô ; Chapitre 19 - Goodwood ; Chapitre 20 - Le complot contre Hitler ; Chapitre 21 - Opération Cobra - la percée ; Chapitre 22 - Opération Cobra - la déferlante ; Chapitre 23 - La Bretagne et l'opération Bluecoat ; Chapitre 24 - La contre-offensive de Mortain ; Chapitre 25 - L'opération Totalize ; Chapitre 26 - Le marteau et l'enclume ; Chapitre 27 - Le piège meurtrier de la poche de Falaise ; Chapitre 28 - L'insurrection de Paris et la poussée vers la Seine ; Chapitre 29 - La libération de Paris ; Épilogue ; Remerciements.
©2009 Viking (Penguin) Calmann-Lévy (P)2020 Audiolb
Mutiny on the Spanish Main
Summary
Bloomsbury presents Mutiny on the Spanish Main by Angus Konstam, read by Sid Sagar. Mutiny on the Spanish Main tells the dramatic story of HMS Hermione, a British frigate which, in 1797, was the site of the bloodiest mutiny in British naval history, which saw the death of her captain and many of her officers. Though her crew handed her over to the Spanish, Hermione was subsequently recaptured in a daring raid on a Caribbean port two years later. Drawing on letters, reports, ship's logs and memoirs of the period, as well as previously unpublished Spanish sources, Angus Konstam intertwines extensive research with a fast-paced but balanced account of the mutiny and its consequences. Supported by informative inserts on the technical and tactical nuances of seamanship and naval warfare in the period, this book is both a fascinating narrative retelling and an informative guide to one of the most notorious events in the history of the Royal Navy.
©2020 Angus Konstam (P)2020 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Cold Harbor to the Crater
Summary
Between the end of May and the beginning of August 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant and General Robert E. Lee oversaw the transition between the Overland Campaign - a remarkable saga of maneuvering and brutal combat - and what became a grueling siege of Petersburg that many months later compelled Confederates to abandon Richmond. Although many historians have marked Grant's crossing of the James River on June 12 to June 15 as the close of the Overland Campaign, this volume interprets the fighting from Cold Harbor on June 1 to June 3 through the Battle of the Crater on July 30 as the last phase of an operation that could have ended without a prolonged siege. The contributors to this volume assess the campaign from a variety of perspectives, examining strategy and tactics, the performances of key commanders on each side, the centrality of field fortifications, political repercussions in the United States and the Confederacy, the experiences of civilians caught in the path of the armies, and how the famous Battle of the Crater has resonated in historical memory. As a group the essays highlight the important connections between the home front and the battlefield, showing some of the ways in which military and nonmilitary affairs played off and influenced each other. Contributors include Keith S. Bohannon, Stephen Cushman, M. Keith Harris, Robert E. L. Krick, Kevin M. Levin, Kathryn Shively Meier, Gordon C. Rhea, and Joan Waugh.
©2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2015 Blackstone Audiobooks
The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300-2050
Summary
The Dynamics of Military Revolution aims to bridge a major gap in the emerging literature on revolutions in military affairs, suggesting that there have been two very different phenomena at work over the past centuries: "military revolutions", which are driven by vast social and political changes; and "revolutions in military affairs", which military institutions have directed, although usually with great difficulty and ambiguous results. By providing both a conceptual framework and a historical context for thinking about revolutionary changes in military affairs, the work establishes a baseline for understanding the patterns of change, innovation, and adaptation that have marked war in the Western World since the 13th century - beginning with Edward III's revolutionary changes in medieval warfare, through the development of modern Western military institutions in 17th-century France, to the cataclysmic changes of the First World War and the German Blitzkrieg victories of 1940. This history provides a guide for thinking about military revolutions in the coming century, which are as inevitable as they are difficult to predict.
