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Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900
Total War was the core concept around which military thought
revolved during the interwar period. Total War was also a
multifaceted, confusing concept that affected both civilian and
military life. How did small states conceive of their place in such
a destructive war? Did they close their eyes, relying on
international law to protect them, or did they seek creative
solutions? This book examines how Dutch officers, in the shadow of
three great powers, considered their military future, analysing the
impact of European military ideas on a small state. This approach
offers a new perspective on interwar dealing with assumptions about
a new world war.
Twenty-three countries currently allow women to serve in front-line
combat positions and others with a high likelihood of direct enemy
contact. This book examines how these decisions did or did not
evolve in 47 countries. This timely and fascinating book explores
how different countries have determined to allow women in the
military to take on combat roles-whether out of a need for
personnel, a desire for the military to reflect the values of the
society, or the opinion that women improve military
effectiveness-or, in contrast, have disallowed such a move on
behalf of the state. In addition, many countries have insurgent or
dissident factions, in that have led armed resistance to state
authority in which women have been present, requiring national
militaries and peacekeepers to engage them, incorporate them, or
disarm and deradicalize them. This country-by country analysis of
the role of women in conflicts includes insightful essays on such
countries as Afghanistan, China, Germany, Iraq, Israel, Russia, and
the United States. Each essay provides important background
information to help readers to understand the cultural and
political contexts in which women have been integrated into their
countries' militaries, have engaged in combat during the course of
conflict, and have come to positions of political power that affect
military decisions. Delineates the ways in which women are
incorporated into national militaries in both the United States and
countries around the world Offers in each entry the distinct
national context in which countries have decided to employ women in
warfare Reveals how different nations choose to include or exclude
women from the military, providing key insight into each nation's
values and priorities Examines how governments treat women serving
in combat: battlefield experience can "earn" a woman citizenship or
be cause for shunning her, depending on the state
The #1 Irish Times bestseller WINNER of the An Post Irish Book
Awards 'A clear-eyed, myth-dispelling masterpiece' Marian Keyes
'Sweeping, authoritative and profoundly intelligent' Colm Toibin,
Guardian 'With the pace and twists of an enthralling novel' Irish
Times 'Evocative, moving, funny and furious' Dominic Sandbrook,
Sunday Times 'An enthralling, panoramic book' Patrick Radden Keefe
'A book that will remain important for a very long time' An Post
Irish Book Award We Don't Know Ourselves is a very personal vision
of recent Irish history from the year of O'Toole's birth, 1958,
down to the present. Ireland has changed almost out of recognition
during those decades, and Fintan O'Toole's life coincides with that
arc of transformation. The book is a brilliant interweaving of
memories (though this is emphatically not a memoir) and engrossing
social and historical narrative. This was the era of Eamon de
Valera, Jack Lynch, Charles Haughey and John Charles McQuaid, of
sectarian civil war in the North and the Pope's triumphant visit in
1979, but also of those who began to speak out against the ruling
consensus - feminists, advocates for the rights of children, gay
men and women coming out of the shadows. We Don't Know Ourselves is
an essential book for anyone who wishes to understand modern
Ireland.
British Air Power demonstrates how the Royal Air Force sought to
adapt in regard to the roles it could play and the conflicts in
which it could be used, as well as the evolution of air power
doctrine at a time of rapid changes in national politics and in the
international arena. The development of new concepts and theories,
the evaluation of operational experience, the political environment
and budgetary cuts, and the role of academics and personalities in
development of doctrine are thus all explored to show changes in
strategic thinking regarding air power. Fedorchak further examines
the influence of jointery - the process of co-operation between the
army, navy and air force - on thinking, conceptualising, teaching
and using air power in recent operations in Afghanistan, Iraq,
Libya and Syria. A contemporary complement to more historical
studies, British Air Power provides a very detailed look at the
development of air-land doctrine in the RAF since the turn of the
century.
A Liberian academic and former government official accounts for and
reflects upon half a century of work and experience. An important
Liberian political memoir, the book is at once Dunn's critical
exposition on his country and an attempt to explain how Liberia
came to be what it is today. In 26 captivating chapters he recounts
careers as academic, and services as aide to slain Liberian
President Tolbert and consultant to former President Johnson
Sirleaf. Between government service in crisis times (late 1970s)
and in hopeful times (early 2000s) is positioned more than three
decades of University teaching and research.
Quakers and Native Americans examines the history of interactions
between Quakers and Native Americans (American Indians). Fourteen
scholarly essays cover the period from the 1650s to the twentieth
century. American Indians often guided the Quakers by word and
example, demanding that they give content to their celebrated
commitment to peace. As a consequence, the Quakers' relations with
American Indians has helped define their sense of mission and
propelled their rise to influence in the U.S. Quakers have
influenced Native American history as colonists, government
advisors, and educators, eventually promoting boarding schools,
assimilation and the suppression of indigenous cultures. The final
two essays in this collection provide Quaker and American Indian
perspectives on this history, bringing the story up to the present
day. Contributors include: Ray Batchelor, Lori Daggar, John
Echohawk, Stephanie Gamble, Lawrence M. Hauptman, Allison Hrabar,
Thomas J. Lappas, Carol Nackenoff, Paula Palmer, Ellen M. Ross,
Jean R. Soderlund, Mary Beth Start, Tara Strauch, Marie Balsley
Taylor, Elizabeth Thompson, and Scott M. Wert.
