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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Defence strategy, planning & research
This volume investigates the connection between intelligence history, domestic policy, military history and foreign relations in a time of increasing bureaucratization of the modern state. The issues of globalization of foreign relations and the development of modern, electronic means of communication are also discussed.
This volume investigates the connection between intelligence history, domestic policy, military history and foreign relations in a time of increasing bureaucratization of the modern state. The issues of globalization of foreign relations and the development of modern, electronic means of communication are also discussed.
In 1942, Lieutenant-Commander Ian Fleming was personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence - the dynamic figure behind James Bond's fictional chief, 'M'. Here, Fleming had a brilliant idea: why not set up a unit of authorised looters, men who would go in hard with the front-line troops and steal enemy intelligence? Known as '30 Assault Unit', they took part in the major campaigns of the Second World War, landing on the Normandy beaches and helping to liberate Paris. 30AU's final amazing coup was to seize the entire archives of the German Navy - thirty tons of documents. Ian Fleming flew out in person to get the loot back to Britain, where it was combed for evidence to use in the Nuremburg trials. In this gripping and highly enjoyable book, Nicholas Rankin, author of the best-selling Churchill's Wizards, puts 30 Assault Unit's fascinating story in a strategic and intelligence context. He also argues that Ian Fleming's Second World War service was one of the most significant periods of his life - without this, the most popular spy fiction of the twentieth century would not have been written.
This volume records the transition from planning against any post-war resurgence of German and Japanese militarism to preparations against a possible threat from the Soviet Union. It charts Foreign Office resistance to consideration of even the possibility of Soviet hostility after the war. Changing Direction is likely to remain the standard work of reference on this period, both for scholars and for the wider public.
In the second half of 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. It was an
event of major historic and global dimensions, yet this strategic
transformation of international relations took the entire world
totally by suprise - despite the fact that the West saw in the
Communist power an ideological foe and a major military
threat.
Before espionage entered the era of modern technology, there was the age of George Alexander Hill: a time of swashbuckling secret agents, swordsticks and secret assignations with deadly female spies. The daring escapades of some of the first members of Britain's secret service are revealed in this account of perilous adventure and audacious missions in Imperial and revolutionary Russia. First published in 1932, Hill's rip-roaring narrative recounts tales of his fellow operatives Arthur Ransome - author of Swallows and Amazons and one of the most effective British spies in Russia - and Sidney Reilly - so-called 'Ace of Spies' and architect of a thwarted plot to assassinate the Bolshevik leadership. Unavailable for decades, this lost classic offers fascinating portraits of a world unfathomable to those growing up against a backdrop of WikiLeaks and cyber espionage, and of true-life characters whose exploits were so extraordinary that they have entered the realm of legend. The best collection of military, espionage, and adventure stories ever told. The Dialogue Espionage Classics series began in 2010 with the purpose of bringing back classic out-of-print spying and espionage tales. From WWI and WWII to the Cold War, D-Day to the SOE, Bletchley Park to the Comet Line this fascinating spy history series brings you the best stories that should never be forgotten.
The Chronicle of a People's War: The Military and Strategic History of the Cambodian Civil War, 1979-1991 narrates the military and strategic history of the Cambodian Civil War, especially the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), from when it deposed the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime in 1979 until the political settlement in 1991. The PRK survived in the face of a fierce insurgency due to three factors: an appealing and reasonably well-implemented political program, extensive political indoctrination, and the use of a hybrid army. In this hybrid organization, the PRK relied on both its professional, conventional army, and the militia-like, "territorial army." This latter type was lightly equipped and most soldiers were not professional. Yet the militia made up for these weaknesses with its intimate knowledge of the local terrain and its political affinity with the local people. These two advantages are keys to victory in the context of counterinsurgency warfare. The narrative and critical analysis is driven by extensive interviews and primary source archives that have never been accessed before by any scholar, including interviews with former veterans (battalion commanders, brigade commanders, division commanders, commanders of provincial military commands, commanders of military regions, and deputy chiefs of staff), articles in the People's Army from 1979 to 1991, battlefield footage, battlefield video reports, newsreel, propaganda video, and official publications of the Cambodian Institute of Military History.
