The July issue of Military History Monthly, the British military history magazine, is now on sale.
In this issue we cover:
Battle of Jutland
To commemorate the centenary of the Battle of Jutland, naval historian Nick Hewitt reflects on the battle and its legacy, while David Porter assesses the capabilities of the warships that fought there. These articles form part of our extended special feature ‘1916 On Land and At Sea’, which also considers the history and historiography of the Battle of the Somme.
Includes:
– Background
– Technology
– Legacy
– Timeline
Civitate, 1053
William E Welsh explores another Norman victory, won 13 years before the conquerors took England.
The Great Debate: part 1, the ‘revisionist’ paradigm
MHM Editor Neil Faulkner analyses the modern ‘revisionist’ challenge to the war-poets’ view of the Somme.
Breakdown: shell shock on the Somme
Taylor Downing reports on the British Army’s shell-shock crisis in the summer of 1916.
Regiment: the Derbyshires
Patrick Mercer uncovers the role of the 95th Regiment of Foot at the Battle of the Alma, 1854.
Also in this issue: Behind the Image; War Culture; War Composers; War on Film; Book of the Month; Book Reviews; Museum Review; Event Listings; Competitions; and much more.
From the editor
This issue we focus on the two great British battles of 1916 – Jutland and the Somme. The latter has been iconic for a century as the epitome of futile trench-war slaughter. Taylor Downing’s article on shell shock carries us straight into the dark heart of the battle.
But should this be the dominant perspective on the Somme? A new generation of revisionist historians think not. In the first of a two-part examination of the historical debate, we summarise the compelling argument that the Somme was ‘a necessary battle’.
Jutland, though, was more important. That, at least, is the view of naval historian Nick Hewitt, curator of a major new exhibition devoted to the battle at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth. We invited Nick to present his case – for both battle and exhibition. David Porter provides the essential technical background on this great clash of dreadnoughts.
Then William Welsh transports us to 11th-century Italy to report on a battle that should be as famous as Hastings. For in 1053, at Civitate, a Norman army under Robert Guiscard won a crushing victory over an alliance led by the Pope to make the Normans masters of the region.
Finally, Patrick Mercer continues our Regiments series with an article focused on the role of the 95th Derbyshires at the Alma in 1854.