Contributions in Military Studies – serie
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143 produkter
143 produkter
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 20001 169 kr
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Gabriel expands upon the groundbreaking work of B. H. Lidell-Hart's Great Captains by offering detailed portraits of six great captains of the ancient world who met the challenges of their age and shaped the future of their societies, and civilization itself, through their actions. He analyzes the lives of Thutmose III of Egypt, Sargon II of Assyria, Philip II of Macedon, Hannibal of Carthage, Scipio Africanus of Republican Rome, and Caesar Augustus of Imperial Rome for the lessons contemporary leaders, particularly military leaders, can learn.While all were great military men, with the exception of Caesar Augustus, they were also great political leaders who, in this capacity more often than through their feats of arms, shaped their societies. All were educated men, and all possessed the quality of imaginative reasoning. A provocative analysis for scholars, students, and general readers of military history and the ancient world. Military personnel will find the parallels to current military organization and thinking particularly valuable.
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PDF, Engelska, 20001 135 kr
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Settler-native conflicts in Northern Ireland, Israel/Palestine, and South Africa serve as excellent comparative cases as three areas linked to Britain where insurgencies occurred during roughly the same period. Important factors considered are settler parties, settler mythology, the role of native fighters, settler terror, the role of liberal parties, and the conduct of the war by security forces. Settlers and natives in each area share similar attitudes, liberal parties operate in similar fashions, and there are common explanations for the formation of splinter liberation groups. However, according to Mitchell, the key difference between the cases lies in the behavior of British security forces in comparison to South African and Israeli forces.Mitchell's chapter on liberal parties includes an independent account of the Progressive Federal Party of South Africa, the official parliamentary opposition from 1977 to 1987, along with the first major published account of the Alliance Party in Northern Ireland. His study of splinter group formation contains the first major account since 1964 of the Pan-Africanist Party of Azania, including its insurgency campaign in the 1980s and 1990s. Mitchell also contrasts behavior among the Inkatha Party and Labour Party in South Africa with the Social Democrat and Labour Party in Northern Ireland.
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PDF, Engelska, 20001 169 kr
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Many historians of U.S. foreign relations think of the post-World War II period as a time when the United States, as an anti-colonial power, advocated collective security through the United Nations and denounced territorial aggrandizement. Yet between 1945 and 1947, the United States violated its wartime rhetoric and instead sought an imperial solution to its postwar security problems in East Asia by acquiring unilateral control of the western Pacific Islands and dominating influence throughout the entire Pacific Basin. This detailed study examines American foreign policy from the beginning of the Truman Administration to the implementation of Containment in the summer and fall of 1947. As a case study of the Truman Administration's Early Cold War efforts, it explores pre-Containment policy in light of U.S. security concerns vis-a-vis the Pearl Harbor Syndrome.The American pursuit of a secure Pacific Basin was inconsistent at the time with its foreign policy toward other areas of the world. Thus, the consolidation of power in this region was an exception to the avowed goal of a multilateral response to the policies of the Soviet Union. This example of national or strategic security went much further than simple military control; it included the cultural assimilation of the indigenous population and the unilateral exclusion of all other powers. Analyzing traditional archival records in a new light, Friedman also investigates the persisting American notions of a Westward moving frontier that stretches beyond North American territorial bounds.
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PDF, Engelska, 20001 169 kr
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Does history provide lessons for foreign policy makers today? Macdonald combines cognitive psychology theories about analogical reasoning, international relations theories about military intervention, and original archival research to analyze the role of historical information in foreign policy decision making. He looks at the role of historical analogies in Anglo-American decision making during foreign policy crises involving the possible use of force in regional contingencies during a crucial period in the 1950s when the West faced an emerging Soviet threat. This study analyzes the influence of situational and individual variables in a comparison of more than ten leaders from two nations facing four different crises.Rolling the Iron Dice describes the often significant effect of historical analogies on perceptions of the adversary and of allies, time constraints, policy options and risks, as well as the justification of policy in four crises: the 1950 Korean invasion; the 1951-53 Iranian oil nationalization incident; the 1956 Suez crisis; and the 1958 crisis in Lebanon and Jordan. Contrary to both the slippery slope and the escalation models of military intervention, Macdonald argues that leaders decide extremely early in a crisis, often on the basis of an historical analogy, but also based on perceptions of the rationality of an adversary, whether to use military force. Their decision does not change unless the adversary capitulates to every demand.
