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Pitt

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War & Military
Chapter: 22 | Listen: 2

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, liberal prime minister (1894-1895), wrote this short biography of William Pitt, the Younger (1759-1806), the controversial young prime minister who led Great Britain during the terrible trial of the Napoleonic Wars. Lord Rosebery writes: “From the dead eighteenth century his figure still faces us with a majesty of loneliness and courage. There may have been men both abler and greater than he, though it is not easy to cite them; but in all history there is no more patriotic spirit, none more intrepid, and none more pure.” (Pamela Nagami) [chương_files]

German Deserter’s War Experience

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War & Military
Chapter: 25 | Listen:

The author of this 1917 narrative, who escaped from Germany and military service after 14 months of fighting in France, did not wish to have his name made public, fearing reprisals against his relatives. The vivid description of the life of a common German soldier during “The Great War” aroused much interest when it was published in the United States in serial form. Here was a warrior against his will, a hater of militarism for whom there was no romance in war, but only butchery and brutality, grime and vermin, inhuman toil and degradation. His story also contains the first German description of the retreat of the Teutonic armies after the battle of the Marne. – From the Translator’s Preface – Summary by Lee Smalley [chương_files]

Henry Wirz, Commander of Andersonville Confederate Prison: Trial and Execution

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War & Military
Chapter: 17 | Listen:

Henry Wirz (November 25, 1823 – November 10, 1865) was the only Confederate soldier tried after the end of the American Civi War. He was tried, convicted, and executed, not for being a Confederate soldier, but for conspiracy and murder relating to his command of Camp Sumter, the infamous Confederate prisoner-of-war prison at Andersonville, Georgia. Wirz encouraged and commanded barbaric and murderous policies and actions in the prison. This Librivox recording is excerpts from the 850 page summary of the trial written by the Army Judge Advocate (prosecutor) for, and at the command of, The Congressional House Of Representatives, 40th Congress, Second Session, Ex, Doc. No 23. This recording omits the 614 pages of testimony by very numerous witnesses, both Federal and Confederate. What is recorded conveys the substance of the witnesses’ testimony. For a prisoner’s view of life in the prison camp see LibriVox recording Andersonville Diary, Escape And List Of The Dead by John L. RANSOM. – Summary by Wikipedia and david wales [chương_files]

A.E.F.: With General Pershing and the American Forces

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War & Military
Chapter: 21 | Listen:

In 1917, the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) arrived in Europe to fight alongside the French and British allied forces. American journalist Heywood Broun followed the AEF and reported on their experiences. He published these sketches in book form in 1918. This project is part of the ongoing commemoration by LibriVox volunteers of the centenary of World War I. (Summary by MaryAnn) [chương_files]

Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783

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War & Military
Chapter: 30 | Listen: 4

The Influence of Sea Power Upon History: 1660–1783 is a history of naval warfare written in 1890 by Alfred Thayer Mahan. It details the role of sea power during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and discusses the various factors needed to support and achieve sea power, with emphasis on having the largest and most powerful fleet. Scholars consider it the single most influential book in naval strategy. – Summary by Wikipedia [chương_files]

Reign of Queen Anne, Volume I

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War & Military
Chapter: 20 | Listen: 2

Anne Stuart (1665-1714), Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, succeeded William III to the throne in 1702. She was the daughter of the deposed Catholic king, James II, but was of the Anglican faith. Liberal, Irish member of Parliament, Justin McCarthy, writing in 1902, creates in sparkling, uncluttered prose a panoramic canvas of Anne and her times. In the first of the two volumes, the brilliant commander, the Duke of Marlborough, defeats the French and Bavarians at the Battle of Blenheim, while the flagship of the admiral of the fleet, Sir Cloudesley Shovell, strikes the rocks near the Isles of Scilly and is lost with all eight hundred hands. We are at street level in rowdy London with its aristocratic bully boys, the Mohocks, its coffee houses, and its theaters. We meet the great Tories, Harley and Bolingbroke, and encounter the satiric spirit who haunts it all, Jonathan Swift. (Pamela Nagami) [chương_files]

Visit to Three Fronts: June 1916

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War & Military
Chapter: 5 | Listen: 1

In the course of May 1916, the Italian authorities expressed a desire that some independent observer from Great Britain should visit their lines and report his impressions. It was at the time when our brave and capable allies had sustained a set-back in the Trentino owing to a sudden concentration of the Austrians, supported by very heavy artillery. I was asked to undertake this mission. In order to carry it out properly, I stipulated that I should be allowed to visit the British lines first, so that I might have some standard of comparison. The War Office kindly assented to my request. Later I obtained permission to pay a visit to the French front as well. Thus it was my great good fortune, at the very crisis of the war, to visit the battle line of each of the three great Western allies. I only wish that it had been within my power to complete my experiences in this seat of war by seeing the gallant little Belgian army which has done so remarkably well upon the extreme left wing of the hosts of freedom. My experiences and impressions are here set down, and may have some small effect in counteracting those mischievous misunderstandings and mutual belittlements which are eagerly fomented by our cunning enemy. – Summary by Arthur Conan Doyle, Crowborough, July 1916. [chương_files]

Mazarin

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War & Military
Chapter: 9 | Listen: 3

Guilio Raimondo (Cardinal Mazarin, 1602-1661), Richelieu’s designated successor as chief minister of France, was a master of diplomacy. Though a cardinal, he was not a priest and was probably secretly married to the Queen-Mother, Anne of Austria. Together they ruled France, facing the great rebellion known as the Fronde, and with the help of the military genius of Turenne, prevailed over the armies of Spain, Austria, and the traitorous Grand Condé. Arthur Hassall writes of Mazarin that by the time of his death in 1661 he had, through “patience, perseverance, and sagacity,” fulfilled Richelieu’s foreign policy and made the twenty-one year-old Louis XIV the absolute monarch of Europe’s greatest power. (Pamela Nagami) [chương_files]

Unhappy Far-Off Things

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War & Military
Chapter: 13 | Listen: 2

Better known today for his influential fantasy writings, Lord Dunsany also wrote a number of sketches during World War One. This compilation of essays written from time spent in France in 1916. Much more thoughtful and melancholy than the pieces written for the War Office earlier in the war. – Summary by Alan Winterrowd [chương_files]

Art of War (Version 4)

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War & Military
Chapter: 2 | Listen: 3

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise attributed to Sun Tzu, a high-ranking military general, strategist and tactician. The text is composed of 13 chapters, each devoted to one aspect of warfare. It is commonly considered to be the definitive work on military strategy and tactics of its time. It has been the most famous and influential of China’s Seven Military Classics, and “for the last two thousand years it remained the most important military treatise in Asia, where even the common people knew it by name.” It has had an influence on Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, legal strategy and beyond. – Summary by Wikipedia [chương_files]