Search results for ""Author Chris Peers""
Pen & Sword Books Ltd Clan Battles: Warfare in the Scottish Highlands
Warfare between the clans of the Highlands in the late Middle Ages determined the course of history in this region of Scotland, and Chris Peers's gripping account of it - and of the rivalry between the strongest clans - gives the reader a deep insight into this bloody, turbulent phase in the development of the far north of the British Isles. The battles he describes, all of them fought between the 1430s and the 1540s, were flash points in the long struggle for dominance between the leading clans of the region. The battles are reconstructed in vivid detail. The first, Druim n Coub, was fought in 1433 between the Mackays and the Sutherlands. Then came Bloody Bay, a sea fight between rival MacDonald factions, Blar na Parc between the MacDonalds and the Mackenzies, Creag an Airgid between the MacDonalds and the MacIains, Glendale between the MacDonalds and MacLeods, and Torran Dubh between alliances headed by the Mackays and Sutherlands. The final battle, Blar na Leine, fought between the MacDonalds and the Frasers in 1544, marked the end of an era. The subsequent fate of the leading clans, principally the MacDonalds and Mackays, is also covered in a narrative that gives the reader a fascinating new perspective of clan loyalties and conflict which still resonates today. As well as covering the fighting Chris Peers explains the way war in the Highlands was organized by the contending clans during the period - the strategies and tactics, weapons and armour they employed. The result is an absorbing all-round account of the military history of the Highlands before the clans eventually lost their independence.
£20.00
Pen & Sword Books Ltd Genghis Khan and the Mongol War Machine
As a soldier and general, statesman and empire-builder, Genghis Khan is an almost legendary figure. His remarkable achievements and his ruthless methods have given rise to a sinister reputation. As Chris Peers shows, in this concise and authoritative study, he possessed exceptional gifts as a leader and manager of men - he ranks among the greatest military commanders - but he can only be properly understood in terms of the Mongol society and traditions he was born into. So the military and cultural background of the Mongols, and the nature of steppe societies and their armies, are major themes of his book. He looks in detail at the military skills, tactics and ethos of the Mongol soldiers, and at the advantages and disadvantages they had in combat with the soldiers of more settled societies. His book offers a fascinating fresh perspective on Genghis Khan the man and on the armies he led.
£14.99
Pen & Sword Books Ltd King Stephen and the Anarchy: Civil War and Military Tactics in Twelfth-Century Britain
The Anarchy, the protracted struggle between Stephen of Blois and the Empress Matilda for the English crown between 1135 and 1154, is often seen as a disastrous breakdown in one of the best-governed kingdoms of medieval Europe. But perhaps the impact of the conflict has been overstated, and its effect on the common people across the country is hard to judge. That is why Chris Peerss fresh study of this fascinating and controversial era is of such value. He describes each phase of this civil war, in particular the castles and sieges that dominated strategic thinking, and he sets the fighting in the context of the changing tactics and military systems of the twelfth century. His fresh account of this pivotal episode in the medieval history of England will be absorbing reading anyone who is keen to gain an insight into this period of English history and has a special interest in the practice of medieval warfare.
£19.99
The History Press Ltd Rorke's Drift and Isandlwana 1879: A Battlefield Guide
On 22 January 1879 a powerful British column invading Zululand was decisively defeated beneath a hill called Isandlwana. Later on the same day, 4,000 Zulus attacked a garrison of no more than 100 British troops at the mission station at Rorke’s Drift, only a few miles from Isandlwana. The British held out against all reasonable expectations, eventually beating off their attackers and winning eleven Victoria Crosses between them. The location where these battles were fought have been places of pilgrimage ever since. Rorke’s Drift & Isandlwana 1879 is a guide to assist the visitor to the two sites with details on how to get there and where to stay. It also discusses the background to the Anglo-Zulu War, the two battles themselves and seeks to make sense of the events that happened there.
£18.00
Pen & Sword Books Ltd The Highland Battles: Warfare on Scotland's Northern Frontier in the Early Middle Ages
The wars fought in Scotland's northern and western highlands between the ninth and fourteenth centuries were a key stage in the military history of the region, yet they have rarely been studied in-depth before. Out of this confused and turbulent period came the more settled and familiar history of the region. The Highlands and islands were controlled by the kings of Norway or by Norse or Norse-Celtic warlords, who not only resisted Scottish royal authority but on occasion seemed likely to overthrow it. That is why Chris Peers's ambitious study is of such value for he provides a coherent and vivid account of the series of campaigns and battles that shaped Scotland. The narrative is structured around a number of battles - Skitten Moor, Torfness, Tankerness, Renfrew, Mam Garvia, Clairdon and Dalrigh - which illustrate phases of the conflict and reveal the strategies and tactics of the rival chieftains. Chris Peers explores the international background to many of these conflicts which had consequences for Scotland's relations with England, Ireland and continental Europe. At the same time he considers to what extent the fighting methods of the time survived into the post-medieval period.
£22.50
Pen & Sword Books Ltd The African Wars: Warriors and Soldiers of the Colonial Campaigns
In The African Wars Chris Peers provides a graphic account of several of the key campaigns fought between European powers and the native peoples of tropical and sub-tropical Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His pioneering and authoritative study describes in vivid detail the organization and training of African warriors, their weapons, their fighting methods and traditions, and their tactics. He concentrates on the campaigns mounted by the most successful African armies as they struggled to defend themselves against the European scramble for Africa. Resistance was inconsistent, but some warlike peoples fought long and hard - the Zulu victory over the British at Isandhlwana is the best known but by no means the only occasion when the Africans humiliated the colonial invaders.
£14.99
