Few historical figures are as familiar as King Henry VIII. Few kings have popular images created out of so much that he was short, had six wives and a legion of mistresses, contracted syphilis and became a Protestant. Henry was a maze of contradictions and the object of much contemporary praise and criticism, adulation and condemnation. He had impressive strengths but also formidable weaknesses, amongst them inconstancy, financial irresponsibility, and a capacity for brutality. At the same time, his rule was vibrant, often exciting and dramatic, and of major significance for England's future. Michael Graves examines this complex personality and sorts out the reality from the myths to provide a highly readable study of early modern kingship as practised by one man.

Book by Graves, Michael A. R.

Book by Lockyer, Roger

William Penn (1644-1718) was the English Quaker who founded Pennsylvania. He left a greater mark on British North America than any other single individual in the colonial era. Voltaire described him as sovereign of his colony. This new book from the Profile in Power series assesses Penn's religious and political significance in Britain and America. While Penn's relations with the Society of Friends and his imprisonment for his liberal religious beliefs are well known, his role in English politics and court power are less well known. Politically ambitious, he drew on a wide body of dissenters, not just Friends, in order to further his national and moral aims. Addressing the themes of imperial politics, persecution and toleration, utopianism and reality, relations with native Americans and rebellion, the life of Penn makes a fascinating point of entry to the history of early colonization in America and to the English political upheavals of the late seventeenth century, including the Glorious Revolution. This book throws light on two very different worlds at a key moment of development.

Forced out of power in the"Glorious Revolution" of 1688, and defeated in the subsequent battle of the Boyne by William of Orange, the short reign of James II has an importance that reaches far beyond his three years in power. An ardent Roman Catholic, his efforts to return England to the Catholic faith resonate to this day in Northern Ireland. Similarly, his attacks on the representative institutions that had been developing since the Restoration, alienated an initially enthusiastic parliament. William Speck looks at all these issues through the figure of the King. Far more broad-ranging than other histories of James II, the book examines James' role in the American colonies - assigned to him by his brother Charles II - his role in Scotland between 1679 and 1862, and his final exercise of power in Ireland.

In this first biography in English for fifty years, Derek McKay avoids the limitation of seeing Frederick William primarily as precursor of the 'Enlightened' Frederick the Great. Instead, he roots him firmly in his own time, a dynastic, protestant ruler like many another in Germany, but gifted with the toughness and opportunism to overcome the hostility of his local nobilities and of the surrounding great powers.

William Pitt was the dominant British statesman in the mid-eighteenth century. His greatest achievements were during the Seven Years War (1756-63) when Britain acquired much of her international Empire. Throughout his career he was able to sway the Commons by his oratory and his remarkable physical presence, but today his reputation is less assured. In this new study Marie Peters reassesses Pitt's career in its full political context offering many fresh insights for the specialist, but also uses Pitt to provides a rich and accessible introduction to the period.

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 problems of creating a viable unitary state out of his multi-national empire in Central Europe. Professor Blanning's brilliant short study, based on extensive archival research, offers a history of the Habsburg monarchy in the eighteenth century, as well as a revaluation of the emperor's complex personality and his ill-fated reform programme.

The Younger Pitt was a dead at 46, he was not only Britain's youngest but also the second longest-serving Prime Minister to date, acting as premier for 19 of his 25 years in Parliament. In examining this astonishing career, this incisive Profile focuses on the means by which Pitt gained and maintained his hold on power. It provides new information on Pitt's relations with the strong-willed George III; on the nature of his ascendancy over his cabinet colleagues; his management of Parliament; his skill as a manipulator of public opinion; his role in Britain's international resurgence after the loss of America; and, of course, on the long struggle against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France.

Larger-than-life figure whose dodgy reputation demands reassessment. His interventions and motivations in France and Europe have been the source of heated debate, ever since his prominent role during the opening stages of the French revolution - Dwyer weighs up the arguments. Renewed interest in Napoleon Bonaparte. Dwyer is a Talleyrand specialist and expert on France and Europe during this period. Apart from Duff Cooper' s volume, there is nothing else available in English. Witty and wiley, cynical and charming, Talleyrand has in the past been portrayed as an opportunist, hypocrite, and traitor who betrayed governments whenever he had a chance to do so. From church establishment figure to revolutionary, supporter of Napoleon Bonaparte to promoter of the Bourbon Restoration, this book follows the twists and turns of Charles Maurice Prince de Talleyrand's remarkable career through one of the most turbulent periods of French history. However, Phillip Dwyer presents Talleyrand as a pragmatist, a member of the French political elite, mediating between various political interests and ideological tendencies to produce a working compromise, rather than actively seeking the overthrow of governments. This is the latest book in the best-selling "Profiles in Power" series. Philip Dwyer specialises in the history of Napoleonic France and Europe: published titles include Napoleon and Europe (Longman) and Modern Prussian History (Longman). He teaches history at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales.

