Search results for ""Author Mike Snook""

A detailed chronicle of a significant opening battle in the Anglo-Zulu War: 'The Zulu attack on Rorke's Drift thrillingly retold' (Richard Holmes). On January 22nd, 1879, the British Army in South Africa was swept aside by the seemingly unstoppable Zulu warriors at the Battle of Isandlwana. Nearby, at a remote outpost on the Buffalo River, a single company of the 24th Regiment and a few dozen recuperating hospital patients were passing a hot, monotonous day. By the time they received news from across the river, retreat was no longer an option. It seemed certain that the Rorkes Drift detachment would share the same fate. And yet, against incredible odds, the British managed to defend their station. In this riveting history, Colonel Snook brings the insights of a military professional to bear on this fateful encounter at the start of Anglo-Zulu War. It is an extraordinary talea victory largely achieved by the sheer bloody-mindedness of the British infantryman. Re

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Wednesday 22 January 1879 was one of the most dramatic days in the long and distinguished history of the British Army. At noon a massive Zulu host attacked the 24th Regiment in its encampment at the foot of the mountain of Isandlwana, a distinctive feature that bore an eerie resemblance to the Sphinx badge of the outnumbered redcoats. Disaster ensued. Later that afternoon the victorious Zulus would strike the tiny British garrison at Rorke's Drift. How Can Man Die Better is a unique analysis of Isandlwana - of the weapons, tactics, ground, and the intriguing characters who made the key military decisions. Because the fatal loss was so high on the British side there is still much that is unknown about the battle. This is a work of unparalleled depth, which eschews the commonly held perception that the British collapse was sudden and that the 24th Regiment was quickly overwhelmed. Rather, there was a protracted and heroic defence against a determined and equally heroic foe. The author reconstructs the final phase of the battle in a way that has never been attempted before. It was to become the stuff of legend, which brings to life so vividly the fear and smell the blood.

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In the early 1880s Muhammad Ahmed, the self-styled Mahdi, unleashed a spectacularly successful jihadist uprising against Egyptian colonial rule in the Sudan. The Egyptian military met with a series of disasters, including the rout of major expeditions led by hired-in British colonels, William Hicks Pasha' and Valentine Baker Pasha'. By the spring of 1884, Cairo had bowed to British pressure to withdraw altogether. Beyond the Reach of Empire describes how Major General Charles Gordon was despatched by Gladstone to evacuate the garrison of Khartoum and turn the Sudan over to self-rule. Fearless, profoundly religious and a committed anti-slaver, Gordon would be on familiar ground. In the late 1870s the Khedive of Egypt had employed him as Governor-General of the Sudan. When he reached Cairo, Gordon was offered and accepted the post for a second time. The author goes on to explain how and why the Gordon mission backfired, and then homes in on Sir Garnet Wolseley's planning and execution of the long-delayed Gordon Relief Expedition. The most advanced part of the British force came within sight of Khartoum only two days after it fell. Underpinned by an extensive programme of fieldwork on remote, rarely visited battlefields, Mike Snook's narrative is characterised by scrupulous attention to detail, an instinctive grasp of the period and an intimate understanding of its setting. The result is an enthralling tale of Victorian high-adventure, combined with an expose of the myths surrounding the failure to save one of the British Empire's greatest heroes. The author argues compellingly that the Khartoum affair was mismanaged from the outset. The outcome is the exoneration of the man cast in the role of scapegoat, and an indictment of Wolseley's generalship over the course of the last and most deeply flawed campaign of his career.

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