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Colin Smith (born 1944 in Birmingham, England) is a British foreign affairs journalist and author.
Smith has reported on news events in Bangladesh, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. He is an author of historical fiction and non-fiction, mainly focused on conflicts of the 20th century.
For 26 years he worked for The Observer , of which he was later appointed assistant editor, mainly reporting on wars and trouble spots, starting in 1971 with the Bengali uprising in what was then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). He visited Cambodia and Vietnam during the closing stages of the American presence (1974–75) and remained in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) after the North Vietnamese Army entered the city. Smith later covered the Middle East, based first in Nicosia, then Cairo and Jerusalem and spending a considerable amount of time (1975–84) in Iran and Lebanon. In 1991 he reported on the First Gulf War, entering Kuwait City with the US Marines, the siege of Sarajevo and the Rwandan genocide. He has twice been named International Reporter of the Year in the British press awards and once runner-up.
The Last Crusade, a novel set against the backcloth of General Allenby's 1917 campaign against the Ottoman Turks in Palestine . Sharpe Books publish it as an Ebook under the title "Spies of Jerusalem".
Singapore Burning is an account of the fall of Singapore to Japan's General Tomoyuki Yamashita in February 1942 which concentrates on the rearguard actions Australians, UK British and British Indian Army troops fought down the Malayan peninsula in the two months that preceded the surrender.
England's Last War Against France, published in London by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 2009. It is a history of Allied campaigns against Vichy France between 1940 and 1942 containing considerable personal testimony from participants on both sides. [1]
Richard I was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony; Lord of Cyprus; Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes; and was overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period. He was the third of five sons of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and seemed unlikely to become king, but his two elder brothers predeceased their father. Richard is known as Richard Cœur de Lion or Richard the Lionheart because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior. The troubadour Bertran de Born also called him Richard Oc-e-Non, possibly from a reputation for terseness.
Year 1215 (MCCXV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.
The Eighth Crusade was the second Crusade launched by Louis IX of France, this one against the Hafsid dynasty in Tunisia in 1270. It is also known as the Crusade of Louis IX Against Tunis or the Second Crusade of Louis. The Crusade did not see any significant fighting as King Louis died of dysentery shortly after arriving on the shores of Tunisia. The Treaty of Tunis was negotiated between the Crusaders and the Hafsids. No changes in territory occurred, though there were commercial and some political rights granted to the Christians. The Crusaders withdrew back to Europe soon after.
Lord Edward's crusade, sometimes called the Ninth Crusade, was a military expedition to the Holy Land under the command of Edward, Duke of Gascony in 1271–1272. It was an extension of the Eighth Crusade and was the last of the Crusades to reach the Holy Land before the fall of Acre in 1291 brought an end to the permanent crusader presence there.
The Battle of Ascalon took place on 12 August 1099 shortly after the capture of Jerusalem, and is often considered the last action of the First Crusade. The crusader army led by Godfrey of Bouillon defeated and drove off a Fatimid army, securing the safety of Jerusalem.
In World War II, French West Africa was not a major scene of major fighting. Only one large-scale action took place there: the Battle of Dakar. The region remained under the control of Vichy France after the fall of France and until the Allied invasion of North Africa. French Gabon, the only colony of French Equatorial Africa not to join Free France after the armistice, fell to invading Free French Forces from the neighbouring colonies after the Battle of Gabon, further isolating West Africa.
The siege of Jerusalem lasted from 20 September to 2 October 1187, when Balian of Ibelin surrendered the city to Saladin. Earlier that summer, Saladin had defeated the kingdom's army and conquered several cities. Balian was charged with organizing a defense. The city was full of refugees but had few soldiers. Despite this fact the defenders managed to repulse several attempts by Saladin's army to take the city by storm. Balian bargained with Saladin to buy safe passage for many, and the city was peacefully surrendered with limited bloodshed. Though Jerusalem fell, it was not the end of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, as the capital shifted first to Tyre and later to Acre after the Third Crusade. Latin Christians responded in 1189 by launching the Third Crusade led by Richard the Lionheart, Philip Augustus, and Frederick Barbarossa separately. In Jerusalem, Saladin restored Muslim holy sites and generally showed tolerance towards Christians; he allowed Orthodox and Eastern Christian pilgrims to visit the holy sites freely—though Frankish pilgrims were required to pay a fee for entry. The control of Christian affairs in the city was handed over to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
Sharpe's Prey is the fifth historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 2001. The story is set in 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars.
The Battle of Dakar, also known as Operation Menace, was an unsuccessful attempt in September 1940 by the Allies to capture the strategic port of Dakar in French West Africa. It was hoped that the success of the operation could overthrow the pro-German Vichy French administration in the colony, and be replaced by a pro-Allied Free French one under General Charles de Gaulle.
Sharpe's Sword is a historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell. It is the fourth in the series, being first published in 1983, though the fourteenth chronologically. Set in the summer of 1812 including the Battle of Salamanca on 22 July 1812, the story follows Sharpe and his friend Sergeant Harper involved in espionage while hunting down the sadistic and highly dangerous Colonel Philippe Leroux.
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Christian Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these military expeditions are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were intended to conquer Jerusalem and its surrounding area from Muslim rule. Beginning with the First Crusade, which resulted in the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, dozens of military campaigns were organised, providing a focal point of European history for centuries. Crusading declined rapidly after the 15th century.
Major-General Merton Beckwith-Smith, was a senior British Army officer during both the First and Second World Wars.
Brigadier Ian MacAlister Stewart, 13th Laird of Achnacone, was a Scottish military officer who served in the British Army during both the First and Second World Wars. Known for his eccentric training methods, he commanded the 2nd Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, which participated in the Malayan campaign and the Battle of Singapore during the Second World War.
Charles Gerald Wood was a playwright and scriptwriter for radio, television, and film. He lived in England.
Events from the 1190s in England.
Weaver is an alternate history and science fiction novel by British writer Stephen Baxter. It is the fourth and final novel in his Time's Tapestry quartet, which deals with psionic broadcast of history-altering content within trans-temporal lucid dreams.
Gdyel, former Saint-Cloud, is a town and commune in District Gdyel, Oran Province, Algeria, about 15 miles to the east of Oran. Under French rule, it was the centre of a wine-growing district and was called St. Cloud.
The Eastern Fleet, later called the East Indies Fleet, was a fleet of the Royal Navy which existed between 1941 and 1952.
Ghabaghib is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Daraa Governorate, located north of Daraa. Nearby localities include Muthabin to the southeast, al-Sanamayn to the south, Deir al-Bukht, Deir al-Adas to the east, Khan Dannun to the north and al-Qin to the northwest.
David John Pinner is a British actor and novelist. He was trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He has appeared on stage and television in many roles.
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