Royal Square, Brussels, 83
Royalists, 167, 170–2, 177–9
RSHA, 261
Rupert, Prince, 172, 177, 178, 326
Ruprecht, Count Palatine of the Rhine, 150
Russia, 71, 117, 121–4, 191, 196, 220, 241, 265–7, 298, 306, 311, 313, 340–2 (see also Soviet Union)
Russian Revolution, 265
Ruyter, Michiel de, see de Ruyter, Michiel
Ryder, Robert, 251, 255
SA (Sturmabteilung), 219, 265
Sack of Rome, 155–6
Sacred Band/the 300, 22–3, 25, 27, 29, 33–4, 36–42, 43–7
Saddam Hussein, 87
Sahagun, 197
Sahara Desert, 48
Said, Qaboos bin, 67, 68
St Aubin-sur-Mer, 279
Saint Helena, 206
St James’s Day Battle, 184
St Lucia, 194
St Nazaire, 243, 244, 248–52
St Paul’s Cathedral, 227
St Petersburg, 340
Sajo River, Battle of, 124
Saladin the Great, 87–97, 105–8, 129
Salalah Palace, 68
Saleph, River, 90
sallyports, 142
Samsung, 339
samurai warriors, 157–66 passim
San Diego, 330
Sandhurst, 67
Sansom, William, 227
Santa Claus, 68
sarissa pikes, 44
SAS, 7, 138, 139, 160, 276, 292–307
Saunders, J. J., 115, 123
Sawyer, J. J., 315
Saxo Grammaticus, 80
Saye, Lord, 169, 174
Scandinavia, 70–80
Schlei, River, 191
School Hall, 51
School History of England, A (Fletcher), 190
Schratzmannle, 222
Schutzstaffel (SS), 270
Schutztruppe, 259
Scots Guards (Britain), 293
Scott, Capt. Robert Falcon, 1, 116, 198
scutum shields, 57
Sea of Azov, 122
Sea of Japan, 110
SEALs (US), see Navy SEALs
SEAL Qualification Training (SQT) course (US), 331
SEAL Team Six (US), 331, 332, 336
Second World War, 2–7, 166, 217–26, 243–57, 258–71
Battle of Britain, 227–42
Hitler assassination plot, 270–1
Normandy landings, 272–91
Pearl Harbor, 308
SAS formed during, 293
SEALs formed during, 329
US joins, 272, 308
Sejanus (prefect), 60–1
Self-denying Ordinance, 174, 176
Seljuk Turks, 81, 82, 87, 89, 100–3
Seminary Ridge, 215
Seminole Indians, 209
Septimius Severus, Emperor, 66
Serbia, 135
SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape), 311
‘services of love’, 149
Sextus Papinius, 64
SFAS course (US), 310–12
SFG (US), 311, 312
Sforza, Francesco, 152
Shackleton, Sir Ernest Henry, 1
Shah, Rashid, 120
sheath knives, 119
Sherman II tanks, 5
Shia Islam, 87
Shiite Fatimid dynasty, 87
Shiite Islam, 99, 105
Shintoism, 159
ship soldiers, 185
shipbuilding, 183
Shirvan, 118
shōgun’s palace, 165
shooting, 26, 76, 104, 142, 194, 200, 235, 262, 298, 305, 321
Shorncliffe Army Camp, 194, 195, 196, 197, 199, 205, 206–7
shrapnel, 211, 218
Siberia, 266
Sibylla, Queen, 90
Sicily, 61, 76–7, 79
Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, 181
Sidon, 90
Silesia, 121
Simpson, Joe, 51–2
Sinān, Rashīd ad-Dīn as-, 105–9
Sinan’s Assassins, see Assassins
Sivas, 127
skálds, 76
skiing, 76, 119
skiplanes, 120
slavery/slaves, 28, 39, 41, 85, 88, 90, 114, 115, 125, 126–33, 135, 143–4, 208 (see also Mamluks)
sledges/sledging, 119
slings/slingshots, 13, 296
smart speakers, 339
Smith, Joseph, 233
smokescreens, 128
snaphaan guns, 185
Snowden, Edward, 339
social media, 339–40
socium laborum, 61
Sogdian Rock, 43, 49, 53–6
Sogdiana, 48
Solomon, 83
Somalia, 297
Song dynasty, 125
SOP (standard operation figures), 299
South Africa, 182, 234
south Holland, 189
South Mountain, Battle of, 208, 211
South Pole, 116, 120, 198
Southampton, 250
Southsea Common, 207
Southward-Heston, Captain, 25
Soviet Guards brigades, 269
Soviet Union, 7, 48, 228, 263–71, 272, 309, 314, 317 (see also Russia)
SP team (SAS), 298, 300
Spain, 81, 85, 151, 155, 167, 193, 196–7, 256
Spanish Civil War, 228
Spann, Johnny (‘Mike’) 315, 325
Sparta, 18–29, 73
‘coward’ patches, 22
‘death or victory’ mantra, 22, 32
elite forces, 22–3
homosexuality in, 21
inheritance laws, 38–9
military training in, 20–3, 28
spears, 12–13, 15, 19, 24–5, 27, 28, 36–8, 41, 44–6, 54, 77, 93, 94, 102, 158, 166
Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS) course (US), 310–12
Special Forces Group (SFG) (US), 311, 312, 316–18, 326–7
special projects (SP) team (SAS), 298, 300