This welcome addition to Profiles in Power sets the career of Tsar Alexander I of Russia (1801-1825) in the domestic and international context of his times. Alexander spent much of his reign locked in a titanic struggle with Napoleon, which reached its climax in the 1812 invasion of Russia. After Napoleon's defeat, Alexander was the most powerful ruler on the continent, and promoted a new vision for Europe, which was ultimately embodied in the Holy Alliance. At home, he was much engaged with plans for constitutions and reform. He is thus a dominant figure in both Russian and European history in the nineteenth century. Yet for all the immediate triumphs of his reign, its long-term impact on Russia was largely negative; his personal achievements seem often directly at odds with his declared aims, and his personality is riddled with contradictions. More than once he professed an aversion to the exercise of power, asking only for a quiet life outside Russia; yet he acceded to the throne in a bloody coup which involved the murder of his own father, Paul I. He claimed to 'love constitutions'; yet he failed to implement the constitutional programmes written in his reign for Russia. He frequently expressed his abhorrence of serfdom; yet he did little to challenge the institution of serfdom or ameliorate the condition of the peasants - indeed he consigned tens of thousands of them to the hated military colonies. He asserted that his only ambition was to see Europe at peace; yet his wars, not only with Napoleonic France but also with Sweden and the Ottoman Empire, drove the borders of Russia deeper into the continent of Europe than in any previous reign. Janet Hartley explores these contradictions and paradoxes. She establishes the main principles and considerations which governed Alexander's domestic and foreign policies, and argues that they did in fact remain broadly consistent throughout his reign. His actions, and their relation to his ultimate aims, can only be understood in the context of the internal and external pressures that he faced at different times. There were many restrictions on his freedom of action in the early and middle parts of his reign; and though, at the zenith of his European influence after Napoleon's defeat, Alexander seemed ready to undertake fundamental political and social reforms at home, the domestic disturbances of the 1820s put an end to his plans. In the last, sad, years of his rule, Alexander lost faith in his earlier convictions; at the same time many of his young, highly educated subjects lost faith in their tsar. And in this, Dr Hartley concludes, lies the ultimate significance of the reign. For, while Russia's standing as a great power - achieved in the struggle against Napoleon - fluctuated throughout the following century, the alienation of the educated elite from the imperial regime which became so apparent under Alexander I remained to plague the tsars until the Revolution carried them away altogether.

The process of Italian unification cannot be understood without an understanding of the remarkable career and personality of the man who was perhaps its chief protagonist, Count Camillo di Cavour. Born in Turin in 1810, Cavour abandoned an early military career because of his uncomfortable liberal opinions, to concentrate initially on restoring his family estates. After travels in France and England, he was drawn increasingly into the politics of his native Piedmont - then a backward and insignificant state, still reeling from comprehensive military defeat by Austria, the major occupying power of northern Italy. In 1852 he became its prime minister. Under Cavour's astute direction, Piedmont began to play an active role in European power politics, rapidly building up alliances and obligations, particularly with France and Britain, which were to stand her in vital stead when the struggle with Austria erupted again in 1859. The defeat of Austria (with French arms) and the acquiescence of the European Great Powers allowed the longstanding dream of a pan-Italian state to become a reality. In the year of his death (1861), less than a decade after he became prime minister in Turin, Cavour had become the first prime minister of the newly-united Kingdom of Italy, with Piedmont as its nucleus.

The long reign (1848-1916) of Francis Joseph began with the 1848 Revolutions and ended in the conflagration of the First World War. It saw, or prefigured, almost unimaginable changes, and the Habsburg monarchy itself survived the old man by less than two years. At the end of his life (he died at 86) Francis Joseph already seemed to his younger contemporaries a figure from a vanished age. Yet, as Steven Beller shows in this impressive contribution to Profiles in Power, his story is full of resonances for our own time. Many of the key issues which faced him have returned to haunt us ⁠— most notably multi-ethnic strife in the Balkans, and the conflicting claims of nationalism and federalism in Europe's patchwork of nations. As a result, we are better placed today than before to assess his career with objectivity, yet with understanding.