©2001 MacGregor Knox and Williamson Murray (P)2020 Upfront Books
Saving Freedom
Summary
History called on Harry Truman to unite the Western world against Soviet communism, but first he had to rally Republicans and Democrats behind America’s most dramatic foreign policy shift since George Washington delivered his farewell address. How did one of the least prepared presidents to walk into the Oval Office become one of its most successful? The year was 1947. The Soviet Union had moved from being America’s uneasy ally in the Second World War to its most feared enemy. With Joseph Stalin’s ambitions pushing westward, Turkey was pressured from the east while communist revolutionaries overran Greece. The British Empire was battered from its war with Hitler and suddenly teetering on the brink of financial ruin. Only America could afford to defend freedom in the West, and the effort was spearheaded by a president who hadn’t even been elected to that office. But Truman would wage a domestic political battle that carried with it the highest of stakes, inspiring friends and foes alike to join in his crusade to defend democracy across the globe. In Saving Freedom, Joe Scarborough recounts the historic forces that moved Truman toward his country’s long twilight struggle against Soviet communism, and how this untested president acted decisively to build a lasting coalition that would influence America’s foreign policy for generations to come. On March 12, 1947, Truman delivered an address before a joint session of Congress announcing a policy of containment that would soon become known as the Truman Doctrine. That doctrine pledged that the United States would “support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” The untested president’s policy was a radical shift from 150 years of isolationism, but it would prove to be the pivotal moment that guaranteed Western Europe’s freedom, the American Century’s rise, and the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. Truman’s triumph over the personal and political struggles that confronted him following his ascension to the presidency is an inspiring tale of American leadership, fierce determination, bipartisan unity, and courage in the face of the rising Soviet threat. Saving Freedom explores one of the most pivotal moments of the 20th century, a turning point when patriotic Americans of both political parties worked together to defeat tyranny. Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
©2020 Joe Scarborough (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers
Kennesaw Mountain
Summary
While fighting his way toward Atlanta, William T. Sherman encountered his biggest roadblock at Kennesaw Mountain, where Joseph E. Johnston’s Army of Tennessee held a heavily fortified position. The opposing armies confronted each other from June 19 to July 3, 1864, and Sherman initially tried to outflank the Confederates. His men endured heavy rains, artillery duels, sniping, and a fierce battle at Kolb’s Farm before Sherman decided to attack Johnston’s position directly on June 27. Kennesaw Mountain tells the story of an important phase of the Atlanta campaign. Historian Earl J. Hess explains how this battle, with its combination of maneuver and combat, severely tried the patience and endurance of the common soldier and why Johnston’s strategy might have been the Confederates’ best chance to halt the federal drive toward Atlanta. He gives special attention to the engagement at Kolb’s Farm on June 22 and Sherman’s assault on June 27. A final section explores the Confederate earthworks preserved within the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2013 Earl J. Hess (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
An Honorable Defeat
Summary
In February 1865, the end was clearly in sight for the Confederate government. Lee’s defeat at Gettysburg had dashed the hopes of the Confederate army, and Grant’s victory at Vicksburg had cut the South in two. An Honorable Defeat is the story of the four months that saw the surrender of the South and the assassination of Lincoln by Southern partisans. It is also the story of two men, antagonists yet political partners, who struggled during this time to achieve their own differing visions for the South: Jefferson Davis, the autocratic president of the Confederate States, who vowed never to surrender whatever the cost; and the practical and warm General John C. Breckinridge, secretary of war, who hoped pragmatism would save the shattered remnants of the land he loved so dearly. Pulitzer Prize nominee William C. Davis traces the astounding flight of these men, and the entire Confederate cabinet, as they flee south from Richmond by train, then by mule, then on foot. Using original research, he narrates, with dramatic style and clear historical accuracy, the futile quarrels of Davis and Breckinridge as they try to evade bands of Northern pursuers and describes their eventual - and separate - captures. The result is a rich canvas of a time of despair and defeat, a charged tale full of physical adventure and political battle that sweeps from the marble halls of Richmond to a dingy room in a Havana hotel.
©2001 William C. Davis (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing