Harfleur to Hamburg

Five Centuries of English and British Violence in Europe

D. J. B. Trim, Brendan Simms

• Publisher: Hurst Publishers
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9781911723172
• eBook ISBN: 9781805262206
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

Britain has historically been seen as an upholder of international norms, at least in its relations with western powers. This has often been contrasted with the violence perpetrated in colonial contexts on other continents. What is often missed, however, is the extent to which the state with its capital in London—first England, then Great Britain—inflicted extreme violence on its European neighbours, even when still using the rhetoric of neighbourliness and friendship.

This book comprises eleven case-studies of Anglo-British strategic violence, from the siege of Harfleur in 1415 to the fire-bombing of Hamburg in 1943. Chapters examine actions that were top-down and directed, and perpetrated for specific geopolitical reasons—many of them at, or well beyond, the bounds of what was sanctioned by prevailing international norms at the time. The contributors look at how these actions were conceived, executed and perceived by the English/British public, by the international legal community of the time, and by the victims.

This history of English violence in Europe complicates not only easy notions of England/Britain as a champion of the ‘standards of civilisation’ or of the ‘liberal international order’, but also of the supposed distinction between ‘European’ and ‘extra-European’ warfare.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1. Introduction: D. J. B. Trim and Brendan Simms
• 2. Strategy, Piety, and Chivalry: Violence and Restraint Under Henry V in 1415: Clifford J. Rogers
• 3. Thomas Howard and the Character of English Violence during the Reign of Henry VIII: Neil Murphy
• 4. English Atrocities in the Reign of Elizabeth I and Their Context: D. J. B. Trim
• 5. State of Emergency: The English Subjection of Early Modern Ireland: David Edwards
• 6. Violence in Scotland: The British Army and Government after Culloden: Murray Pittock
• 7. ‘Alas Poor Danes!’: The Bombardment of Copenhagen, 1807: Brendan Simms
• 8. British-Army Violence against Civilians in the Peninsular War: Charles Esdaile
• 9. ‘You Have Not Had A Sufficient Number Killed and Wounded’: The Baltic Campaigns of the ‘Crimean’ War, 1854–56: Andrew Lambert
• 10. The Blockade in the First World War: Mary Elisabeth Cox
• 11. Legitimising Violence in the British Attack on the French Fleet At Mers-El-Kébir: Karine Varley
• 12. Operation Gomorrah: Ruthlessness and the British Air War, 1943: Richard Overy
• Notes
• About the Contributors
• Index
• Back Cover