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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Defence strategy, planning & research
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 The essays in this book, some previously unpublished, focus on aspects of British-Greek relations, military, diplomatic and academic, during the 20th century.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.
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.
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 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.
An important history of a famous British cavalry regiment
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 the new world disorder, U.S. forces and military doctrine are being reconfigured to deal with the threat posed by regional powers. This change in military doctrine has resulted from the perceived intentions of various regional powers to build advanced conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction. Gupta argues that such a strategy is a response to the announced or supposed intentions of regional powers rather than to their actual capabilities. He follows the pathologies of the Cold War where the Soviet Union's military intentions were countered without taking into account its actual military capability. The result was an escalating arms race. In the post-Cold War context, continuing such Cold War pathologies not only sustains high defense spending but also leads to losing opportunities for co-opting regional powers into institutional mechanisms for creating a more peaceful and stable international system. In order to study the gap between intentions and capabilities, Gupta carries out an in-depth analysis of the weapons acquisition process in India, Israel, and Brazil. He then uses his analyses of regional power military capability to examine the sort of role that this class of countries can play in the emerging international system.
A war of attrition is usually conceptualized as a bloody slogging match, epitomized by imagery of futile frontal assaults on the Western Front of the First World War. As such, many academics, politicians, and military officers currently consider attrition to be a wholly undesirable method of warfare. This first book-length study of wars of attrition challenges this viewpoint. A historical analysis of the strategic thought behind attrition demonstrates that it was often implemented to conserve casualties, not to engage in a bloody senseless assault. Moreover, attrition frequently proved an effective means of attaining a state's political aims in warfare, particularly in serving as a preliminary to decisive warfare, reducing risk of escalation, and coercing an opponent in negotiations. Malkasian analyzes the thought of commanders who implemented policies of attrition from 1789 to the present. His study includes figures central to the study of war, such as the Duke of Wellington, Carl von Clausewitz, B. H. Liddell Hart, General William Slim, General Douglas MacArthur, General Matthew Ridgeway, and General William Westmoreland. While special attention is devoted to the Second World War in the Pacific and the Korean War, this study notes the utility of attrition during the Cold War, as the risk of a Third World War rendered more aggressive strategies unattractive. Increasingly, the United States finds itself facing conflicts that are not amenable to a decisive military solution in which opponents seek prolonged war that will inflict as many casualties as possible on American forces.
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
The author, a historian and former Swiss Armoured Corp officer,
uses primary documents to describe tank tactics during the first
two years of World War II, a period in which armour was employed in
the Polish, Western and Russian campaigns. The first year of
'Operation Barbarossa' is examined in great detail using the files
of the second Panzer Army whose commander, Guderian, who has been
called the father of the German armoured force.
The work examines the rise of the movements against globalization, modernization, and Western dominance that followed the collapse of the bipolar world and the end of the Cold War and that culminated with today's global jihadist movements. It describes how the U.S. had to adapt to this new, asymmetrical world of conflict with its strategic, doctrinal and theoretical responses to the threats of terrorism and insurgency that defined the Global War on Terror (GWOT). Unique in the breadth of its scope, the book connects movements from the Zapatista uprising to Al Qaeda's global jihad within a broader historical framework, connecting pre and post-9/11 conflicts under the unifying theme of a struggle against the forces of modernization. Featuring the works of key theorists such as John Arquilla, Thomas P.M. Barnett, Arthur K. Cebrowski, Jim Gant, Samuel P. Huntington, Robert D. Kaplan, David J. Kilcullen, William H. McRaven, and David Ronfeldt, this book bridges the fields of counterinsurgency, homeland security, counterterrorism, cyberwarfare, and technology of war, and will be a must-read for academics, policymakers and strategists.
Will current strategic planning give the United States the sort of military capabilities that are needed to counter threats likely to occur in the future? Using first-hand experience at the Pentagon and an army background, Lieutenant Colonel Peters outlines serious problems, offers fresh insights into the defense planning process, and makes suggestions for developing an optimal force structure for the year 2000. This analysis utilizes case studies of the Gulf War, departing from recent studies about military reform. Policymakers, experts in political and military strategy, and political scientists interested in the inner workings of government agencies will find this study a provocative one. Peters assesses the global security environment in this post-Cold War era and defines the risks and consequences likely to confront us. Employing the lens of organizational theory, he points to disjunctures between military and political policies and dysfunctional practices in the Defense Department. He describes the basic components in a force structure that would make the nation more secure militarily by the turn of the century.
The 1916 Anglo-French offensive comprising the battles of the Somme marked a change in the Allies' relationships, with the British beginning to play a more important role. From contemporaries to the present the Somme has also produced a number of controversies. This book shows the current state of historians' interpretations of the Somme. The initial section presents the historical background of the offensive, lays out the major interpretative disputes, and identifies the scholars and works in each school of thought. The second section provides a bibliography of more than 700 entries. The initial section of the book presents the historical background of the offensive and lays out the major interpretative disputes about it. The section identifies scholars and works in each school of thought, enables readers to determine where a specific work fits in the spectrum of views, and provides cross references to the bibliography. The second section provides an annotated bibliography of more than 700 entries.
"Desert Battle" is a study of the nature of desert warfare with special attention to the evolution of weaponry, the organization of forces, the impact of the desert environment on the ability of those forces to sustain battle, and the influences of the desert on battle tactics. The work concentrates on seven campaigns, from Bonaparte's adventure in Egypt in 1798-1799 to the 1991 Gulf War. Each campaign is discussed in relation to its political-military background, with focus on leadership, the forces available, and the weapons at their disposal. A narration of each campaign follows, ending with an evaluation in relative degrees of the leadership, weapons, and tactics and the long-run consequences of the campaign. Watson's study opens with a description and analysis of Erwin Rommel's first advance in North Africa in April of 1941, but his emphasis is not on Rommel's magnificent achievements but on the creation of the Rommel legend and its effect on our understanding of desert warfare. That opening chapter is followed by an examination of deserts as a physical context for battle--the nature of the environment and who fights in deserts and why. Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt, 1798-1799, is discussed in the context of desert campaigns. British operations along India's Northwest Frontier from 1849-1852 follow. The Tigris campaign of World War I is particularly notable because it introduced armored cars, thereby increasing an army's mobility in desert sands. The British counterattack against the Italians in North Africa from late 1940 to early 1941 demonstrates how a small army, utilizing surprise, indirect attack, and high mobility, were able to offset the Italians' numerical superiority. Post-World War II battle is illustrated by the Yom Kippur War between the Arabs and the Israelis in 1973. The final campaign discussed is the 1991 Gulf War. Watson's original conclusions about the nature of desert battle and the constants that determine the outcome of battles in that hostile environment are surprising and illuminating. They constitute a real contribution to the study of desert warfare.
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