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PDF, Engelska, 20001 714 kr
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Artillery proved to be the greatest killer on the Western front in World War I, and the use and misuse of artillery was certainly a determining factor in the war^D's outcome. While many books explore the artillery forces and employment of the European powers, this is the first study to examine artillery employment in the American Expeditionary Force. Grotelueschen follows one AEF division through its entire World War I experience, from preliminary training to each of its battles in France. This approach allows for great investigative depth and an opportunity to explore the implementation of doctrinal changes throughout the war.While accounts of the AEF written in the immediate aftermath of the war praised it as a great fighting machine, most scholars have concluded that the AEF was a flawed combat force. This study demonstrates that despite significant flaws and weaknesses, especially in artillery doctrine and employment, at least some AEF divisions did attain effective fighting ability. American divisions were most successful when carrying out limited, set-piece attacks, efforts that ran counter to approved US Army and AEF doctrine at the time. Historians will find this unique approach to the study of division level strengths and weaknesses to be useful in making more accurate and complete comparisons among the great armies of the Western Front.
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PDF, Engelska, 2002935 kr
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This is the story of the early struggles of an ill-equipped ragtag French force, among the first to pledge its loyalty to General de Gaulle. It fought a lonely, almost secret war against the numerically superior Italian troops deep in the wildest parts of the Sahara, hundreds of miles from the main campaigns along the African coast. These daring Free French raids with their long thirsty treks and small-scale oasis battles have been nearly forgotten, although their path is marked by the graves of many hundreds of French, Italian, and native soldiers. Bimberg details the exotic units that participated in this struggle, including the Tirailleurs Sénégalaise du T'chad (African Infantry), the Compagnies Sahariennes (Saharan Camel Companies), and the Groupe Nomade du Tibesti (a tribal militia recruited in the Tibesti Mountain region of the great desert).Despite antiquated equipment and some of the world's worst terrain, the Free French were among the most dedicated soldiers in the Allied camp. The backdrop to their fierce fighting includes the barely surveyed Tibesti Mountains with their 10,000 foot volcanic peaks, interspersed with treacherous shifting sands—terrain which would prove to be an enormous challenge to the worn out, patched-together motor vehicles of the Free French. Much of the action takes place in the most remote areas of Italian Libya, the desert province of Fezzan with its fortified oases of Mourzouk and Koufra, each strongly defended by the Italians. While these skirmishes were a sideshow to the epic battles of North Africa, they were immortalized by heroic acts by the French and African troops alike, efforts that ultimately led to success in this far corner of the world.
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 20021 135 kr
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Recent years have seen dramatic shifts in the nature of Australian-Indonesian relations, and this in turn has had a great impact on the strategic partnership that had gradually come into existence between the two regional powers. Against the backdrop of rapid strategic, political, economic, social, and technological changes occurring on a global scale, Australian foreign policy efforts at cooperation with its largest and nearest Asian neighbor have changed as well—largely as a result of domestic political considerations. Reaching a high point under Prime Minister Keating, defense relations soured considerably and suddenly after 1999. Singh provides a non-partisan account of the shift from partnership to cold peace and an examination of how it has affected the bilateral, regional, and global security environment.The Indonesian public and political elite have become hostile toward Australia as a result of her perceived role in the birth of an independent East Timor. Indonesians are also increasingly suspicious of Australian intensions toward their own country, with many believing that Canberra would like to repeat its East Timor success in Papua, thereby leading to the disintegration of Indonesia itself. John Howard's pro-Western policies are also viewed as a return to Australian projection of itself as a Western outpost on the fringes of Asia. As the strategic cooperation between the two nations has faltered, it has had tremendous implications for the defense and security outlook of both powers. The world cannot afford to ignore this possible threat to regional stability.
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 20021 095 kr
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Three policy actions taken during the Revolutionary War period helped form the military supply and acquisition structure still in place today. These include the formation of a management structure; the choice of management methods; and debates related to ancillary issues such as R&D, fostering of expertise, encouraging innovation, and the role of the federal government in the development of an industrial base. To provide valuable context, Horgan looks not only at decisions made by the Continental Congress, but also at the environment in which these plans were made. Of the wide range of methods used to procure the supplies needed for war, many were harsh measures taken by beleaguered policy makers, forced to desperate steps by the demands of war.The organizational structure created to manage the supply effort was, Horgan reveals, in constant flux, characterized by the abandoning of one failed experiment in favor of another that would soon be exposed as equally unsuccessful. The two major weapons of the period, the big guns of Army artillery and navel ordnance and Navy ships, are examined within this framework. Horgan explores how the Congress managed their acquisition, including procedures related to the manufacture of artillery in private sector founders and government facilities, as well as the construction projects for Navy ships. She demonstrates how policy decisions made during these early years relate to the present policy environment for the acquisition of major weapon systems.
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 19991 169 kr
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The tank was arguably the most important technological innovation that developed during World War I; however, without the support of the British Army and the allocation of important wartime resources, it would have remained merely a peripheral weapon. For far too long, the depiction of the British War Office and GHQ, France, as anti-technological and cavalry-oriented has persisted. While some historians have recently challenged this view, much of the traditional versus progressive school of thought, in regard to the production and employment of the tank, still survives. By posing the question: was the tank a peripheral weapon? this work reveals the vital role of the War Office in the production and employment of this stunning new weapon.The War Office was behind the creation of the original Tank Committee, the New or Advisory Tank Committee, the Tank Directorate and the Tank Board. It was these bodies, particularly the Tank Board, established in 1918, that facilitated the crucially important liaison between the users of tanks in France and the producers at the Ministry of Munitions. Without War Office involvement in this way, without its continued orders for more and better tanks, and without the consistently high priority status accorded to tank production by General Haig, it is inconceivable that the tank would have reached the level of technical sophistication, and therefore usefulness, that it had by late 1918.
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 19991 169 kr
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Bimberg provides a military history of the Moroccan Goums, the knife-wielding irregular troops who distinguished themselves, fighting under French command in Tunisia, Italy, France and Germany during World War II. Recruited from the hill tribes of Morocco's Atlas Mountains, the Goums were garbed throughout the war in the traditional djellaba of their homeland and were armed with long sharp knives, in addition to rifles, machine-guns and mortars. They terrified the enemy not only by their ferocity, but by their odd appearance. Their particular skill in mountain warfare prompted General Patton to request their participation in his Sicilian campaign, and they fought brilliantly in this and many other key campaigns.This account follows these forces from their native North African mountains across the battlefields of World War II to their final triumph in the Austrian Alps. It recounts their tactics and their strange traditions, as remarkable Beau Geste type French officers led them into battle. In Italy, 12,000 strong, they swarmed over the forbidding Aurunci range, which no one thought could possibly be penetrated by any sizable force under combat conditions, to spearhead the French forces in turning the German flank in Operation Diadem, the final drive on Rome. Their later exploits in the capture of Marseilles, in the Vosges Mountains, and on the drive to the Rhine were equally sensational.
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 19991 513 kr
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The mechanized infantry is one of the least-studied components of the U.S. Army's combat arms, and its most visable piece of equipment, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, is one of the military's most controversial pieces of equipment. This study traces the idea of mechanized infantry from its roots in the early armored operations of World War I, through its fruition in World War II, to its drastic transformation in response to the threat of a nuclear, biological, and chemical battlefield. The U.S. Army's doctrinal migration from the idea of specialized armored infantry to that of more generalized mechanized infantry led to problematic consequences in training and equipping the force. Haworth explores the origins, conduct, and outcome of the Bradley controversy, along with its implications for Army institutional cultures, force designs, and doctrines.Challenging traditional partisan views of the Bradley program, Haworth goes to the roots of the issue. The author details the mechanized infantry's problematic status in the Army's traditional division of roles and missions between its Infantry and Armored branches. While new conditions demand new equipment, old institutions and current commitments inevitably complicate matters; thus, traditional infantry considerations have driven the Bradley's requirements. The raw capability of the vehicle and the fortitude and ingenuity of its users have to some extent compensated for the conflicting pressures in its design. However, the reluctance of the Army to see mechanized infantry as a specialty has led to the problem the vehicle has faced, as this book clearly shows.
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 19991 135 kr
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The threat of poison gas, and other related biological warfare agents, holds our society hostage to the possible actions of terrorist groups or rogue states. This study hopes to convince policymakers and the general public that the bad reputation that surrounds the use of gas is largely the result of propaganda, misinformation, and oft-repeated half-truths. With proper precautions and discipline, neither the military nor society need fear gas as a weapon of mass destruction, wielded by dictators and cowards who utilize the loopholes in international agreements and flaunt world opinion. While not advocating the use of toxic gas in warfare, the author argues that education and common sense are the most effective tools to combat the gases that remain in arsenals around the world.After a discussion of the earliest uses of gas and other similar tactics in warfare, this book explains how our image of gas has been shaped by early pronouncements that branded it a treacherous and barbarous weapon. The fear of retribution, as well as political motivations, prevented the use of gas warfare in the Second World War, but its use resurfaced in later decades both in warfare and in combatting internal strife. The author details various types of gas and discusses the most effective measures to counter each one. He also chronicles the long history of attempts to outlaw gas, why these attempts have failed, and why such efforts are not likely to succeed in the future.
