A gripping history of the Mediterranean campaigns from the first rumblings of conflict through the Second World War and into the uneasy peace of the late 1940s from rising star of twentieth century history, Simon Ball. The Mediterranean Sea lies at the very heart of recent world history. To the British during the Second World War, the Mediterranean was the world's great thoroughfare. To the Americans, it represented the answer to anti-imperialism and to Mussolini, it encapsulated his violent vision of conquest. These three great powers attempted to overthrow the existing order in the Mediterranean, resulting in a collision of allies as well as enemies that hadn't been seen before: the Germans fought against the Italians, the Americans against the Arabs, the Jews against the British, the French against nearly everyone. The Mediterranean was indeed 'the bitter sea'. In this masterly history, Simon Ball takes us through the tumultuous events set in motion by Mussolini's lust for conquest that ended with the creation of Israel. Long drawn-out battles on land, sea and air - dominated by the WWII's most illustrious leaders, Churchill, Eisenhower and Rommel amongst them - resulted in Allied victory in the battle of El Alamein, the terrifying desert campaigns of Africa and the eventual defeat of Italy and then Germany. The wars in the Mediterranean had huge consequences - four decades of fascist dictatorship in Spain and the birth of the Cold War - but none were more profound than those experienced by the lands, nations and peoples that lived around the sea itself. Based on entirely original research 'The Bitter Sea' is expertly written, utterly compelling and unquestionably important. Lead title / Simon Ball is the author of the critically acclaimed 'The Guardsmen'. / Will appeal to readers of Antony Beevor and Andrew Roberts. / 'The Bitter Sea' contains never before seen material, including recently de-classified transcribed tapes of the conversations between German and Italian soldiers after their surrender during the African campaign and unexpurgated contemporary commentary on the Axis War in the Mediterranean.
Simon Ball won an Open Exhibition to read history at Brasenose, Oxford. He studied for his Ph.D under David Reynolds at Christ's College, Cambridge, and was Head of Modern History at Glasgow University. He is author of the critically accalimed 'The Guardsmen', one of the best reviewed books of 2004.
Praise for 'The Guardsmen': 'Through skilful stitching of threads from personal and official papers, Ball has woven a superb panoramic tapestry of 20th-century Conservative politics!Compelling.' Sunday Times '"The Guardsmen" is an accomplished work. Simon Ball has command of his subject matter and demonstrates an assured touch with primary material that has not appeared in previous biographies and memoirs.' Literary Review '"The Guardsmen" is good reading because political warfare is at its centre, and Ball skilfully evokes that inter-war world!A stylish book.' Daily Telegraph
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