Explore some of history's most significant tanks, including Britain's Little Willy prototype and the Soviet T-34, credited as WWII's most effective and influential design. Discover how tanks evolved as the nature of war changed, and learn all about each tank's key design elements, including its firepower, protection, and mobility. Fascinating cross-sections and close-up photographs reveal the innermost workings of each tank, while the text and helpful...

D-Day, Operation Market Garden, Battle of the Bulge-the US Airborne divisions were integral at all these major points in World War II. But they also played a significant role in North Africa, where they first saw action, and in Italy in 1943. Right on the tail of these planes, this expert history follows the airborne divisions from the redesignation and initial training of the 82nd in 1942 through to their final, momentous missions in the Pacific. Featuring...

The Battle Digest summary includes all the key aspects of the campaign and battle, including maps, images, and lessons learned. After his early success in the Civil War's Western Theater, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant moved south to capture the key railroad hub at Corinth and further cut into the Confederate hold on the Tennessee and Mississippi River Valleys. But Confederate Gen. Albert S. Johnston wasn't playing by Grant's script. Instead of waiting...

Seventy-five years ago the most quintessentially American tank was built: the M4 Sherman, which featured heavily in the Allies' World War II victory and later in films such as "Fury," starring Brad Pitt. Seventy-five years after it first rumbled into service, the M4 Sherman remains the most quintessentially American tank ever conceived. What the E-unit locomotive is to railroading, what the Corvette is to sports cars, the Sherman tank is to armored...

The Second World War saw elite units take a prominent role on the battlefield for the first time. The Encyclopedia of Elite Forces in World War II is a wide-ranging guide to the excellent units on land, sea or in the air whose success was usually hard-won against the odds, and whose actions had an impact on the course of the fighting around them. The best units from both sides of the fighting are represented, as are the two main theatres of war. Arranged...

Matchlock, wheel lock, flintlock and caplock; muzzle-loading and breech-loading; revolving and rifling — the history of muskets and rifles is a fascinating journey through the development of firearms technology. From early matchlocks of the 15th century to the latest hunting rifles and assault rifles, Collector's Guides: Rifles and Muskets traces the development of these small arms through their technical revolutions. From a 16th century wheel-lock...

Provides information such as military commander profiles, the war's armaments and battlefronts, timelines, oral histories, and the political, social, and economic factors that influenced the conflict.

A concise guide to the Japanese attack on Hawaii that plunged America into WWII, with facts, maps, historical significance, and more. As America prepared for WWII, everything changed on December 7, 1941-described by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a "date which will live in infamy"-when Japan launched a successful surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor. The devastating attack crippled the fleet, while showing the world...

Get facts, maps, historical significance, strategies, and more in this concise summary of the Texas Revolution's legendary "last stand." During the Texas Revolution, the Mexican Army clashed with Texan forces on several battlefields-the most famous of which was the Alamo. During this thirteen-day siege, a small group of defenders held out against overwhelming odds only to die in the final Mexican assault on the Alamo mission. Although it was clearly...

Get facts, maps, historical significance, strategies, and more in this concise summary of the notoriously bloody Civil War battle. During the late summer of 1862, Confederate forces launched their first invasion of the North. When Union forces met them near Sharpsburg, Maryland, along Antietam Creek, the result was the "bloodiest day" in American military history. Although the battle of Antietam was a tactical draw, Union Gen. George McClellan stopped...