Four years of bloodshed in mid-1980s Northern Ireland, in the words of British soldiers who experienced it firsthand. Includes photos. Proceeding month-by-month from 1984 through 1987, this historical project provides a deep and detailed portrait of the British military experience in a period of frequent and unpredictable violence as the Provisional IRA grew in financial and logistical strength. As British Security Forces worked to contain the chaos, the Republican terror group fully embraced Danny Morrison’s mantra— “The Armalite and the ballot box”—as they moved toward a realization that the British military could not be beaten, but that they could at least sit down with them from a position of strength. The goal was to keep up the pressure and force the British government to the bargaining table. But as the Provisionals and Loyalists fought, talked, and then fought again, a further 356 people died. Through oral histories, witness accounts, photos, and commentary, this book covers every major incident of the period, from the ambush of off-duty UDR soldier Robert Elliott to the bombing of Enniskillen. It also looks at the continued interference of the United States and the vast contribution of its citizens through NORAID, which ensured the killing and violence would continue. Lamenting brutality and the targeting of innocents regardless of the perpetrator’s sympathies, veteran Ken Wharton, who has chronicled the Troubles extensively, reminds us of the universal threat, and horrifying toll, of terrorist tactics.

In the early twentieth century there was a war brewing on Britain's doorstep. Northern Ireland was filled with discrimination and suspicion, a sense of foreboding that would soon erupt into full-blown rioting. As the fiftieth anniversary of the Troubles approaches, Ken Wharton takes a thorough look at the start of the Troubles, the precursors and the explosion of violence in 1969 that would last until the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. In all, the Troubles cost 50,000 casualties and nearly 2,000 civilians' lives across Northern Ireland, the Republic and England. Utterly condemnatory of the paramilitaries, Wharton pulls no punches in his assessment of the situation then and seeks to dismiss apologists today. His sympathy lies first with those tasked with keeping order in the province, but also with the innocent civilians caught up in thirty years of bloodshed. Torn Apart is an in-depth look at the start of the Troubles, looking at the seminal moments and Northern Ireland today using the powerful testimony of those who were there at the time.

This book examines the UK approach to investigating international crimes and serious human rights violations. In 2010, the United Nations Secretary General referred to the emerging system of international justice, including the creation of the International Criminal Court, as the ‘Age of Accountability.’ However, the UK has sometimes struggled to comply with its international law obligations. Using examples from the post-World War II period to 2018, interviews with leading UK military lawyers and newly disclosed official documents, this work explains the legal duties, how the UK military and civilian justice systems investigate alleged military misconduct and highlights the challenges involved. It provides suggestions on strengthening domestic law and policy and its importance for the UK’s legitimacy as an exporter of rule of law expertise. This text is essential reading for practitioners, academics, government officials and students of international, criminal, humanitarian or human rights law.

The 1970s. They were the best of times and the worst of times. Wealth inequality was at a record low, yet industrial strife was at a record high. These were the glory years of Doctor Who and glam rock, but the darkest days of the Northern Ireland conflict. Beset by strikes, inflation, power cuts and the rise of the far right, the cosy Britain of the post-war consensus was unravelling – in spectacularly lurid style. Fusing high politics and low culture, Crisis? What Crisis? presents a world in which Enoch Powell, Ted Heath and Tony Benn jostle for space with David Bowie, Hilda Ogden and Margo Leadbetter, and reveals why a country exhausted by decline eventually turned to Margaret Thatcher for salvation.

A few years ago, Ray Clark had a simple idea: send postcards to those who might share their thoughts with others on loss, remembrance, war, and peace. The response was remarkable. Men and women from all walks of life, from the Cabinet, the House of Lords, and the senior ranks of the British Army to ex-servicemen, military historians, journalists, and war widows, felt moved to express their feelings in a few words on that postcard. This book will sadden, provoke, and inspire. All the royalties on sales will go to two charities. The first is Help for Heroes, established in 2007 working for the wounded of the British Armed forces, an astonishingly successful organization responsible for huge capital projects like the £8.5m Rehabilitation Complex at Headley Court as well as providing funds to wounded individual members of the armed forces according to need. The second is Action Cancer, providing early detection, counseling, and support services and prevention education. They were there for Ray when his wife was diagnosed as terminally ill, and this book has been created with love and gratitude.

'"I am a British soldier," I told my reflection. "I am a British soldier and I'm saving lives. I'm saving lives. I'm a British soldier and I'm saving lives..."' Kevin Fulton was one of the British Army's most successful intelligence agents. Having been recruited to infiltrate the Provisional IRA at the height of The Troubles, he rose its ranks to an unprecedented level. Living and working undercover, he had no option other than to take part in heinous criminal activities, including the production of bombs which he knew would later kill. So highly was he valued by IRA leaders that he was promoted to serve in its infamous internal police - ironically, his job was now to root out and kill informers. Until one day in 1994, when it all went wrong. . . Fleeing Northern Ireland, Kevin was abandoned by the security services he had served so courageously and left to live as a fugitive. The life of a double agent requires constant vigilance, for danger is always just a heartbeat away. For a double agent within the highest ranks of the IRA, that danger was doubled. In this remarkable account, Kevin Fulton - former intelligence agent, ex-member of the IRA - tells a truth that is as uncomfortable as it is gripping.

From the moment the Civil War began, partisans on both sides were calling not just for victory but for extermination. And both sides found leaders who would oblige. In this vivid and fearfully persuasive book, Charles Royster looks at William Tecumseh Sherman and Stonewall Jackson, the men who came to embody the apocalyptic passions of North and South, and re-creates their characters, their strategies, and the feelings they inspired in their countrymen. At once an incisive dual biography, hypnotically engrossing military history, and a cautionary examination of the American penchant for patriotic bloodshed, The Destructive War is a work of enormous power.