{"title":"Great Commanders S","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"old-ironsides-book-general-sir-frank-kitson-kcb-c-9780297846888","title":"Old Ironsides","description":"Oliver Cromwell was an undistinguished backbench MP in his forties when the English Civil War began. Like many other gentleman farmers, he recruited a regiment and led it to war. However, unlike most of the amateur leaders, he demonstrated a remarkable aptitude for soldiering and rose to become one of Parliament's leading generals. Ultimately he would use his power-base within the army to seize power and rule all Britain. General Sir Frank Kitson's concise military biography reveals how and why Cromwell proved so successful. His accessible narrative provides an excellent potted history of the Civil War, peppered with asides on the practicalities of soldiering in the 17th century.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49532139176209,"sku":"GOR003097730","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49628139159825,"sku":"GOR004768670","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0297846884.jpg?v=1751420250"},{"product_id":"robert-e-lee-book-brian-holden-reid-9780297846994","title":"Robert E.Lee","description":"General Robert E Lee, handsome, immaculately attired and dignified, quickly emerged as one of the great heroes of the American Civil War. This is rather surprising for, as Brian Holden Reid points out in his lucid new study, Lee was the most successful general to command troops against the armies of the United States before General Vo Nguyen Giap in Vietnam. Lee's reputation as a peerless commander was greatly embroidered by writers after 1865 who were dedicated to the Lost Cause and presented a sentimental picture of the Old South with Lee as its finest product. His character and achievements in the Civil War were presented as a validation of the Confederate cause. It is important for historians to come to terms with this legacy. Professor Holden Reid briskly surveys the forms that the Lee legend took after his death in 1870 and discusses the reasons behind the way it crystallised as it did. As a non-American he brings a fresh, detached eye to this process. Holden Reid argues that Lee's qualities as a general do not require any exaggeration or embellishment. Lee's short period of field command, just under three years, was marked by imagination, decisiveness, stamina, and a determination to win the Civil War rather than just avoid losing it. Holden Reid defends Lee stoutly against later critics who have argued that his offensive strategy was self-defeating. He believes that it was the only realistic course offered to the Confederacy to win its independence. He acknowledges though that all great commanders have their faults. Lee exhibited occasional over-confidence, under-estimated his enemy, and failed to develop his staff in any modern sense. The result is an authoritative and balanced assessment of a great American commander.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49548111872273,"sku":"GOR002804952","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50185686614289,"sku":"CIN029784699XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/029784699X.jpg?v=1750844373"},{"product_id":"zhukov-book-john-colvin-9780297846086","title":"Zhukov","description":"Outspoken men did not normally last long in Stalin's Russia. Marshal Zhukov was an exception, although he came very close to sharing the fate of many Red Army officers who offended Stalin. One of the few generals to survive Stalin's purges, he beat the Japanese in a border battle on the Mongolian frontier on the eve of the war, then saved the day in 1941 when the German invasion was only halted at the gates of Moscow. From there to Stalingrad and to the ultimate battle for Berlin, Zhukov was the Soviet Union's leading commander.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49576691728657,"sku":"GOR001845964","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49631344558353,"sku":"GOR003626031","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0297846086.jpg?v=1751228002"},{"product_id":"grant-book-robin-neillands-9780297846079","title":"Grant","description":"General Sam Grant made famous the expression 'unconditional surrender', which is how most of his battles ended -- for his opponents. A hard-drinking soldier in a hard-drinking army, he led the Federal armies to victory, forcing Robert E Lee to surrender the main Confederate army in 1865. Robin Neillands' concise biography takes us from Grant's disasterous pre-war record to his sudden emergence as a general of genius.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49582095630609,"sku":"GOR004302430","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50242986115345,"sku":"CIN0297846078G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50266526286097,"sku":"CIN0297846078VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":51333236719889,"sku":"CIN0297846078A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0297846078.jpg?v=1751165265"},{"product_id":"moshe-dayan-book-martin-van-creveld-9780297846697","title":"Moshe Dayan","description":"Martin van Creveld's Moshe Dayan tells the story of one man and of one people, to whom he was a figurehead - a symbol of their patriotism and their determination to survive. Born in a kibbutz in 1915, Dayan joined the Hagana when he was just fourteen, thus starting early a military career that saw him serve in every war fought in the Middle East from the War of Israeli Independence in 1948 to the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Twice he led his country's forces into smashing victories. Having planned and executed the one and directed the other, with his one eye he towers over them like Nelson over the Battle of Trafalgar. Skilled in battle, skilled in diplomacy, like many powerful public figures, Moshe Dayan's private life was far from mundane. The book quotes from little-known sources, including an account written by one of his mistresses, that reveal much about his character and his life away from the battlefield. This is an honest portrayal of both the private and the public figure, which seeks to understand a man whose contribution to the state of Israel in its developing years was immeasurable.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50346599350545,"sku":"CIN0297846698A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50770476531985,"sku":"GOR002287154","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51565836435729,"sku":"CIN0297846698VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0297846698.jpg?v=1750877723"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/de-ch\/collections\/great-commanders-s-buchreihe.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}