This British historian specialized in the Mediterranean world and naval topics, with his own extensive experience sailing the Mediterranean lending a unique authenticity to his works. His writing displayed a deep understanding of naval battles and the lives of those who engaged in them. Through his writings, he transported readers to the heart of maritime conflicts and exploration. His work explored not only the strategic aspects but also the human stories behind historical events at sea.
Malta, then one of the easternmost bastions of Christendom, was attacked in 1565 by the Sultan of Turkey with 200 ships and 40,000 men. This book is based upon historical records and tells how approximately 700 Knights of St John plus 9,000 men defended Malta against the Sultan's armed forces.
An eyewitness account of one of the greatest-ever battles as a few men under the Knights of St John took on a huge Turkish armada.
For thousands of years people have sailed, traded, and fought across the waters of the Mediterranean. On its shores and islands they have built cities, colonised, dreamed, conquered and fallen. This sea, which brings together three continents, was the cradle of western civilisation.
The life of the great military commander of ancient Carthage from the bestselling author of Thermopylae and Gibraltar. Born in Carthage in 247 BC, Hannibal Barca is considered one of the greatest military commanders of all time. Following the example set by his father, Hamilcar, he dedicated his life to the defeat of Rome. At the outbreak of the Second Punic War, Hannibal famously led an army across the Pyrenees and the Alps to victory against the Romans at the Battle of Trebia. In the years that followed, Hannibal led the Carthaginian war on Rome through some of the most brutal and costly battles in recorded history. In this richly detailed biography, Ernle Bradford tells the story of a great leader whose military strategies have been studied and copied by commanders throughout history, from his own Roman enemies to Napoleon Bonaparte.
An impressively accessible narrative depicting the three-day battle for the pass at Thermopylae (the Hot Gates)--a critical contest in Xerxes's massive invasion of Greece. The bloody stand made there by Leonidas and his small Spartan army in 480 B.C. has been hailed ever since as an outstanding example of patriotism, courage, and sacrifice.
An analysis of artifacts recovered from the Mary Rose, a sixteenth-century warship that sank off the coast of England evaluates the importance of the ship as an archaeological record of life in Tudor England
A gripping biography of Admiral Nelson, Napoleonic War hero and one of Britain's greatest naval tacticians. In the Battle of Trafalgar, Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson sent the signal from his flagship HMS Victory, "England expects that every man will do his duty." His defeat of the French that day in 1805 was a decisive turning point in the Napoleonic Wars, establishing British control of the seas. His death in that heroic battle gave those words immortal significance. For his bravery in battle and brilliance as a naval tactician, Admiral Nelson remains one of Britain's most inspiring heroes. In this nuanced and lively biography, Ernle Bradford presents the man behind the legend. From his youthful days in the Royal Navy to his famous battles and scandalous personal life, Horatio Nelson is shown here in all his human complexity. "This skillful portrait . . . combines accessible naval history with a psychological examination of heroism." --Kirkus Reviews
Since ships first set sail in the Mediterranean, The Rock has been the gate of Fortress Europe. In ancient times, it was known as one of the Pillars of Hercules, and a glance at its formidable mass suggests that it may well have been created by the gods. Sought after by every nation with territorial ambitions in Europe, Asia, and Africa, Gibraltar was possessed by the Arabs, the Spanish, and ultimately the British, who captured it in the early 1700s and held onto it in a siege of more than three years late in the eighteenth century. The fact that that was one of more than a dozen sieges exemplifies Gibraltar's quintessential value as a prize and the desperation of governments to fly their flag above its forbidding ramparts. Bradford uses his matchless skill and knowledge to take the reader through the history of this great and unique fortress. From its geological creation to its two-thousand-year influence on politics and war, he crafts the compelling tale of how these few square miles played a major part in history.
The order of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem is the most long-lived of the great military orders of knighthood. Originating in a hospice on the road to Jerusalem and officially founded in 1099 during the First Crusade, the Knights of St. John continued to grow in wealth, power, and territory long after they were run out of Jerusalem by victorious Muslim forces. In The Shield and the Sword, Ernle Bradford displays his talents as a master storyteller and great scholar of the Mediterranean, charting the intriguing history of the Knights-from their origins in the Holy Land to their subsequent relocations to Rhodes, the island of Malta, and eventually England.
