Turning the Tide of War 50 Battles That Changed the Course of Modern History

208 Pages·2001·51.094 MB·English

by  Tim Newark

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50 Battles that Changed the Course of Modern History
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intheentirehistoryofhumanwarfare,afewkeybattles
haveachievedlegendarystatus.Trafalgar.Waterloo.
Gettysburg.Gallipoli.PearlHarbor.TheBattleofBritain.
TheTetOffensive.DesertStorm.Whetherasaresultof
superiortactics,dominantfirepowerorasimpletwist
offate,thesekeyconflictshavebecomebywordsforthe
momentwhenvictoryanddefeatweredecided.Some
havebeenadoptedassymbolsoftriumphintheface
ofalmostoverwhelmingodds.Othersliveonininfamy.
Eachcanbeseenasapointatwhichthecourseofhistory
waschangedirrevocably.
TurningtheTideofWarexplores50keybattlesofthe
past200years.Withthehelpofdetailedmapsandbattle
plans,eyewitnesstestimonyandrarearchival
photography,eachbattleisexaminedindetailandwithin
itswiderhistoricalcontext.
FromNapoleon'sconquestofEurope,throughthedecisive
momentsoftheFirstandSecondWorldWars,tomore
recentstrugglesinVietnam,AfghanistanandtheBalkans,
authorTimNewarkanalysesnotonlythestrategybehind
eachindividualbattle,butthechangingideologiesthatled
towar.Heexamineshowtechnologyhasaffectedmilitary
theoryandpractice,fromtheintroductionofthetankand
fighteraircrafttotheadventofintercontinentalmissiles
and'smartbombs'.Andhepaystributetotheskill,
courageanddedicationofthemilitaryforcesoftheworld.
TurningtheTideofWansafascinatingoverviewof
howwarfarehasevolvedfromaneraofsmalllocalized
conflictstoanageofmechanizedbattlesonaglobal
scale,andalsoaglimpseintotheinnerworkingsofthe
militarymind.
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TURNING THE TIDE OF
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COURSE OF MODERN HISTORY
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FirstpublishedinGreatBritainin2001by
Hamlyn,adivisionofOctopusPublishingGroupLtd
2-4HeronQuays,LondonE144JP
CopyrightIOctopusPublishingGroupLtd2001
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ISBN 60060318
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WAR
TURNING THE TIDE OF
50 BATTLES THAT CHANGED THE
COURSE OF MODERN HISTORY
TIM NEWARK
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 6
VALMY, 1792 8
ASSAYE, 1803 12
TRAFALGAR, 1805 16
AUSTERLITZ, 1805 20
^^f WATERLOO, 1815 24
&7 'm
V MEXICO CITY, 1847 28
t H
/ JCH GETTYSBURG, 1863 32
H
^Bwv SEDAN, 1870 36
*>
ISANDLWANA, 1879 40
f 1 4
GEOKTEPE, 1881 44
J
"^ T
- SAN JUAN HILL, 1898 48
^fe^Z
OMDURMAN, 1898 50
T^gxC^V^. fj!
LH TSUSHIMA, 1905 54
% ^i!/
^^H I& FIRST BATTLE OFTHEMARNE, 1914 58
;^SS GALLIPOLI, 1915 62
*^? .^B 8k
THE BRUSILOV OFFENSIVE, 1916 66
H^LSf THESOMME, 1916 70
YPRES, 1917 74
CAMBRAI, 1917 78 ST LO, 1944 148
GERMANY'S 'BLACK DAY' 1918 82 LEYTE GULF, 1944 150
NANKING, 1937 86 ARDENNES, 1944 154
FRANCE, 1940 90 OKINAWA, 1945 158
THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN, 1940 94 BERLIN, 1945 162
CRETE, 1941 98 INCHON, 1950 166
BARBAROSSA, 1941 100 DIEN BIEN PHU, 1954 170
PEARL HARBOR 1941 104 SIX DAYWAR, 1967 174
SINGAPORE, 1942 108 THETET OFFENSIVE, 1968 176
MIDWAY, 1942 112 PORT STANLEY, 1982 180
STALINGRAD, 1942 116 KABUL, 1988 182
ELALAMEIN 1942 120 DESERTSTORM, 1991 186
BATTLE OFTHE ATLANTIC, 1943 124 MOGADISHU, 1993 190
KURSK, 1943 128 KRAJINA, 1995 194
TARAWA, 1943 132 BIBLIOGRAPHY 196
INDEX 197
CASSINO, 1944 136
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 200
KOHIMA, 1944 140
D-DAY, 1944 144
INTRODUCTION
The decisive battle is the holy grail of military commanders - a hard to acceptthat their enemies could defeat them and threw
battle won in a day that transforms their future, bringing them awaythelivesofhundredsofthousandsoftheirsoldiersbecause
victoryandfame-butcombatisusuallymuchmessierthanthis.A oftheiroverconfidence. DuringtheBattleofBritain, itseemeda