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 19991 135 kr
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A study of operational warfare in the Habsburg old regime, 1683-1740, which recreates everyday warfare and the lives of the generals conducting it, this book goes beyond the battlefield to examine the practical skills of war needed in an agricultural landscape of pastures, woods, and water. Although sieges, forages, marches, and raids are universally considered crucial aspects of old regime warfare, no study of operational or maneuver warfare in this period has ever been published. Early modern warfare had an operational component which required that soldiers possess or learn many skills grounded in the agricultural economy, and this requirement led to an economy of knowledge in which the civil and military sectors exchanged skilled labor. Many features of scientific warfare thought to be initiated by Enlightenment reformers were actually implicit in the informal structures of armies of the late 1680-1740 period.In this period, the Habsburg dynasty maintained an army of more than 100,000 men, and hundreds of generals. This book might be called a labor history of these generals, revealing their regional, social, and educational backgrounds. It also details the careerist dimensions of another neglected aspect of the early modern general's work, the creation of military theory. Theory arose naturally from staff work and commanded wide interest among both high-ranking officers for professional reasons, and for its significant impact on service politics.
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 19991 135 kr
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The Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 is the most important legislation to affecting U.S. national defense in the last 50 years. This act resulted from frustration in Congress and among certain military officers concerning what they believed to be the poor quality of military advice available to civilian decision-makers. It also derived from the U.S. military's perceived inability to conduct successful joint or multi-service operations. The act, passes after four years of legislative debate, designated the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as the principal military advisor to the President and sought to foster greater cooperation among the military services. Goldwater-Nichols marks the latest attempt to balance competing tendencies within the Department of Defense, namely centralization versus decentralization and geographic versus functional distributions of power.As a result of the Goldwater-Nichols Act, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has achieved prominence, but his assignment is somewhat contradictory: the spokesman and thus the advocate for the Commander in Chief, while simultaneously the provider of objective advice to the President. While the act did succeed in strengthening the CINCs' authority and in contributing to the dramatic U.S. achievements in the Gulf War, the air and ground campaigns revealed weaknesses in the CINCs' capability to plan joint operations. In addition, the increased role of the military in ad hoc peacekeeping operations has challenged the U.S. military's current organizational structure for the quick deployment of troops from the various services. Rapid technological advances and post-Cold War strategic uncertainty also complicate the U.S. military's organizational structure.
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 1995730 kr
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Friedrich Beck was the single most important figure in the transformation of the inept Habsburg military into the modern military state that would wage World War I. He correctly perceived that only an elite body of officers responsible for war planning and preparation could provide lasting security for the Austro-Hungarian empire. After firmly establishing the general staff as an institution, Beck led war planning to counter threats from Russia, Italy, and the Balkans; and spearheaded a vast rebuilding of the rail network. While his rise to power marked a return to the favorite system of military administration of the early Franz Joseph period, Beck proved himself a man with real military ability that revolutionized an army.
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 19951 135 kr
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The reign of Peter the Great (1682-1725), long regarded as the turning point in the Europeanization of Russia, witnessed the establishment of Russia's first modern navy, the Azov Sea fleet. Its creation evokes a fundamental question about the era: was Peter a reformer or a revolutionary? This three-part study examines Russia's maritime experience in the 17th and early 18th centuries in order to address this central question. The author argues that Peter's development of the navy was revolutionary in the scale and level of technology brought to fruition through the reform of existing political and social structures.
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 19961 135 kr
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Using newly released documents, the author presents an integrated look at American nuclear policy and diplomacy in crises from the Berlin blockade to Vietnam. The book answers the question why, when the atomic bomb had been used with such devastating effect against the Japanese Empire in 1945, American leaders put this most apocalyptic of weapons back on the shelf, never to be used again in anger. It documents the myopia of Potomac strategists in involving the U.S. in wars of attrition in Korea and Southeast Asia, marginal areas where American vital interests were in no way endangered. Despite the presence of hundreds, then thousands of nuclear bombs and warheads in the nation's stockpile, the greatest military weapon in history became politically impossible to use. And yet overwhelming nuclear superiority did serve its ultimate purpose in the Cold War. When American vital interests were threatened—over Berlin and Cuba—the Soviets backed down from confrontation. Despite errors in strategic judgment brought on by fear of Communist expansion, and in some cases outright incompetence, the ace in the hole proved decisive.
