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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Defence strategy, planning & research
The history of "strategic bombing" is inextricably intertwined with the history of the Royal Air Force. This book explores the question of doctrinal development in the RAF. It employs a neo-Clausewitzian analysis to reveal that the RAF based the preparation of its strategic bombing force on supposition and hypothesis. Rather than review the evidence of the First World War objectively to determine the fundamental principles of "strategic" bombing, the RAF adopted a subjective approach. The failure to develop a realistic theory of strategic bombing and to test it through a dialectical process resulted in a lack of attention to the equally necessary element of doctrine. Bomber Command was incapable of carrying out a strategic bombing campaign because it failed in peace to develop the necessary doctrine.
As the world moves further into the Information Age and the ensuing increased levels of globalization, the ability to harness all of the elements of national power in an integrated, coordinated, and synchronized manner will be even more critical for the United States to successfully defend itself. Gerstein argues that the United States as a nation is largely unprepared to reap the full benefits of the Information Age and unable to address an increasing threat level because its methods, procedures, and ways of thinking remain anchored to the Industrial Age that is rapidly being left behind. To understand and adapt to this emerging environment, the United States must re-examine the development and the implementation of national security strategy. Gerstein examines the history of U.S. national security strategy, and he analyzes the results and conclusions of several capstone documents, including the National Security Strategy of the United States (2002), the Homeland Security Strategy of the United States (2002), the Commission of National Security/21st Century, and the 9/11 Commission Report. After evaluating the execution of U.S. national security strategy, Gerstein maintains that U.S. efforts today are more heavily weighted to the use of "hard power"--political, military, and intelligence resources--for achieving strategic goals and objectives. A strategy that incorporates more fully the elements of national power, including "soft power" such as economic, social, cultural, and informational capabilities will better serve the interests of the nation. In addition, Gerstein proposes a new way of looking at strategy. Typically, strategy has been defined as the linking of ways and means toachieve ends while mitigating risk. In the future, we must factor environment into any discussion.
Using recently released French official documents and a variety of other sources, this study explains how the French Army, so recently defeated by the Viet Minh insurgents in Indochina, was able to successfully defeat the Algerian nationalist rebels on the battlefield, while nevertheless losing the war at the conference table. This French success, between 1954 and 1962, was due in large part to the superior logistical system of the French Army and the use of the helicopter to enhance French operational mobility. French counter-mobility measures, particularly the construction of heavily defended interdiction zones on the eastern and western borders of Algeria, proved highly effective against the rebels. Such methods essentially cut off the rebel forces from their bases and from sources of supply located outside Algeria, and consequently strangled and destroyed the rebel forces within Algeria. No other work on the Algerian War focuses upon the role of logistics in the outcome of the conflict. The detailed statistical data and comprehensive description and analysis of the logistical organizations and methods of both the French and the nationalist rebels are supplemented by excellent maps. This study also provides useful insights into the nature of the wars of national liberation and counter-insurgency doctrines that dominated military affairs in the mid-20th century.
This book, written with unique access to official archives, tells the secret story of Britain's H-bomb - the scientific and strategic background, the government's policy decision, the work of the remarkable men who created the bomb, the four weapon trials at a remote Pacific atoll in 1957-58, and the historic consequences.
This work proposes the reorganization of America's ground forces on the strategic, operational and tactical levels. Central to the proposal is the simple thesis that the U.S. Army must take control of its future by exploiting the emerging revolution in military affairs. The analysis argues that a new Army warfighting organization will not only be more deployable and effective in Joint operations; reorganized information age ground forces will be significantly less expensive to operate, maintain, and modernize than the Army's current Cold War division-based organizations. And while ground forces must be equipped with the newest Institute weapons, new technology will not fulfill its promise of shaping the battlefield to American advantage if new devices are merely grafted on to old organizations that are not specifically designed to exploit them. It is not enough to rely on the infusion of new, expensive technology into the American defense establishment to preserve America's strategic dominance in the next century. The work makes it clear that planes, ships, and missiles cannot do the job of defending America's global security issues alone. The United States must opt for reform and reorganization of the nation's ground forces and avoid repeating Britain's historic mistake of always fielding an effective army just in time to avoid defeat, but too late to deter an aggressor.
