Death or glory : the legacy of the Crimean War / Robert B. Edgerton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Edgerton, Robert B., 1931-2016.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Crimean War, 1853-1856.

Local Subjects:

Crimean War, 1853-1856.

Physical Description:

ix, 288 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Boulder, Colo. : Westview Press, 1999.

Summary:

In 1853, the Crimean War began as an intensely romantic affair. Acts of astonishing bravery, many of them by doctors, women, and children, were commonplace. But so was callousness and brutality. The war soon became an impersonal, long-range killing match that resembled, far in advance, the trench warfare of World War I. It became a showcase for bad generalship and bureaucratic bungling. In Death or Glory, Robert Edgerton paints a vivid picture of the war, from its triumphs to its tragedies.

But the book is not a mere battle chronology; rather, it is a narrative immersion into conditions during what became arguably the most tragically botched military campaign, from all sides, in modern European history. Edgerton paints a vivid picture of the war, from the charge of the Light Brigade and the heroics of Florence Nightingale to the British soldiers who, unable to endure the misery, starvation, and cholera any longer, took their own lives. He describes how leaders failed their men again and again; how women and children became unseen heroes; how the universally despised Turks fought their own war; and, finally and perhaps most important, why so many fought so bravely in what seemed a futile cause.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 271-279) and index.

ISBN:

0813335701

OCLC:

40589262