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.

Benito Juarez (1806—72), Indian-born (Zapotec) founding father of modern Mexico, championed a newly independent, largely non-white nation at a time of aggressive European supremacy. His brand of liberalism broke with the Indian and Hispanic pasts, curbed the power of church and army, and promoted federalism and civil supremacy. He outmanoeuvred the conservatives in a bitter civil war (1858—61), and, as President, frustrated Napoleon III's imperial ambitions by defeating—and executing—his Habsburg puppet, the unfortunate emperor Maximilian. This is a major study of an extraordinary career, with resonances far beyond Mexico itself.

A clear, concise reassessment of Disraeli's origins and rise to power; his policies and achievements.

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 centre of international attention, as Islamic fundamentalists challenge many of Atatürk's westernising and secularizing reforms, and as the regional aftershocks of the Soviet collapse reopen profound questions about Turkey's nature, role and relationships Atatürk had sought to settle for good.

Knjiga nam v 28 poglavjih jasno izriše portret Hitlerja kot pogosto pretepenega otroka, ki so ga zasvojile pustolovske zgodbe Karla Maya, malega kolovodja v igri ravbarji in žandarji, bizarnega posebneža v dunajskem zatočišču za ubožne, sanjača, pivniškega agitatorja, kanclerja in firerja tretjega rajha. Naniza vsa srhljiva dejstva in dogodke v družbi, ki se je pogreznila v barbarstvo, in korake »totalne« vojne. Odgovarja na vprašanja: kako je lahko Nemčija v Hitlerju videla svojega »odrešitelja«, številne ženske pa seksualni simbol ... Hitlerjeva diktatura je obveljala za propad moderne civilizacije – pokazala je, česa smo zmožni, prižgala pa tudi alarmno luč – kot svarilo… Iz poglavij: ... o Hitlerjevi družini, ljubeči materi in zatiralskem očetu, razvoju v čudaško osebnost in obsedenca s slikarstvom in Wagnerjevimi operami ... o odkritem agitatorskem talentu za mobilizacijo množic »Ljubi bog, ta pa ima gobec. Lahko bi ga uporabili,« je ob nekem Hitlerjevem nastopu v pivnici pripomnil Drexler, vodja nemške delavske stranke. ... kako se je kalil diktator v veliki splošni krizi nemške družbe po 1. svetovni vojni, idealnem »gojišču« Hitlerja ... o »trudu za firerja« in vojnih operacijah z osupljivimi in zanesljivimi podatki (na sliki Hitler in Mussolini) ... spletke in zarote v najožjem krogu: od poskusa atentata do dvomljivega zdravljenja … v zadnjih mesecih in urah v bunkerju pred vdorom Sovjetov

An important addition to the Profiles in Power series, this critical biography looks at Franklin D. Roosevelt, the most dominant US politician of the 1930s and 1940s. Roosevelt led the United States through the two great crises of depression and the Second World War, making him one of the key figures of the twentieth century.

An excellent introduction to Franco's rise to power and his four decades as autocratic head of state in Spain.

Marshal Pétain remains one of the most divisive political figures in the history of modern France. Born into a peasant family in 1856, he became a soldier. His early military career was undistinguished, but at a critical moment in the First World War he was entrusted with the defence of Verdun. Holding the French lines, from February to December 1916, against a massive German onslaught in which over a million men died, he emerged—and not just in the patriotic rhetoric of the time—as the saviour of his country. He became the French commander-in-chief for the remainder of the war. Twenty-five years later, at another critical moment in France's history, he offered himself as prime minister, conceded an armistice to the invading Germans, and was appointed head of state of the collaborationist Vichy government (1940-44). Whatever Pétain's motives and expectations, the Vichy regime embarked on a series of repressive policies, culminating in the persecution of the Jews. After the Liberation, Pétain was arrested, tried for treason (1945) and condemned to death, though the sentence was commuted. He died in prison in 1951. A storm of controversy has obscured his reputation ever since. Was he the traitor: the betrayer of his countrymen, and an active collaborator with the Third Reich? Or were his actions in 1940, however unwise and dangerous, the selfless response of a patriot to the challenge of a country on the verge of total disintegration? The issue is one of perennial fascination; but, as Nicholas Atkin brings home in this fresh, incisive study, far more rides on Pétain's career than the personal tragedy of a flawed individual, however compelling. In the First World War, Pétain's role, experiences, and limitations helped shape the state in which France emerged from the conflict, and how she responded to it. That in turn shaped her ability to prepare for the Second. Pétain's period as war minister in 1934, and his sponsorship of the ineffectual Maginot Line defence system, themselves helped precipitate the disaster of 1940. In analysing Pétain's journey from Verdun to Vichy, Dr. Atkin in fact finds little that is contradictory in his actions and attitudes. This is, rather, the story of a very ordinary man caught up in extraordinary circumstances. Not gifted with imagination, vision, or self-knowledge, he was woefully ill-equipped to deal with the responsibilities and choices that accompanied his mythic status after 1918. But there is far more to this book than its central figure. In illuminating him, it also illuminates the divisions and uncertainties of France herself in these troubled years. Among the topics it explores are the role of the army in French politics; the character of the French right; the political make-up of Vichy regime; and the very nature of resistance, patriotism, and collaboration.

