Product Description: This volume is devoted to the shaping of British foreign and defence policymaking in the twentieth century and illustrates why it's relatively easy for states to lose their way as they grope for a safe passage forward when confronted by mounting international crises and the antics of a few desperate men...read more

In 1949, as the Chinese Civil War was about to enter its final, explosive stage, the small British frigate HMS Amethyst was sent on a dangerous mission up the Yangtze River to protect British citizens in Nanking. En route it was attacked by the Chinese Communists and held hostage on the river for several months before the crew managed to make a daring escape. The Amethyst captured news headlines around the world and became an unlikely symbol of the cold war in Asia. This dramatic episode, hailed in the West as a triumph of the human spirit but bitterly condemned by the Chinese Communists, was to prejudice Anglo-Chinese relations for years to come. Using sources not previously available, Malcolm Murfett has written a book that is much more than an account of a single incident. It provides a sweeping survey of British naval power in China, from its faltering and inept beginnings in the late 1630s right up to the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949. In explaining the importance of the Amethyst episode in the history of Anglo-Chinese naval relations, Murfett suggests that it was the final poignant break with the past. Readers will find Hostage on the Yangtze to be a fascinating tale of high adventure, imperialistic oppression, diplomatic shortcomings, and political repercussions¬-a mixture that culminates in one of the most dramatic and memorable crises of the post-war world.

Product Description: Naval Warfare 1919–45 is a comprehensive history of the war at sea from the end of the Great War to the end of World War Two. Showing the bewildering nature and complexity of the war facing those charged with fighting it around the world, this book ranges far and wide: sweeping across all naval theatres and those powers performing major, as well as minor, roles within them...read more

Product Description: Naval Warfare 1919–45 is a comprehensive history of the war at sea from the end of the Great War to the end of World War Two. Showing the bewildering nature and complexity of the war facing those charged with fighting it around the world, this book ranges far and wide: sweeping across all naval theatres and those powers performing major, as well as minor, roles within them...read more

Product Description: Many books have been written about Singapores much vaunted position as a crucial maritime center along the East-West trading route. But one aspect of its history the military perspective has, for the most part, escaped serious scholarly attention...read more

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Product Description: Murfett explains why the British government, after embarking on an unprecedented period of naval disarmament during 1945-8 in order to help pay the cost of domestic reforms, reversed this trend in the years thereafter.

Product Description: Professor Norman Gibbs spent a good deal of his academic life at Oxford University teaching the history of warfare and illustrating for the benefit of his many students, the severe limitations that have circumscribed the successful and effective application of military power to a wide variety of disputes in the past...read more