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 19901 169 kr
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Although war has been analyzed from many perspectives, no scholar has satisfactorily explained why the human race fights and how we came to create a degree of military sophistication capable of destroying the entire species. Gabriel addresses these questions in his study of the origins and development of warfare. He looks particularly at the relationship between the evolution of the social institution of war and the development of the military institutions, tactical sciences, and technology required for organized conflict.Beginning with a discussion of the biological and evolutionary history of man, Gabriel investigates the proposition that the human race is genetically predisposed to warlike behavior. He next reviews the archaeological record to test the common assumption that war has existed from the earliest times. He traces the evolution of the social institutions and technology of war in a succession of ancient cultures beginning with the Bronze Age. The development of armies, tactics, logistics, and weapons is examined, together with the psychological and social implications of mankind's choice to use them. The work concludes with a discussion demonstrating how the practice of war in modern times relates to the perpetuation of values and institutional forms created by earlier societies--especially those of classical Greece and Rome. The first study to integrate the findings of cultural anthropology with the concerns of military analysis, this work will be of interest to students and academics in these and related fields.
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 19901 169 kr
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Although the stability of the Persian Gulf region has been of rising importance since World War II, it was during the 1980s, when the Iran-Iraq War threatened to upset the balance of power in the region, that its importance became even more magnified. This collection of essays surveys the current state of that region, placing into clearer perspective the political, security, and diplomatic dimensions of the recently ended war. By reevaluating the political landscape of the Gulf, the book produces a gauge for better assessing those factors and forces that affected the conflict's outcome and that will continue to influence future political and security developments in the region.The volume begins with an introduction by the editor that examines the geography of the Gulf and the primary geopolitical factors that influenced perceptions of the region during the war. The essays are then divided into two sections covering Strategic and Political Dimensions and Diplomatic and Legal Dimensions. Topics covered in the first section include the roots of the crisis, Soviet, Israeli and Arab Gulf states' interests in the conflict, U.S. policy in the region, and the role of U.S. military forces. Section two discusses the reflagging of Kuwaiti tankers, the United Nations' involvement, and the cease-fire negotiations. The book concludes with a selected bibliography and an index. This study will be an important resource for courses in political science, diplomacy, and Mid-East history, as well as a significant addition to both public and university libraries.
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 19821 169 kr
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“This interesting account of the development of the machine gun takes the reader from the Gatling guns of the Civil War to the eve of WWI....This book provides an important look at the inability of military bureaucracy to rise above inertia and find a place for a demonstrably better weapon. It is highly recommended for all service schools and colleges with a large ROTC program; it will be a useful acquisition for all undergraduate libraries with a military history collection.”–Choice
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 20031 325 kr
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Continuing where the author left off in Battles of the Thirty Years War, this companion volume details the military aspects of the final years of this important early modern conflict. Whereas the earlier half of the war was dominated by a few climactic battles (White Mountain, Lutter, Breitenfeld, and Nordlingen), the later period consisted of a more drawn-out struggle between more evenly matched opponents. The successful general had to conduct strategic campaigns, in which battles, sieges, maneuvers, and logistics would all play a part. Guthrie examines broad questions of strategy, leadership, armaments, organization, logistics, and war finances.Battles detailed in this volume include the Swedish victories of Wittstock, 2nd Breitenfeld, and Jankow; the French victories of Rheinfelden, Rocroi, Freiburg, and 2nd Nordlingen; as well as the anticlimactic action of Zusmarhausen. Guthrie emphasizes the unique aspects of the Thirty Years War, its place in the evolution of warfare and weapons, and the adjustment of the actual waging of war to the rise of the nascent linear system. Based on research previously unavailable in English, each campaign is recreated in detail, including orders of battle, tactics, and maps.