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 political stature remains unresolved. Was he Churchill's "modest man with much to be modest about" who squandered the fruits of victory, or, as many now claim, one of the truly great prime ministers? Robert Pearce's lucid and drily amusing study goes behind the stern exterior to find ambition and indecision, and a uniquely moral vision.

Judith Brown explores Nehru as a figure of power and provides an assessment of his leadership at the head of a newly independent India with no tradition of democratic politics.

Eisenhower is the president who established America as a superpower. He had already launched his reputation as the leading US military figure in the Second World War and then as supreme commander of the land forces of the newly created NATO. This book looks at how Eisenhower held power in the political field, and to what extent his political career was a success. This text is ideal for undergraduate courses in 20th Century American History and American Studies.

Even today Nasser remains the outstanding figure of the postwar Middle East, partly because of his remarkable political achievements, but also because his career seems to embody so many of the abiding preoccupations of the region and the time—nationalism, independence, economic modernisation, the love-hate relationship with Western economic power and Soviet ideology, pan-Arab unity, and conflict with Israel. In exploring these themes to illuminate Nasser the man, Peter Woodward provides an ideal introduction to the postwar history of the most volatile region of the modern world.

The latest addition to this distinguished series surveys the career of Harold Macmillan, from his days as an isolated and eccentric backbencher before the Second World War to his premiership of 1957-63. It explores his political ideas and political ambitions; his rise to supreme power; and the uses he made of it, in what was a key phase in Britain's search for, and adaptation to, a post-imperial role in the modern world. From an unprepossessing start, Macmillan first achieved influence under Churchill during the war, which he ended as Minister Resident - almost a Viceroy - in the Mediterranean theatre. He came to public prominence as a flamboyant and successful Minister of Housing in the early 1950s. He was then Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer under Eden. When the latter collapsed under the strain of the Suez debacle of 1956, Macmillan was well placed to snatch the premiership for himself, elbowing his lifelong rival, R. A. Butler, aside in pursuit of the supreme prize. Macmillan's premiership was in many ways an unlucky period, both at home and abroad. He presided over the dissolution of the British Empire, and the first stages of what has proved an irreversible economic decline; his 'stop-go' economic policies were notoriously unsuccessful; Britain's first attempt to join the European Common Market was rebuffed; and even the Special Relationship with Kennedy and the United States exposed, rather than disguised, Britain's steady extinction as a Great Power. Yet most of this was inevitable. Macmillan's ultimate reputation will depend on how posterity judges his understanding of these changes in the role and status of postwar Britain, and his skill in adapting himself and his country to meet them. John Turner's short and incisive study is an impressive step towards that mature assessment. Using previously unpublished material, he shows that Macmillan was more successful and farsighted than his recent reputation has allowed, but also that his 'unflappable' image was the conscious creation of a devious and highly strung political operator, who used his power ruthlessly to reinforce his party's - and his own - dominant position in British politics. The figure who emerges from these pages is not in many respects an attractive one; but it is both more formidable and - in its indecisions and stresses - more human and more revealing than the languid aristocratic persona so sedulously promoted by Macmillan in his elder statesman years. This is a book that will be necessary reading for anyone interested in the history and politics of postwar Britain, and its changing role on the international stage.

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 social movement. In office, his wielding of power was, by modern standards, remarkably personal; and his impact on France, and on Europe, was immense. He is a natural subject for Profiles in Power.

Kakuei Tanaka was the most powerful politician in Japan for nearly two decades, and his followers have dominated Japanese politics for most of the country's recent history. This account of his life and times explores the public profile and private power-broking of this controversial politician, shedding light on the political history of modern Japan. Babb teaches Japanese politics at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)