victoryonedaycan bereversedthenext. Militarysuperioritycan foregoneconclusiontotheGermanairforcethatitwouldtriumph
beletdownbypoliticalincompetence.Adecisivevictorymaynot over the smaller, inexperienced British RAF. German victories in
bringdecisive peace. Thesteadyattrition ofguerrillawarfarecan PolandandelsewherehadaffectedtheGermans'judgement,and
overwhelmapowerfulfoe. when they were confronted by highly determined, well-trained
In this book, decisive battles have been chosen for several pilots armed with the latest ingenious aviation technology, they
reasons. Sometimestheyarea climactic point in a successful or werefacedwithafarmoredifficultcontest.
disastrouscampaign;atothertimestheyrepresentadecisivestep ImperialarrogancefounditsgraveyardsatGallipoliandIsandlwana,
forwardinthetechnologyofwarfare.Oftentheyrefernottoabattle both wake-up calls for the British and their Western imperial
in one day, but to an operation over several weeks or months, colleagues,givingintimationsoflaterbittercolonialconflicts.AtDien
indicative of the enlarged scale of modern warfare. All of them BienPhu, Frenchimperialarrogancewasbroughtcrashingdownby
reflectgreat moments in historywhenthe sacrificeofcountless theVietnamese.
soldiershaschangedthewayweviewtheworld. Sometimes, superiortechnology can bestowawesome power
onthebattlefield.AtOmdurmanandacenturylater,duringDesert
ESSENCEOFVICTORY Storm, highly advanced weaponry can make a battle seem very
Howarebattleswonandlost?Overwhelmingpowerandprecise one-sided,allowingthevictortoimposehiswillaroundtheworld
organizationarethemostobviousingredientsfordecisivevictory. withoutmeaningful opposition. On otheroccasions, thearrival of
Nazi Germany in 1941 knew exactly what it was doing during superiorweaponrycanjusttipthebalance.InAfghanistan,Muslim
Operation Barbarossa. It applied its already successful blitzkrieg guerrillas held on to their land despite being faced by superior
tacticson a massive scale, helped bySovietchaosanda lackof military technology. With the arrival of hand-held anti-aircraft
willingness to face up to the inevitable threat of invasion. The missiles,giventotheguerrillasbytheWest,Sovietairpowerwas
Soviet Army had also been ravaged by ideology, given Stalin's fatallyundermined.
political determination to rid it of any dissident officers. Both
moraleandmilitarycompetencehadtoberapidlyrebuilt. FIGHTINGSPIRIT
Pearl Harborin 1941 wasanotherbrilliantpieceoforganization, Whentechnologyismoreeven,itisoftenfightingspiritandbelief
with overwhelming force directed at an unprepared enemy; in a cause that can give the decisive edge. At Valmy, a French
similarly in France in 1940and Singapore in 1942. Butwhen the revolutionary army simply stared down its less motivated
enemy is no longer surprised and counters with its own battle opponents, openinganeweraofideologicalwarfare.AtAssaye,
experience and organization, then the tide of war changes sheerold-fashionedaggressionwonthebattle.
significantly.AlliedvictoriesatElAlamein, Midway,Stalingradand Sometimes itisthedominantpowerthatlosesfaith in itsown
Kohima showed how even the most initially impressive military cause. In Mogadishu,theUSArmycouldseelittlepointinforcing
forcescanbeheldanddefeated. international aid on a country that saw it as an aggressor.
Sometimes, victors do not even recognize their own success.
GREATESTMILITARYFLAW DuringtheTetOffensive,Westernjournalistspersistedinportraying
Underestimation of the enemy is the greatest of military flaws. this as a Vietnamese victory, even though the Vietnamese had
GermanyandJapanintheSecondWorldWarbelievedtheywere actually suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of the US
raciallyaswellasmilitarilysuperiortotheirenemies.Theyfoundit Army,suchwasleft-wingprejudiceamongthemediaatthetime.
INTRODUCTION