Profiles In Power
Petain
1st Edition
By Nicholas Atkin
October 03, 1997
Pétain (1856-1951) remains one of the most controversial figures in the history of modern France. He was saviour of his country at Verdun in 1916 during the First World War, but tried for treason as head of state of the collaborationist Vichy government after World War II. Were his actions those of...
Attlee
1st Edition
By Robert Pearce
March 06, 1997
Attlee is undoubtedly one of the key figures in modern British history. An important figure in Churchill's War Cabinet, and premier of the first majority Labour Government, he created the Welfare State, nationalised a substantial part of industry and secured the independence of India. Yet his ...
Cavour
1st Edition
By Harry Hearder
August 15, 1994
Cavour was perhaps the key figure in the process of Italian unification. As prime minister of Piedmont, still reeling from military humiliation by Austria, he turned his backward and insignificant home state into the nucleus of the new Italy by his astute manipulation of the European great powers, ...
Ataturk
1st Edition
By Alexander Lyon Macfie
August 01, 1994
This concise account of the life and career of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881--1938), the formidable "founder of modern Turkey", offers a substantial revaluation of a key figure in modern history, and also an introduction to the Turkish republic itself. It is a timely study with Turkey again at the ...
Joseph II
1st Edition
By T.C.W. Blanning
June 13, 1994
Joseph II (1741--90) -- son and eventual successor of Maria Theresa -- has conventionally been seen in the context of the "Enlightened Despot'' reformers. Today's turmoil in his former territories invites a rather different perspective, however, as Joseph grapples with the familiar and intractable ...
Macmillan
1st Edition
By John Turner
March 07, 1994
Harold Macmillan presided over the dissolution of the British Empire and the first stages of irreversible economic decline. It was an unlucky end to a political career which had seen Britain's steady extinction as a Great Power, and his reputation will depend on how posterity judges his ...
De Gaulle
1st Edition
By Andrew Shennan
August 16, 1993
If any modern democratic leader has believed in the "great man'' theory of history and acted self-consciously in accordance with it, it was surely de Gaulle. On both occasions when he came to power it was in his own right, as a ``providential figure'', not as the representative of a political or ...
Gustavas Adolphus
2nd Edition
By Michael Roberts
September 28, 1992
Gustavus Adolphus (1594--1632) dominated his age: he made Sweden the leading power of Northern Europe, was the principal upholder of the Protestant cause in the Thirty Years War, and was a great administrator as well as a brilliant soldier. His toleration and reforms helped define the development ...
Napoleon III
1st Edition
By James F. Mcmillan
June 10, 1991
In this assessment James McMillan moves away from ideologically-based representations of the man to focus on his use of power. He recognises the Emporer as a highly skilled operator who in the face of innumerable obstacles, attempted to conduct an original policy....
Lloyd George
1st Edition
By Martin Pugh
September 12, 1988
An up-to-date synthesis and original interpretation of Lloyd George's life, personality and political career. This study challenges the traditional view of Lloyd George as an outsider in British politics, explains the political, economic and social achievements of his career and his role in ...