In this biography Rodney Atwood details the life of General Lord
Rawlinson of Trent (1864-1925), a distinguished British soldier
whose career culminated in decisive victories on the Western Front
in 1918 and command of the Indian Army in the early 1920s. He
served his soldier's apprenticeship in the Victorian colonial wars
in Burma, the Sudan and South Africa. His career provides a lens
through which to examine the British Army in the late-19th and
early-20th century. In the South African War (1899-1902)
Rawlinson's ideas aided the defence of Ladysmith, and he
distinguished himself leading a mobile column in the guerrilla war.
In the First World War he held an important command in most of the
British Expeditionary Force's battles on the Western Front. He
bears a heavy part-responsibility for the disastrous first day of
the Somme, but later in the battle his successful tactics inflicted
heavy losses on the enemy. His Western Front career culminated in a
series of victories beginning at Amiens. He commanded the Indian
Army between 1920 and 1925 at a time of military and political
tension following the 3rd Afghan War and the Amritsar Massacre. He
introduced necessary reforms, cut expenditure at a time of postwar
retrenchment and began commissioning Indians to replace British
officers. He would have taken up the post of CIGS (Chief of the
Imperial General Staff), thus being the only British soldier to
hold these two top posts. He died, however, four days after his
sixty-first birthday. Drawing extensively on archival material
including Rawlinson's own engagingly-written letters and diaries,
this thorough examination of his life will be of great interest to
those studying British military history, imperial history and the
First World War.
What is it to practice history in an age in which photographs
exist? What is the impact of photographs on the core
historiographical practices which define the discipline and shape
its enquiry and methods? In Photographs and the Practice of
History, Elizabeth Edwards proposes a new approach to historical
thinking which explores these questions and redefines the practices
at the heart of this discipline. Structured around key concepts in
historical methodology which are recognisable to all
undergraduates, the book shows that from the mid-19th century
onward, photographs have influenced historical enquiry. Exposure to
these mass-distributed cultural artefacts is enough to change our
historical frameworks even when research is textually-based.
Conceptualised as a series of 'sensibilities' rather than a
methodology as such, it is intended as a companion to 'how to'
approaches to visual research and visual sources. Photographs and
the Practice of History not only builds on existing literature by
leading scholars: it also offers a highly original approach to
historiographical thinking that gives readers a foundation on which
to build their own historical practices.
After World War I, the U.S. Navy's brief alliance with the British
Royal Navy gave way to disagreements over disarmament, fleet size,
interpretations of freedom of the seas, and general economic
competition. This go-it-alone approach lasted until the next world
war, when the U.S. Navy found itself fighting alongside the
British, Canadian, Australian, and other Allied navies until the
surrender of Germany and Japan. In The U.S. Navy and Its Cold War
Alliances, 1945-1953, Corbin Williamson explores the transformation
this cooperation brought about in the U.S. Navy's engagement with
other naval forces during the Cold War. Like the onetime looming
danger of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, growing concerns about
the Soviet naval threat drew the U.S. Navy into tight relations
with the British, Canadian, and Australian navies. The U.S. Navy
and Its Cold War Alliances, 1945-1953, brings to light the
navy-to-navy links that political concerns have kept out of the
public sphere: a web of informal connections that included
personnel exchanges, standardization efforts in equipment and
doctrine, combined training and education, and joint planning for a
war with the Soviets. Using a 'history from the middle' approach,
Corbin Williamson draws upon the archives of all four nations,
including documents only recently declassified, to analyze the
actions of midlevel officials and officers who managed and
maintained these alliances on a day-to-day basis. His work
highlights the impact of domestic politics and security concerns on
navy-to-navy relations, even as it integrates American naval
history with those of Britain, Canada, and Australia. In doing so,
the book provides a valuable new perspective on the little-studied
but critical transformation of the U.S. Navy's peacetime alliances
during the Cold War.
The Siege of Sarajevo remains the longest siege in modern European
history, lasting three times longer than the Battle of Stalingrad
and over a year longer than the Siege of Leningrad. Reporting the
Siege of Sarajevo provides the first detailed account of the
reporting of this siege and the role that journalists played in
highlighting both military and non-military aspects of it. The book
draws on detailed primary and secondary material in English and
Bosnian, as well as extensive interviews with international
correspondents who covered events in Sarajevo from within siege
lines. It also includes hitherto unpublished images taken by the
co-author and award-winning photojournalist, Paul Lowe. Together
Morrison and Lowe document a relatively short but crucial period in
both the history of Bosnia & Herzegovina, the city of Sarajevo
and the profession of journalism. The book provides crucial
observations and insights into an under-researched aspect of a
critical period in Europe's recent history.
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