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 20031 325 kr
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While existing accounts of this period have elevated the exploits of the British soldiers on the battlefield to almost legendary status, the operations of the British Expeditionary Force in the dramatic opening campaign of the First World War remain poorly understood. Based on official unit war diaries, as well as personal papers and memoirs of numerous officers, this study sheds significant new light on the retreat from Mons in August 1914, the advance to the River Aisne in September, and the climactic First Battle of Ypres in October and November. In addition, Gardner provides important insights into the ideas and values of British officers in the initial stages of the war.Beyond explaining the conduct of the 1914 campaign, Gardner analyzes the initial stages of the learning curve experienced by British officers as they grappled with an unaccustomed type of warfare, including the unprecedented scale and intensity of the conflict as well as the advent of trench warfare. He also demonstrates the impact of rivalries among senior officers on the operations of the army. As a whole, the study adds depth to our understanding of command in European armies during the First World War.
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 20031 325 kr
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In August 1914, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz convinced the German armed forces to create a new unit, called the MarineDivision Flandern, to garrison the Belgian coastline and prepare naval bases in for the implementation of a naval guerrilla war against Great Britain. The Germans called their strategy Kleinkrieg, or little war, and they intended to whittle away at British naval superiority by using their submarines and destroyers. Later expanded into the MarineKorps, the unit soon found itself in the middle of a land war as well. What had been intended as a garrison unit found itself on the frontlines when the war stalemated.The British had traditionally seen Belgium as a dagger pointed at the throat of England, and the Royal Navy feared what use the Germans might make of the position. The result was an active naval campaign in the English Channel. Karau brings to light the contributions of the MarineKorps Flandern, a force often neglected by historians. He examines the role of the MarineKorps in both land and naval wars and reaffirms the increasingly important role played by aircraft in the Flanders theater. If Belgium was a weapon pointed at the British throat, were the Germans properly equipped to wield the dagger?
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 19921 135 kr
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How have the U.S. Army Rangers acted as special operations forces in military operations since 1942? Hogan's study examines the nature and purpose of the Rangers over the past fifty years and shows how they have served as scouts, raiders, assault troops, and elite infantry. They have spearheaded amphibious landings, raided enemy prison camps, patrolled behind enemy lines in Korea, served alongside Green Berets in Vietnam, and carried out special missions in Grenada. Professional officers, military historians, students, and general readers will find this a fascinating history.This analytical account opens with a short description of the origins of the Ranger legend in America and then moves to a discussion of their use in World War II, as commandos in 1942, then as spearheaders in 1943 and 1944, as line infantry in Europe and as special operations forces in the Pacific. This provocative assessment also traces the development of Ranger raider units in Korea, the special training and use of Green Berets as Rangers in Vietnam, and the shifting of Ranger roles into more complex and varied types of operations in Vietnam and Grenada and in a world of increasing terrorism and changing combat situations. Illustrations, maps, and a lengthy bibliography add to the usefulness of the study.
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 19921 816 kr
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Steven Clemente describes how conservative traditions and artistocratic values were preserved in the selection and training of German army officers prior to World War I despite changing times and the influx of many middle-class recruits into the army. He demonstrates how right thinking and service to the King and the Kaiser were the basis for Prussian officer education in the period from 1860 to 1914.The history provides considerable detail about German secondary school education, the selection of officers, the curriculum, and life in the cadet and war schools, the life of a subaltern, and the education of the Prussian War Academy. The book concludes with an analysis of the attitudes and loyalties of the officers that entered World War I. Students of European history and military affairs will find this study one that raises a number of provocative questions about German performance in World War I and in subsequent years.
E-bok
PDF, Engelska, 20011 169 kr
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Toczek provides the first description of the entire battle of Ap Bac and places it in the larger context of the Vietnam War. The study thoroughly examines the January 1963 battle, complete with detailed supporting maps. Ironically, Ap Bac's great importance lies in American policymakers' perception of the battle as unimportant; for all their intelligence and drive, senior American government officials missed the early warning signs of a flawed policy in Southeast Asia by ignoring the lessons of the defeat of the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) on 2 January 1963.The outcome of Ap Bac was a direct reflection of how the U.S. Army organized, equipped, and trained the ARVN. With all the ARVN officer corps's shortcomings, the South Vietnamese Army could not successfully conduct an American combined arms operations against a smaller, less well-equipped enemy. American leadership, both military and civilian, failed to draw any connection between ARVN's dismal performance and American policies toward South Vietnam. Although certain tactical changes resulted from the battle, the larger issue of American policy remained unchanged, including the structure of the advisory system.