Britain's Anti-Submarine Capability, 1919-1939 is the first unified study of the development of Britain's anti-submarine capability between the armistice in 1919 and the onset of the second world German submarine attack on Britain's maritime trade in 1939. Well researched and yet accessibly written, this book challenges the widespread belief that the Royal Navy failed to anticipate the threat of the U-boat in the Second World War.
Sun Bins' Art of Warfare is an essential text of Chinese military philosophy and of strategy in general. This book, lost for over two thousand years and rediscovered only in 1972, has not yet reached the prominence of Sunzi's (Sun-tzu) The Art of Warfare, which is the best-known military treatise in the world. Sun Bin's work is an indispensable companion to the work of Sunzi, who is believed to be his ancestor, but deserves to be better known in its own right, both philosophically and historically. Here, noted sinologists D.C. Lau and Roger T. Ames offer an admirably lucid translation, and provide an introduction examining the life, times, and original philosophical contributions of Sun Bin. Sun Bin, advisor to King Wei of the state of Qi, worked and wrote during the mid-fourth century B.C.E. during China's Warring States period. It was a time of unprecedented violence; without a central national authority, nation-states fought fiercely amongst one another. New technologies made fighting more deadly, so that between the mid-fourth and mid-third centuries B.C.E, the number of battlefield casualties increased tenfold. Sun Bin's work is the key to understanding the physical and intellectual revolution that made such "progress" in the efficiency of warfare possible.
For three decades the analysis of strategic coercion has been dominated by two landmark books: Tom Schelling's Arms and Influence and Alex George's Strategic Diplomacy, both of which addressed the requirements of American foreign policy during the cold war. This book argues for a reappraisal of the role of strategic coercion - defined as the deliberate and purposive use of overt threats to influence another's strategic choices. It emphasizes the importance of drawing on the experiences of countries other than the United States, and of considering the new circumstances of the post cold war world. An international team of scholars, led by Lawrence Freedman, Professor of War Studies at King's College, London, provides critical commentaries on the work of Schelling and George and a series of fascinating case studies. These cover most regions of the world, a variety of different actors - including terrorist groups - and different forms of coercion - including the use of economic sanctions.
In this volume, Professor Colin Gray develops and applies the
theory and scholarship on the allegedly historical practice of the
"Revolution in Military Affairs" (RMA), in order to improve our
comprehension of how and why strategy "works."
Featuring full-colour artwork, maps and carefully chosen illustrations, this exciting book investigates the Teutonic Knights and their Lithuanian foes during the epic Lithuanian Crusade. The Teutonic Knights were a military order committed to spreading Christendom eastwards into the non-Christian realms of the Baltic and Russia. They progressively extended their control across the various feuding tribes of the Baltic until they confronted the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a relatively well-organized and cohesive state. Fully illustrated, this book investigates the fighting men on both sides, assessing their origins, tactics, armament and combat effectiveness in three clashes of the Lithuanian Crusade. The battle of Voplaukis (1311), triggered by a major Lithuanian invasion of newly Christianized lands, saw the Teutonic Knights defeat the numerous but relatively poorly equipped Lithuanian raiders once they had brought them to battle. As a result, the Lithuanians would begin to prepare for full-scale warfare, and the siege of Kaunas (1362) was the month-long investment of the first brick-built castle the Lithuanians constructed. In the battle of Grunwald (1410), the forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - fielding knights by now almost comparable to those of the Order - broke the armies of the Teutonic Knights, a defeat from which the Order would never really recover. This lively study lifts the veil on these formidable medieval warriors and three battles that shaped the Baltic world.
Decisions about defence and security are becoming increasingly open to public influence. This book therefore aims to give both the voter and the decision maker a new vision of how to manage crises and avert hostilities with non-traditional means.
From the 1930's to the 1950's a significant number of left-wing men
and women in the United States, Britain, Europe, Australia and
Canada were recruited to the Soviet intellgence services.
