Correlli Barnett

The first Churchill: Malborough: soldier and statesman

Name: The first Churchill: Malborough: soldier and statesman
Brand: Correlli Barnett
SKU: 2302213
Price: 14.99 EUR
Availability: InStock

14,99 ~~25,00~~

This remarkable book by the outstanding English military historian of his generation seeks to bring to life the individual behind the heroic figure of the Blenheim tapestries. It examines the springs of motive and the influence of upbringing that went to produce the one European of the era able to dim the glory of the Sun King, and by so doing to deflect the course of history. The emphasis of the narrative lies throughout on the character and personality of John Churchill, First Duke of MarIborough, rather than on the general historical events of his life. By focusing on Marlborough's own reactions - to failure and success, to difficulty and disappointment, to the hazards of battle and political intrigue - the author presents him as his contemporaries and intimates knew him, in his roles of commander, diplomat, colleague, husband and father. A leading theme of the book is the Duke's relationship with his wife Sarah, both as an aspect of his personal nature fascinating in itself and also because of its significance to his career. The course of Marlborough's war leadership is narrated with the clarity, color, pace and immediacy with which the author made his reputation in The Desert Generals and The Swordbearers, avoiding detailed technicalities, yet rendering Marlborough's talents and achievements explicable in terms of the military art of his time. The background of the book is the Europe of the early i70os, an immensely exciting era, brilliant with new ideas, turbulent with rivalry and ambition, splendid with great architecture such as Blenheim Palace, the memorial of Marlborough's triumphs. For England it was the time of her rise to national greatness: a greatness resting equally on seapower, on commercial success and on her victorious armies on the continent of Europe. Throughout the book the contrast is made between this buoyant England, more and more Parliamentary in its government, prizing the liberty of the subject above the authority of monarchs, and the all-embracing autocratic State apparatus of Louis xiv's France which, under Marlborough's leadership, England fought and defeated.

Illustrated with 32 pages of color plates and some 120 illustrations in monochrome from contemporary sources and from photographs especially taken for the book by Jeremy Whitaker and Derrick Witty.