Cassell's Battlefields of Britain and Ireland

There have been a number of British battle books before, but never one as comprehensive, as scholarly - and as readable - as this.

The meat of the volume is its 377 'battle articles' - from the skirmish between Caesar's invading Romans at Dover in 55BC, to the air battles fought between the RAF and the Luftwaffe above southern England in the late summer of 1940.

These articles are underpinned by a wealth of additional material, both editorial and graphic, including for each battle a 'scoreboard' boxed panel of key data, including details of protagonists, size of armies involved, commanders and casualties.

The volume includes 100 maps of key battles. OS grid references are provided for every battle described.

Each chapter commences with an overview essay, outlining and explaining the key strategic developments of the period of warfare in question.

Within each (major section), sub-sections identify logically related groups of battles (such as, in Knight and Castle, the era known as the Anarchy (during the reign of Stephen) and the conflict known as the Scottish War of Independence).