Planning by civil governments, businesses, and the military services has been considered separately in both theory and practice. Those concerned with each of these applications have had little contact with those in the others, despite the common concerns and characteristics of their respective practices. A leading figure in the research and education in planning, Branch draws upon his experience in civil, corporate, and military planning to provide a comprehensive guide to the key aspects of planning. This text is invaluable to those engaged in governmental and business planning and to students working toward careers in urban and regional planning, public administration, business management, and other fields concerned with planning.
The relationship between Britain and Greece, situated at the opposite ends of Europe has been close and troubled, especially since the emergence of Greece as an independent state in the 1830s. The essays in this book, some previously unpublished, focus on aspects of British-Greek relations, military, diplomatic and academic, during the 20th century. A particular area of interest is the Second World War, when British involvement in Greek affairs reached it climax, just before she surrendered her role as Greece's principal external patron to the United States.
Great Strategic Rivalries explores the histories and implications of past strategic rivalries so as to bring forth lessons pertinent to today's geopolitical world. The starting assumption is that each of these rivalries holds a number of areas of commonality from which one can determine pitfalls as well as opportunities (many of them missed). For instance, even a cursory glance at history's great strategic rivals indicates that virtually all of them began as "commercial rivalries" and then transitioned into a strategic rivalry centered on military power. One could even claim a commercial interest was at the heart of the US-USSR rivalry, but this time rather than a contest over global markets each power aimed at ensuring its economic ideology (Communism vs. Capitalism) was triumphant. In addition, history tells us that such enduring strategic rivalries typically end in one of three ways: a series of exhausting conflicts in which one side eventually prevails (Rome vs. Carthage), a peaceful and hopefully orderly transition (Great Britain vs. the US at the turn of the 20th century), or a one-sided collapse (Soviet Union in 1991). The first work covering a key element of the strategic relationship between states from ancient history to the late 20th century, Great Strategic Rivalries fills a major gap in the historiography of state relations. Each chapter provides an accessible narrative of an historically significant rivalry, comprehensively covering all aspects (political, diplomatic, economic, and military) of its history. The authors - including Barry Strauss, Geoffrey Parker, Williamson Murray, and Geoffrey Wawro - are all renowned historians and recognized experts in their selected topics.
In the winter of 1875, a young British officer set out across central Asia on an unofficial mission to investigate the latest Russian moves in the Great Game. His goal was the mysterious Central Asian city of Khiva, closed to all European travellers by the Russians following their seizure of it two years earlier. His aim was to discover whether this remote and dangerous oasis could be used as a springboard for an invasion of India. An immediate bestseller when first published in 1877, Burnaby s delight in a life of risk and adventure still burns through the pages, as does his spontaneous affection for the Cossack troopers and Tartar, Khirgiz and Turkoman tribesmen that he encounters on his way.
This is the story of the most powerful NATO Supreme Commander of the Cold War, General Lauris Norstad was both a 'nuclear' general and an 'international' general. His primary goal was to keep the Alliance together as he accommodated British and French nuclear ambitions while forestalling the same in the West Germans. He also was at the centre of the political/military manoeuvrings over Berlin and the Soviet attempt to blackmail the West into recognizing East Germany, all of which culminated in the building of the infamous 'Wall'.
A light cavalry regiment at war against Napoleonic France
In the late 19th century, the United States began a period of increased engagement in the Western Pacific--a situation that continues to this day. Nimmo provides a study of U.S. diplomatic, economic, and military relations with the nations of East Asia and the Pacific from the late 1800s to 1945. In addition to interaction with China, Korea, and Japan, the book includes U.S. involvement in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, and the Philippines. This one-volume treatment, ranging from the Spanish American War to the Second World War, examines the continuity in U.S. policy during this crucial period. Particular attention is devoted to the U.S. response to Japan's territorial aggression during this period, primarily its undeclared wars against China, in Manchuria in 1931, and in North and Central China from 1937 to 1945. This examination counters revisionist claims that the United States led Japan into war in 1941 and that war could have been avoided by the pursuit of a more conciliatory policy on the part of the U.S. It explores why it was necessary for the U.S. to demand unconditional surrender and refutes claims that Japan was a victim of the war. The acquisition of U.S. territory in the Pacific initially began with the annexation of Hawaii and continued with the former possessions of Spain, ceded in the Spanish American War. Nimmo follows this story through the Philippine War, efforts to promote Philippine independence, the Commonwealth era, and finally independence in 1946.
