Despite repeated warnings from the White House, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 shocked the world. Why did Putin start the war-and why has it unfolded in previously unimaginable ways? Ukrainians have resisted a superior military; the West has united, while Russia grows increasingly isolated.

The book is dedicated to little-studied, but extremely dramatic pages of the history of the Civil War and partisan struggle in Siberia and the East with the participation of the Siberian Cossack army. This story is quite comparable to what happened on the 'quiet Don' or the 'free Kuban'. The author describes mainly the military side of events, relying on documents from the Cossack funds of a...

The book examines naval operations in the Baltic Sea during World War One (also known as the Battle of Åland Islands). The ensuing battle off the coast of Sweden was a victory for the Russian Navy.

The successful English naval blockade of Germany (and Austro-Hungary), meant that the only source of iron ore for the Central Powers was neutral Sweden. Both the English and Russian fleets ran operations to disrupt and prevent iron ore from reaching the enemy. This book examines and reviews the ships and tactics of these operations.

This book presents pieces of evidence, which – taken together – lead to an argument that goes against the grain of the established Cold War narrative. The argument is that a “long détente” existed between East and West from the 1950s to the 1980s, that it existed and lasted for good (economic, national security, societal) reasons, and that it had a profound impact on the outcome of the conflict...

What do we know about the feelings and fears of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers? In the early 1990s, Wolf-Rüdiger Osburg set out to visit the last witnesses to the war. 135 soldiers at the front gave him information and reported on the war in all its facets: relentlessly, in detail and honestly. It tells of total exhaustion, of hunger and deprivation, of the constant proximity of death,...

It has become acceptable again to make Hitler a scapegoat in order to clean up the German past. The Hitler and spear expert Joachim Fest, Bernd Eichinger's award-winning film 'Der Untergang' and the popular television series by Guido Knopp are the key witnesses for the current rollback in the historical perspective. Will Hitler become the leader of the Germans again?

August 1939. Shimmering heat in Central Europe. The grain is mowed. Holiday season. It might be carefree days, but there's something disturbing in the air. Some say a new war is imminent. The others swear the peace is safe. In this restless August, the world is watching the Obersalzberg. Adolf Hitler spends his summer here. From here he dares a risky game. Hauke Friederichs tells the story of...

Peter Wilson looks to 500 years of history to contest rigid assumptions about German militarism. Historically German-speaking states have had complex--that is, typical--politics surrounding militarization, strategy, and civilian control. The belief in German military genius arose only in 1871 and was soon dashed by the two world wars.