Speculators, 62
Spitfires, 232–6, 238–41
Sport, Lt Col. Aidan, 5–6
spying, 102, 162, 262, 339, 341
SQT course (US), 331
SS-Jager-Bataillon 502, 265
Stamford Bridge, Battle of, 80
standard operation figures (SOP), 299
Stanton, Doug, 315
Stature II, 56
Stem guns, 283
steppe grassland, 110–12, 118, 120–1
Stirling, David, 293–4
stormtrooper, 217–26
Strabo, 11
Strachan, William, 234
Stroud, Mike, 116, 198–9
stun grenades, 300, 303
Sturluson, Snore, 75, 76
Sturmabteilung (SA), 219, 265
Sturmtruppen, see stormtrooper
sub-machine guns, 221, 299–300
submarines, 243, 250, 251, 255, 257, 258
Subotai, 111–25, 338
subterfuge, 78, 260, 296
Sudan, 87
Sudetenland, 266
Suetonius, 62
Suleiman the Magnificent, 97
Summers, Capt. Will, 316–17
sumptuary laws, 150
Sunday Express, 239
Sunni Islam, 87, 99, 105
Sunni Muslim Seljuk Turks, 81
Sunni Seljuks, 89, 100–3
Surinam, 189
Surtees, William, 203
surveillance, 159, 295
Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE), 311
Susanna, DS, 187
Sweden, 71, 72
Sweeney, Lt Henry, 281
Swiss mercenaries, see Landsknechts
Switzerland, 145–56 passim
Sword Beach, 279, 282, 285, 289
swords, 17, 19, 25, 28, 36, 64, 70, 88, 89, 92, 95, 96, 127, 130, 136, 145, 148, 150, 158, 160–2, 165, 178–9, 188, 190, 201
Symposium (Plato), 33–4
Syr Darya, River, 123
Syria, 11, 73, 81, 87, 105, 131–3
Table Bay, 182
Tacitus, 59
Tahir, Bu, 103
taiga forest, 111
Tajikistan, 48
Taliban, 308–9, 313, 315–27
tanks/tank warfare, 2–7, 216, 218, 222–3, 268, 277, 279, 281, 287, 290, 295, 320–1, 342
Tarawa, 329
Tasso, Torquato, 83
Tatar tribe, 110, 111, 113–14
Tate, Zouch, 174
taxation, 58, 61–3, 85, 91, 167, 169
Tbilisi, 117, 269
Tehran, 99, 100
Templars, see Knights Templar
Temple Mount, 84, 85, 90, 96
Temple of Diana, 20
Temple of Solomon, 83, 84 (see also Knights Templar)
Temple of the Nymphs, 45
Temüjin, see Ghengis Khan
‘Ten Rules of Air Fighting’ (Malan), 235–6
Territorial Divisions, 246
terrorism, 70, 102, 109, 291, 292–307 passim, 308, 309, 331, 336, 339
Thames, River, 182, 185, 186, 191, 227, 228, 237
Thatcher, Margaret, 302
Thebes, 30–42, 43, 46
Themistocles, 23
Theodosian Walls, 134, 140, 142
Thermopylae, 18, 22, 23, 36, 39
Thessaly, Ancient Greece, 19
Third Reich, 258
Third World War, 191
Thompson, Julian, 275
Thrace, 44, 135
Thrasyllus of Mendes, 63
Thucydides of Athens, 39
Tibbits, Lt, 257
Tiber, River, 66
Tiberias, 88
Tiberias, Lake, 89
Tiberius, Emperor, 60, 61
Tiberius Gracchus, 57
Tigris, River, 9
Tikrit, 87
Times, The, 296
Tirpitz, KMS, 244, 257
Tissino, River, 154
Tokyo, 165, 166
Tomyris, Queen, 14
Tora Bora cave complex, 327
Toron, 90
torpedoes, 247, 253, 255, 257, 288
Tower Bridge, 227
Training Command (Britain), 230
Transglobe Expedition, 48, 119, 293
transport aircraft, 273
Treaty of Versailles, 228
Trebizond Conquest, 143
trekkers, 183
trench warfare, 2, 153, 217–23
trolls, 340
Truchin, Maj., 266
True Cross, 95
Trump, Donald, 340, 341, 342
Tuapse, 269
Turkey, 11, 47, 57
Turkish Mamluks, see Mamluks
Turkmens, 266
Turner’s Gap, 208, 211, 213
Tuul, River, 125
Twisleton, Col. John, 178
Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes family, see entries under Fiennes
Twitter, 340
Tyburn, 181
Tynecastle, HMS, 251
Tyre, 85, 98, 100, 108
U-boats, 243, 250, 251, 258
Ukraine, 220, 266
Union, 208–16
United States (US):
enters Second World War, 272
sixth branch of military of, 342
Unity, HMS, 186, 187, 188, 189
unmanned aerial vehicles, 327
unmanned drones, 338
unofficial missions, 337–8
Unwin, George, 233
Urban (engineer), 138
Urban II, Pope, 81
Urban III, Pope, 90
US Air Force, 316, 342
US Army, 342
US Coast Guard, 342
US Marine Corps, 329, 342
US Military Academy, 209
US Naval Special Warfare Command, 331
US Navy, 342
US Navy Seals (Halberstadt), 330
US Space Force, 342
USSR, see Soviet Union
Utah Beach, 279
Uxbridge, 238
Uzbekistan, 324
van Brakel, Capt. James, 186, 187