This volume identifies and evaluates the relationship between outer-space geography and geographic position (astrogeography), and the evolution of current and future military space strategy. In doing so, it explores five primary propositions. First, many classical geopolitical theories of military development are fully compatible with the realm of outer space. Second, how geographical position relates to new technology. Such evolution has developed through sea, rail and air power. Space power is the logical and apparent heir. Third, the special terrain of solar space dictates specific tactics and strategies for efficient exploitation of space resources. Fourth, the concept of space as a power base in classical, geopolitical thought will easily conform to the use of outer space as an ultimate national power base. Finally, a thorough understanding of the astromechanical and physical demarcations of outer space can prove useful to planners, and will prove critical to military strategists in the future. An optimum deployment of space assets will be essential on the current terrestrial and future-based battlefield.
Armed revolution and civil war gave birth to the Soviet Union, world War II propelled it to global pre-eminence, and the Cold War contributed to the Soviet Union's demise. Given Marxism-Leninism's idological preoccupation with war and threats of war, it is understandable that the spectre of war should play a vital role in the life and fate of the Soviet state. This study of Soviet military strategy is based upon the twin pillars of Soviet political-military actions and Soviet writings on the subject of military strategy. Thanks to the policy of glasnost, it incorporates Soviet materials hitherto unavailable in the West. It aims to be not simply a retrospective account of what was, but to form part of the context for what will be in the future.
From 14-17 April 1940, a meeting was held in the Kremlin to examine and analyze the performance of the Red Army in the recent Soviet-Finnish War. T he participants were all the army commanders who had taken part in the campaign, and some members of the Politburo, notably Stalin, Molotov and Voroshilov. This book is an English translation of the verbatim record held in the Russian State Socio-Political History Archives in Moscow. Marshals Kliment Voroshilov and Grigory Kulik co-chaired the sessions, but it was Stalin who guided the proceedings. Forty-six regimental, divisional, corps, army and front commanders, and senior Red Army officials delivered their reports and engaged in debate. Stalin gave a long speech at the closing of the last session in which he expounded his views on all aspects of military policy.
This provocative critique of Washington's current security policies, draws on the arguments made by an array of non-interventionist and conservative-nationalist scholars. It provides a blueprint for a more restrained and unilateral US role in global affairs.
The New Kingdom of Egypt marks the apogee of military organisation and preparedness. Beginning the era under foreign occupation, the Egyptians built up an army to challenge the invaders and liberate their land. Using the newest battlefield technologies (bows, chariots and hand weapons) the new pharaohs pushed the frontiers of the New Kingdom into Syria and Ethiopia. This is the era of Set I, Ramses II and Thuthmoses III, the greatest military pharaohs in Egyptian history. This book narrates this incredible rise to power and then describes in detail the way in which the Egyptian war machine was structured, how it was supplied, and how it fought. It considers all aspects, some often neglected, such as campaign tents, logistics and rations, as well as the design of hand weapons and bows. Many pieces of kit have been reconstructed for the book, giving the reader a very immediate sense of what an Egyptian warrior's equipment looked like. --
Intelligence was a central element of the Cold War and the need for
it was expected to diminish after the USSR's collapse, yet in
recent years it has been in greater demand than ever. The
atrocities of 11 September and the subsequent "war on terrorism"
now call for an even more intensive effort. Important questions
arise on how intelligence fits into the world of increased threats,
globalization and expanded international action. This volume
contains the recent work on this subject by Michael Herman, British
intelligence professional for 35 years and Oxford University
academic. It compares intelligence with other government
information services, and discusses the British intelligence system
and the case for its reform. It also addresses the ethical issues
raised by intelligence's methods and results: "do they on balance
make for a better world or a worse one?." Other chapters explore a
wide range of intelligence topics past and present, including the
transatlantic relationship, the alliance strategies of Norway and
New Zealand, Mrs Thatcher's "de-unionization" of British Sigint,
and personal memories of the British Cabinet Office in the
1970s. |
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