Product Description

The Times for over 150 years has been providing the most respected and perceptive verdicts on the lives of outstanding individuals. The Times Great Military Lives is an authoritative and fascinating collection of obituaries depicting the great military commanders of the 19th and 20th centuries. The obituaries collected in this volume are of outstanding military commanders all of whom were remarkable men. Sometimes complex and difficult, often intellectually brilliant and physically brave, always with the confidence and clarity of mind to take the difficult decisions which might carry a vital battle or turn a campaign. Above all, they were great leaders of men, ready to bear the lonely responsibility of high command, ever aware that they had the lives of thousands - even the fate of nations - in their hands. The obituaries are reproduced here as they were printed at the time, with the contemporary assessment followed in each case by a current perspective by Major-General Michael Tillotson, military obituaries writer for The Times, who with Ian Brunskill, the paper's obituaries editor, has selected the subjects for inclusion. Great Military Lives tells stories of grand strategy, tactical boldness, and courage and ingenuity under fire. In depicting an age of almost ceaseless conflict, it bears witness to an enduring ideal of selfless service - on land, at sea and in the air - to which those fortunate enough to enjoy peace will always owe so much. Those commanders featured include: Wellington, Montgomery, Patton, Trenchard, MacArthur, Slim, Ulysses S Grant, Robert E Lee, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Sitting Bull, Count Helmuth Von Moltke, Macmahon, Cetywayo, Togo, Lord Roberts, Paul Von Hindenburg, Erich Von Ludendorff, Lord Fisher, Foch, Haig, Beatty, Scheer, Kemal Ataturk, Lord Allenby, Gustaf Mannerheim, Gerd Von Rundstedt, Heinz Guderian, Earl Wavell, Sir Mav Horton, Alanbrooke, Sir Claude Auchinleck, Cunningham, Karl Donitz, Erwin Rommel, Eisenhower, Albrecht Kesselring, Nimitz, Erich Von Manstein, Rokossovsky, Zhukov, Lord Dowding, Sir Arthur Harris, Adolf Galland, Lord Slim, Orde Wingate, Matthew B Ridgway, Sergei Gorshkov, Sir Walter Walker, Fleet Lord Fieldhouse.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89629 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 354 pages

About the Author
William Hague is the best-selling author of William Pitt the Younger, published in 2004 to rapturous reviews and was chosen as History Book of the Year in the British Book Awards. At Oxford, he was President of both the Union and the University Conservative Association. He has been MP for Richmond, Yorkshire since 1989. He joined the Cabinet in 1995 as Secretary of State for Wales, and was leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to June 2001. He is now Shadow Foreign Secretary. After a decade as a freelance writer, editor, lecturer and translator, Ian Brunskill joined The Times in 1991. He became Obituaries Editor in 1999, and, in addition, Letters Editor in 2005; he also edits the paper's Saturday Faith page of religious features and news. He is editor of The Times Great Lives (2005) and The Times Great Victorian Lives (2007).

Customer Reviews

Obituaries - Great Military Lives
This book is an essential read for anyone at all interested in the leadership and outcome of conflicts over the past 200 years. The obituries are concise and easy to read although,by nature,never particularly judgemental except for Lord Raglan who it was deemed was the wrong man for the job during the Crimea. Although not voluminous this book gives a potted history of individuals who have shaped history.