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PDF, Engelska, 20011 169 kr
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By September 1944, Allied forces had broken out from the Normandy beachheads, liberated Paris, and found themselves poised on the German border. As this offensive gained momentum, Patton and Montgomery, hoping to exploit the enemy's temporary weakness in the West, concocted their own alternatives to Eisenhower's broad front strategy. Each proposed a single thrust aimed directly into the German heartland, designed to bring the troops home by Christmas. This study examines this so-called broad front-single thrust controversy and concludes that the idea of early victory was wishful thinking--a product of the erroneous and dangerous assumption that the Nazi regime was already tottering on the brink of collapse.Precisely because of its lightning pace, the Allied advance resulted in severe logistical problems, limiting Patton's proposed operation to only ten combat divisions, while Montgomery's closer proximity to the coast might have allowed for as many as sixteen. But it should have been obvious that either thrust faced certain destruction against the 250 divisions still fielded by the Wehrmacht on all fronts in September. In light of this substantial German military capacity, despite serious losses and strategic setbacks, the single thrust could not have been a decisive war-ending maneuver. In fact, Andidora argues, it could not even have provided for its own security against the forces that would have coalesced against it. Rather than unnecessarily prolonging the war, as some have argued, Eisenhower's decision to stay the strategic course probably averted a military disaster.
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PDF, Engelska, 20011 169 kr
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Previous studies of the American Navy's role in World War I have emphasized the combat and logistical tasks such as anti-submarine warfare, convoy protection, and the transportation of military supplies and troops to Europe. While these activities were of crucial importance in winning the war, the effort that involved the largest number of men was training. The Navy increased in size from about 59,000 men in late 1916 to nearly 530,000 by the end of the war in November 1918. In a brief 19 months, the Navy trained over 400,000 men. This story covers the three main divisions of enlisted training: the training stations, the reserve training camps, and the advanced or specialty schools, as well as an account of the building of the bases and changes in the curriculum.Besch goes to great lengths to convey a sense of what life was like in the camps, stations, ships, and bases. In addition to all the major training locations, topics include: fleet, submarine, officer, and aviation training. Colleges and universities also played an important role in naval training. Sources for the study include archives from around the country, while stories drawn from diaries, letters, and oral histories add a personal element to the account.
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PDF, Engelska, 20011 526 kr
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An examination of the life of Marshal Jean Lannes, this study looks at the career of the only soldier of any rank who consistently said exactly what he thought to Napoleon at every stage of their amazing careers. The marshal not only survived these frank encounters, he was well rewarded for his abilities, which were remarkable even among the stellar senior officers who served the Emperor. While Lannes was best known for his military skill, especially as an advance-guard commander, his unconventional three-year diplomatic career was equally noteworthy, since his diplomatic tactics resulted in particular benefits for France. His career spanned much of what many historians and readers believe to be one of the most fascinating and controversial eras in French history.The marshal's personality and his tendency to lead by example rather than by orders won him the respect and the affection of his troops. He also charmed a diverse number of his contemporaries, from autocratic rulers to literary icons. Although his relationship with Napoleon was stormy at times, he earned and kept the Emperor's friendship and esteem. Chrisawn avoids the tendency of previous biographers to either canonize or condemn the marshal, providing instead a balanced treatment of her subject which includes both his strengths and his shortcomings. Marshal Jean Lannes emerges as a complete person within the context of his own intriguing world.
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Faced with severe budgetary constraints, a radically reduced force structure, and a crippling intellectual dogmatism, the American Infantry struggled throughout the interwar years to modernize its doctrine. Finlayson examines these difficulties, beginning with an overview of the experiences of the primary combatants of the First World War, comparing their battlefield doctrines with that of the American Expeditionary Force. The brief American appearance on the battlefield did much to shape the convictions of those men assigned the task of developing doctrine after the war.The findings of the post-World War I Superior Board provide valuable insight into how institutional conservatism and the dogmatic approach to new ideas that existed among senior Army leaders stymied possible doctrinal advances. The Army would suffer greatly in the post-war demobilization and the subsequent ravages of the Great Depression. With little money and few soldiers spread around far-flung posts, little advancement in terms of doctrinal development was possible. As the likelihood of war became more imminent in the 1930s, a concerted effort to modernize was made; however, the magnitude of the task made success virtually impossible-a situation that was evident in the Infantry's poor performance in the early battles of the war. The U.S. entry into World war II would, unfortunately, find the infantry branch only partially prepared for the battle field of 1942.