CARL SMITH

The Confederate invasion of the Northern states was General Lee's last great gamble. By taking the war to the Union he hoped to force Lincoln into peace negotiations, or win support from the European powers who were watching events closely from across the Atlantic. Equally, Meade's Army of the Potomac needed to regain it's fighting credibility after the setbacks of Fredericksburg and saw this as an opportunity to redeem its honour. The clash of 150,000 soldiers from both sides would ultimately decide the fate of a nation.

In December 1862, things were still confused for the Union. Antietam had been a failure for both sides, and although the battle showed that the Union army could bring the Confederates to bay, it couldn't pin them in one place long enough to destroy them. In December 1862, General Burnside, newly appointed to command the Army of the Potomac, planned to seize and secure the town of Fredericksburg, and then take the Confederate capital of Richmond. Carl Smith's book details the epic struggle that engulfed the Union side as it crossed the Rappahannock on December 11, encountering stiff opposition from Lee's men.

El 7de diciembre de 1941 fue uno de los días más decisivos de la Segunda Guerra Mundial: el que llevó aEstados Unidos a entrar en el conflicto. Seis portaaviones japoneses lanzaron todos sus aparatos en dos oleadas contrael grueso de la Flota del Pacifico, fondeada en la base de Pearl Harbor. Segun quien lo cuente, ese ataque fue unabrillante maniobra de estrategia audaz, o el colmo del engaño y la traicion perpetrado por una potencia supuestamenteamistosa. Esta edicion revisada, que contiene las investigaciones mas recientes, revela aspectos ignorados hasta ahoray echa por tierra mitos creados alrededor de ese fatidico dia, un dia que, en palabras del presidente Franklin D.Roosevelt, pervivira en los anales de la infamia.