In 2002 the Group of Eight industrialized nations - in which
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK, the USA and
representatives of the European Union participate - formed the
Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of
Mass Destruction. The G8 pledged to raise up to $20 billion to
carry out the Global Partnership projects over a 10-year period,
initially in Russia but with the intention to expand the scope of
projects to include other countries. These projects will help to
specify the quantities and locations of weapons and materials and
ensure that stocks are held under safe and secure custody to
prevent diversion to unauthorized users or inappropriate uses. If
the weapons or materials are not required, this practical
assistance can also help to eliminate the surplus.
Homeland Security: The Essentials, Second Edition concisely outlines the risks facing the US today and the structures we have put in place to deal with them. The authors expertly delineate the bedrock principles of preparing for, mitigating, managing, and recovering from emergencies and disasters. From cyberwarfare, to devastating tornadoes, to car bombs, all hazards currently fall within the purview of the Department of Homeland Security, yet the federal role must be closely aligned with the work of partners in the private sector. The book lays a solid foundation for the study of present and future threats to our communities and to national security, also challenging readers to imagine more effective ways to manage these risks.
An important history of a famous British cavalry regiment
Based on many years of applied research, modeling and educating future decision makers, the authors have selected the critical set of mathematical modeling skills for decision analysis to include in this book. The book focuses on the model formulation and modeling building skills, as well as the technology to support decision analysis. The authors cover many of the main techniques that have been incorporated into their three-course sequence in mathematical modeling for decision making in the Department of Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School. The primary objective of this book is illustrative in nature. It begins with an introduction to mathematical modeling and a process for formally thinking about difficult problems, illustrating many scenarios and illustrative examples. The book incorporates the necessary mathematical foundations for solving these problems with military applications and related military processes to reinforce the applied nature of the mathematical modeling process.
This innovative new text focuses on the politics of international security: how and why issues are interpreted as threats to international security and how such threats are managed. After a brief introduction to the field and its major theories and approaches, the core chapters systematically analyze the major issues on the contemporary international security agenda. Each is examined according to a common framework that brings out the nature of the threat and the responses open to policy makers. From war, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, through environmental and economic crises, to epidemics, cyber-war and piracy, the twenty-first century world seems beset by a daunting range of international security problems. At the same time, the academic study of security has become more fragmented and contested than ever before as new actors, issues and theories increasingly challenge traditional concepts and approaches. This new edition has been heavily revised to discuss for the failings of the Obama admiration and its strategic partners on a number of different security issues, and the constant, evolving instances of turmoil the world has experienced since, whilst providing the skills students need to conduct their own research of international security issues occurring outside of this text, and for issues yet to occur. Cyber security, the 'Arab Spring' revolutions, the Ebola outbreak, and the refugee crisis are just some examples of the plethora of subjects that Smith analyses within this text. This textbook is an essential for those studying international security, whether at undergraduate or postgraduate level as part of a degree in international relations, politics, and other social sciences more generally. New to this Edition: - Chapter on cyber security - Up-to-date issues and field coverage - New 'mini-case studies' in each chapter - Updated analytical/pedagogical framework Pioneering framework for students to apply theory and empirical evidence correctly to tackle analytical and comparative tasks concerning both traditional and non-traditional security issues
In this work, an expert on biological weapons offers a thoughtful examination of the political and technical issues that have affected the implementation of arms control agreements from the 1960s to the present. Arms Control Policy: A Guide to the Issues examines the history of the major arms control treaties since the early 1960s. It offers readers a broad understanding of the ways in which arms control agreements were negotiated and implemented during the Cold War, the international and national events that affected treaty negotiation and implementation, and how the arms control landscape has changed in the war's aftermath. Specifically, the handbook overviews the obligations contained in bilateral U.S.-Soviet/Russian and multilateral arms control agreements covering nuclear and nonnuclear weapons. It also treats such agreements as the Biological Weapons Convention, the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Treaty to Ban Land Mines, and the Treaty to Ban Cluster Munitions. The book concludes with a look at the current challenges in the implementation of arms control agreements and the future of arms control. Primary documents and biographical sketches of key figures support the text Offers a chronology of arms control agreements from the 1960s to the present Maps show placement of land mines in Bosnia and elsewhere Photographs depict the effects of different weapons Includes a glossary of technical arms control terms and acronyms Provides a bibliography including significant materials from history, political science, and public policy |
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