Top Ten Books from the Oxford Battle Series

Gallipoli by Jenny MacLeod

Oxford University Press has a series that covers classic battles from Ancient Greece to World War II. Each of these books discusses not only the battles themselves but how they were commemorated and their long term impact on history. The books try to understand not just how the battle took place, but why they became so important.

Anne Curry. Agincourt (Oxford Univesity Press, 2015) Why is Agincourt one the best known and celebrated battles in history? What made it remarkable? Like many of the battles in the series, the legend of Agincourt has overshadowed the battle itself. One of the most famous speeches in Shakespeare's plays (Saint Crispin's Day Speech) is Henry V's speech inspiring his soldiers before Agincourt.

Anne Curry first sets the scene, illuminating how and why the battle was fought, as well as its significance in the wider history of the Hundred Years War. She then takes the Agincourt story through the centuries from 1415 to 2015, from the immediate, and sometimes surprising, responses to it on both sides of the Channel, through its reinvention by Shakespeare in King Henry V (1599), and the enduring influence of both the play and the film versions of it, especially the patriotic Laurence Olivier version of 1944, at the time of the D-Day landings in Normandy.

Simon Ball. Alamein (Oxford Univesity Press, 2015) The Battle of El Alamein was the most important battle of the North African conflict between German and Italy and the British Empire. The battle, which was in reality, a series of battles, has entered military legend and it is one of the best-known battles of WWII. The battle was involved some of the most famous generals of the war, including Bernard Montgomery and Erwin Rommel. Significantly, the battle was a turning point in the European theater.

Simon Ball's book turns the interpretation of the battle on its head. Based on the intensive reading of the contemporary sources, in particular, the extensive and recently declassified British bugging of Axis prisoners of war, military historian Simon Ball turns Alamein on its head, explaining it as a cultural defeat for Britain. Ball's book is well worth a look.

Murray Pittock. Culloden (Oxford Univesity Press, 2016) The Battle of Culloden was the last battle fought on British soil by regular troops. The battle was short, brutal, one-sided and decisive. The British crushed the Jacobites and forced Bonnie Prince Charlie into exile in France. While the battle itself is of little note, the result of the battle was extremely consequenital to Britain, Europe and the North American colonies. Additionally, the Battle of Culloden and Jacobite uprsing been romaniticezed. The books and television series Outlander center around the Jacobite uprising and the Battle of Culloden are just one example.

Pittock's book examines the battle and the brutal suppression of the Highland clans after the uprising ended.

Jenny MacLeod. Gallipoli (Oxford Univesity Press, 2015)

John France. Hattin (Oxford Univesity Press, 2015)

Peter H. Wilson. Lutzen (Oxford Univesity Press, 2015)

Ian F. W. Beckett. Rorke's Drift and Isandlwana (Oxford Univesity Press, 2015)

Chris Carey. Thermopylae (Oxford Univesity Press, 2015)

Alan Forrest. Waterloo(Oxford University Press, )

Mark Connelly and Stefan Goebel. Ypres (Oxford Univesity Press, )