Fighting for the Empire is the story of a remarkable Irishman, a staunch Catholic from Galway who served the British Crown and its Empire for almost fifty years. His extraordinary military career took in countless conflicts including two World Wars, Imperial adventures, acts of heroism and encounters with royalty. It also included a period of Irish history that split families and communities in two. Joining the Indian Medical Service in 1896 Thomas Kelly was posted to the turbulent North West Frontier almost as soon as he arrived in India. He was one of the first Westerners to set foot in the mysterious mountain city of Lhasa, winning a commendation along the way for an act for bravery that was illustrated on the front page of London newspapers. Kelly's many adventures brought him face to face with both hardships and glamour. His duties included entertaining Swedish Explorer Sven Hedin, King George V and later the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) who he despised, describing him as a drunkard and a womanizer. The First World War saw Kelly serving with the Indian Medical Service in Aden, Egypt and Mesopotamia (covering present-day Iraq, Syria, Iran and parts of Turkey), collecting the Distinguished Service Order as well as being commended in dispatches four times, including for his role in the aftermath of the infamous siege of Kut. The end of the First World War saw no letup as he was pitched into the brief and bloody 3rd Afghan War that raged across the notorious North West Frontier in 1919. Bitterly disappointed at being turned down by the Royal Navy at the outbreak of the Second World War (he was now 69) Kelly became ships surgeon in the Merchant Navy taking part in the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Bordeaux as France fell to the German invaders. Going with the 8th Army to Egypt and serving on Atlantic convoys his service finally came to an end in late 1944 after serving on ships transporting troops for the invasion of Europe. His age (74) caught up with him and he was sent home still protesting that he was more than fit enough to remain at sea. Containing many photographs from Kelly's personal albums and private collections Fighting for the Empire is a fascinating look not just at an individual's bravery and hardships but at the closing years of the British Empire.

The first world war was notthat which began in 1914, but the co-called Seven Years War which, in 1756, brought into being global conflict. The new factor which dramatically altered the course of history was British sea power. With the support of the navy, a few thousand men dispossessed the French of their fledgling North American empire and saw them, and the Dutch, utterly vanquished in India. Attacks on Cuba and the Philippines crippled the Spanish Empire. Through feats of extraordinary courage and endurance, fighting merchant adventurers such as Robert Clive laid the foundations of an Indian empire. In North America, soldiers such as the Virginia militia officer, George Washington, the future first President of the United States, and James Wolfe, who died in the battle for Quebec, determined that Canada would be British - not French. In this vivid account of this first 'modern' war, Tom Pocock uses the testimony of eye-eitnesses to dramatic effect. Nigel Nicolson, The Spectator "Pocock's book makes enthralling reading... his prose is excellent." Admiral Sir Jock Slater, First Sea Lord, in The Times "Tom Pocock has written another stirring popular history... Pocock vividly brings his work to life. The lessons of history are brought to life by Tom Pocock and his latest book is a thoroughly good read." Lawrence James, Evening Standard "Tom Pocock has caught the flavour of this age. He is a first-rate story-teller, writing with an appropriate gusto about his robust heroes."

Jonathan Fennell captures for the first time the true wartime experience of the ordinary soldiers from across the empire who made up the British and Commonwealth armies. He analyses why the great battles were won and lost and how the men that fought went on to change the world.

World War I was the first truly global conflict and its effects were felt across the British Empire. When war broke out in 1914, Great Britain had the largest empire, encompassing one quarter of the population of the world. Many colonial citizens were to be enlisted into the war effort and shipped from their homes in Africa, Asia and Australasia to fight on the battlefields of the Western Front. What was the experience of war like for citizens of empire, whether combatants or not? How did the empire affect countries administered by Great Britain but geographically located tens of thousands of miles from the conflict? In this book, John Connor tells the story of the people whose lives were profoundly affected by 'someone else's war' – dragged, against their will, into a geopolitical conflict vastly removed from their normal lives.

In March 1896 a well-disciplined and massive Ethiopian army did the unthinkable-it routed an invading Italian force and brought Italy's war of conquest in Africa to an end. In an age of relentless European expansion, Ethiopia had successfully defended its independence and cast doubt upon an unshakable certainty of the age-that sooner or later all Africans would fall under the rule of Europeans. This event opened a breach that would lead, in the aftermath of world war fifty years later, to the continent's painful struggle for freedom from colonial rule. Raymond Jonas offers the first comprehensive account of this singular episode in modern world history. The narrative is peopled by the ambitious and vain, the creative and the coarse, across Africa, Europe, and the Americas-personalities like Menelik, a biblically inspired provincial monarch who consolidated Ethiopia's throne; Taytu, his quick-witted and aggressive wife; and the Swiss engineer Alfred Ilg, the emperor's close advisor. The Ethiopians' brilliant gamesmanship and savvy public relations campaign helped roll back the Europeanization of Africa. Figures throughout the African diaspora immediately grasped the significance of Adwa, Menelik, and an independent Ethiopia. Writing deftly from a transnational perspective, Jonas puts Adwa in the context of manifest destiny and Jim Crow, signaling a challenge to the very concept of white dominance. By reopening seemingly settled questions of race and empire, the Battle of Adwa was thus a harbinger of the global, unsettled century about to unfold.

A “splendid” (The Wall Street Journal) account of one of history’s most important and yet little-known wars, the campaign culminating in the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, whose outcome determined the future of the Roman Empire. Following Caesar’s assassination and Mark Antony’s defeat of the conspirators who killed Caesar, two powerful men remained in Rome—Antony and Caesar’s chosen heir, young Octavian, the future Augustus. When Antony fell in love with the most powerful woman in the world, Egypt’s ruler Cleopatra, and thwarted Octavian’s ambition to rule the empire, another civil war broke out. In 31 BC one of the largest naval battles in the ancient world took place—more than 600 ships, almost 200,000 men, and one woman—the Battle of Actium. Octavian prevailed over Antony and Cleopatra, who subsequently killed themselves. The Battle of Actium had great consequences for the empire. Had Antony and Cleopatra won, the empire’s capital might have moved from Rome to Alexandria, Cleopatra’s capital, and Latin might have become the empire’s second language after Greek, which was spoken throughout the eastern Mediterranean, including Egypt. In this “superbly recounted” (The National Review) history, Barry Strauss, ancient history authority, describes this consequential battle with the drama and expertise that it deserves. The War That Made the Roman Empire is essential history that features three of the greatest figures of the ancient world.

In this “well-crafted, atmospheric” war novel set in ancient Rome, an officer battles under Constantine while in the midst of personal turmoil.(Ben Kane, author of Fields of Blood) The Roman Empire is on the brink of civil war. Only Maxentius, tyrant of Rome, stands between the emperor Constantine and supreme power in the west. Aurelius Castus is now a tribune in Constantine's army. But great honor brings new challenges: Castus is tormented by suspicions that his young wife has been unfaithful. And as Constantine becomes increasingly devoted to Christianity, he is forced to ask himself whether he is backing the wrong man. The coming war will decide the fate of empire. But Castus's own battle will carry him much further. “Hugely enjoyable. The author winds up tension into an explosion of fast-paced events.” —Conn Iggulden, author of Stormbird ”A thumping good read . . . thoroughly enjoyable.” —Ben Kane, author of Lionheart “This is up there with Harry Sidebottom and Ben Kane.” —M.C. Scott, author of Into the Fire