van Ghent, Joseph Baron, 185, 189, 190
Varangian Guard, 70–80
Venetian Republic, 151, 152
Venice, 121
Venus, 63
Verdun, 221
Vernavola, River, 154
Vice, 339
Vickers machine guns, 287
Victoria Station, 239
Vienna, 265
Vietnam, 225
Vigo, 203
Vikings, 70–80, 134
Villafranca, 203
Vinnius Valens, 58
Volksdeutsche, 266
Voll Tarnung, 262
von Folkersam, Lt Adrian (‘Arik’), 265–70
von Hippel, Dr Theodor, 260–1
von Hutier, Gen. Oskar, 223
von Lahousen, Erwin Heinrich Rene, 258, 260
von Lettow-Vorbeck, Col. Paul Emil, 259–60
‘vortex’ conditions, 333
Vosges mountains, 221–2
vow of fidelity, 71
Vrede, DS, 186, 187
WAAF, 231, 237, 238
Wahn, 219
Walker, John, 326
Walker, Sir Edward, 178
Waller, Sir William, 170, 176
Wallwork, Jim, 283–4
Walton, PVT John, 200
War Office, 244, 274, 278
war poets/poetry, 28–9
warlords, 49, 55, 71, 104, 110, 157, 161, 162, 309, 315, 318, 322–3
Waterloo, Battle of, 206, 207
‘way of the warrior’ (bushidō), 157–8
Weeping Angel, 339
Wehrmacht, 261, 266, 267
weightlifting, 135
Wellesley, Arthur, 1st Duke of Wellington, see Wellington, Duke of
Wellington, Duke of, 1, 196, 206, 207
Wenzenbach, 150
West End, 227
West Ham, 241
West India Docks, 240
West Point Military Academy, 209
Western Front, 217, 218, 225
Westminster Abbey, 180, 181
Westminster Hall, 181
Weygand, Gen., 229
White House, 308, 335
‘Who Dares Wins’ SAS motto, 294, 305
Wikileaks, 339
William I of Scotland, 91
William Morris Agency, 262
William of Malmesbury, 79–80
William of Tyre, 85, 100
Willoughby Run, 215
Winfree, Paul, 341
Winkelried, Arnold von, 152
Winner, Pete, 305–6
Wired, 339
Wisconsin, 209, 216
Witt, Johan de, see de Witt, Johan
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), 231, 237, 238
Woolwich, 230
Worcester, Battle of, 180
World Trade Center (WTC), 308, 312
wrestling, 135
Xenophon of Athens, 31
Xerxes I, 17, 18–19, 23, 25, 27–8
Yaroslav I, 75
yataghan sword, 136
Year of the Five Emperors, 66
Yemenite blades, 88
Yesükhei Baghatur, 110–11
York, 169, 176
Yotsuya, 166
Yugoslavia, 263
Zanzibar, 35
Zen Buddhism, 159, 160
Zengi (Seljuk Turk), 87
Zeus, 24, 41, 45
Zhadov, Aleksei, 267–8
zip ties, 334
Zoë, Empress, 76, 77
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SIR RANULPH FIENNES is a man steeped in military tradition, whose career has been spent exploring the world’s harshest region. His father served with distinction with the Royal Scots Greys in north Africa, before dying of wounds received fighting in Italy in the Second World War. Ran would later join the same armoured regiment, as a tribute to the father he never knew. Armed with an insatiable appetite for adventure, Fiennes was removed from the SAS for misuse of explosives, but, after joining the Sult
an of Oman’s Armed Forces, he received the Sultan’s Bravery Medal on active service in 1971.
Fiennes was the first man to reach both poles by surface travel, and the first to cross the Antarctic continent unsupported. He is the only person yet to have been awarded two clasps to the Polar Medal for both the Antarctic and Arctic regions. He has led over thirty expeditions, including the first polar circumnavigation of the earth. In 2003, he ran seven marathons in seven days on seven continents, in aid of the British Heart Foundation.
In 1993, Her Majesty the Queen awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) to Fiennes, who, on his way to breaking records, has also raised over £14 million for charity. In 2009, he became the oldest Briton to reach the summit of Everest.
First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2019
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Copyright © Sir Ranulph Fiennes, 2019
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Cover photo © Fighting Knife, 1918 (brass & steel), American School, (20th century) / Royal Armouries, Leeds, UK / Bridgeman Images.
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