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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > General
Despite fifteen years of concerted effort to remake NATO, the much
heralded alliance is in decline. The states that established NATO
in 1949 confronted a common threat to their survival. The Alliance
has endeavored to identify a new raison d'etre since 1991, but no
unifying set of priorities has surfaced. Though dangers to Western
security have emerged--the rise of Al Qaeda arguably the most
significant--these threats have not unified NATO. In the absence of
a menace to their vital interests, and with fundamental policy
differences dividing North America and Europe, NATO is succumbing
to the pressure of the times.
Being a boy from a small town goes from being shy to being the
first college graduate in his entire family. To being a Captain in
the infantry graduating from Fort Benning infantry school and basic
training in the hottest weather Camp Wolters, Texas could deal out.
To being president of his fraternity, to becoming an attorney, to
being a JAGC officer in Korea, to being a founding partner of a
prestigious law firm, to finally ending career as an individual
practitioner of estate law.
Every since Talleyrand assumed a prominent role during the opening
stages of the French Revolution, his intentions and motivations
have been the subject of heated debate. The debate about his
achievements and merits is far from over. This bibliography is the
first to be compiled on Napoleon's foreign minister. It opens with
a chronology of Talleyrand's life and an introduction summarizing
the salient points in his career. It is then divided into sections
covering the available archival sources, Talleyrand's own writings,
contemporary pamphlets and books, and works written about him since
his death. The volume opens with a chronology of Talleyrand's life
and an introduction summarizing the salient points in his career
and pointing to discrepancies in the Talleyrand historiography. The
initial section describes the most important archival sources
available in France and other countries. The second section covers
Talleyrand's own publications, his parliamentary interventions, and
his correspondence. Contemporary pamphlets and books, many critical
of Talleyrand's secularization of Church property, are covered in
the third section. The final section includes works written about
Talleyrand since his death as well as works on topics related to
him, such as his women and children, his portrayal in art and
literature, and a list of drawings and lithographs dedicated to
him.
No anthology of the Viet Nam War has ever been written with such
emphasis on telling the poignant and revealing personal stories of
average soldiers. War makes for strange, sometimes even humorous
tales, and while some are quite spiritual in their effect, they
still contain realistic and historic accuracy. Lt. Col. Robert W.
Michel, U.S. Army Retired, compiled this cast of enlisted men and
officers whose experiences span a range from a puppy dog to a
former POW and those of a State Senator from Massachusetts. He
spent countless hours pouring over these and dozens of other
stories until he found what he believed to be an accurate
representation of what many soldiers experienced during the Viet
Nam War.
For the first time, Sophie Harwood uses the Old French tradition as
a lens through which to examine women and warfare from the 12th to
the 14th centuries. The result is a skilled analysis of gender
roles in the medieval era, and a heightened awareness of how
important literary texts are to our understanding of the historical
period in which they circulated. Medieval Women and War examines
both the text and illustrations of over 30 Old French manuscripts
to highlight the ways in many of the texts differ from their
traditionally assumed (usually classical) sources. Structured
around five pivotal female types - women cited as causes for
violence, women as victims of violence, women as ancillaries to
warriors, women as warriors themselves, and women as political
influences - this important book unpicks gendered boundaries to
shed new light on the social, political and military structures of
warfare as well as adding nuance to current debates on womanhood in
the middle ages.
Volume two of the set provides an introduction to the history of the Soviet armed forces from 1917 to 1991.The sixteen chapters show how the Bolsheviks survived the end of the First World War, the struggles against the White Armies and the Poles, the Leninist, Trotskyite, and Stalinist reconstructions, the Red Air Force, the Five-Year Plans, and more. Robin Higham and Frederick W. Kagan highlight the many facets of the Cold War, including the rise of the Soviet Navy after the Great Patriotic War, the disaster in Afghanistan, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Samuel A. Burney, born in April 1840, was the son of Thomas
Jefferson Burney and Julia Shields Burney. He graduated from Mercer
University (then at Penfield, Georgia) in 1860. He joined the
Panola Guards, an infantry component of Thomas R. R. Cobb's Georgia
Legion, in July 1861. For the next four years he served in the Army
of Northern Virginia both in Virginia and in Tennessee. Burney was
wounded at Chancellorsville in May 1863, and as a result of his
wound he was placed in disability in March 1864 and served the
remainder of the war on commissary duty in southwest Georgia. After
the war, Burney returned to Mercer's school of theology, was
ordained into the Baptist ministry, and served as pastor of several
churches in Morgan County. He was pastor of the Madison Baptist
Church until shortly before his death in 1896. These letters of a
college graduate written to his wife, Sarah Elizabeth Shepherd
Burney are lyrical and beautifully written. Burney describes
battles, camp life, theology, and the day-to-day dreariness of life
in the army. This is an astounding collection of letters for anyone
interested in the Civil War, or the South.
Filmic constructions of war heroism have a profound impact on
public perceptions of conflicts. Here, contributors examine the
ways motifs of gender and heroism in war films are used to justify
ideological positions, shape the understanding of the military
conflicts, support political agendas and institutions, and
influence collective memory.
All seemed well until September 1. 1939 when the Germans invaded
Poland. Peter's world would never be the same again. As World War
II began young Peter extinguished incinerated bombs, dug anti
aircraft ditches, and delivered water and food to soldiers . Peter
describes how he and his family survived the German's occupation,
with one member of the family arrested by the Gestapo. Determined
to fight for the freedom of his country, in 1944 Peter at age 15
joined the Warsaw Uprising. Suddenly the boy who once happily spent
his days swimming in Pucka Bay, was carrying grenades in his
pockets and swinging liquid courage from a vodka bottle.
The history of a Warsaw insurgent shares details from one man's
journey through war-torn Poland offering an enlightening glimpse
into the history of his beloved homeland.
The first biography of one of George Washington's most able and
controversial generals examines the military career of William
Maxwell from British army commissary to commander of the New Jersey
Continental troops in major northern battles and campaigns and
numerous confrontations with British incursionary forces into New
Jersey. As Washington's first commander of the light infantry
troops, Maxwell had crucial roles in the battles of Cooch's Bridge
(Iron Hill), Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, and Springfield, and
led the New Jersey brigade in the Sullivan Indian expedition.
Maxwell and his brigade frequently served as a probing arm for
Washington's army. This book addresses the role of Maxwell as
commander and describes the participation and ordeals of his New
Jersey brigade. It offers insights into the quality of leadership
both of Washington and the officer corps in general, giving a rare
view of the Revolutionary War at the brigade level and the politics
of command.
Officer of Light Dragoons by Peter Hawker
Campaign in Portugal and Spain by William Graham
Two accounts of contrasting perspectives of the British Army in the
field
This book is yet another Leonaur 'two for the price of one' volume
bringing together two vital accounts of the experiences of British
soldiers on campaign within a single great value edition. The first
account is based on a journal kept by a captain of HM 14th Light
Dragoons and takes the reader to war against Napoleon's Army in the
company of the cavalry through the Talavera campaign of 1808 and
1809. William Graham was an officer in the Commissariat and he
clearly relished his first opportunity to 'travel' as he gives us
great detail of the doings of the army and the countryside through
which it campaigned. Graham seems to have been prepared to move
closer to the battlefield than his occupation might suggest making
this an entertaining account of life in Wellington's Army as it
pushed northwards to the Pyrenees and the South of France.
An insightful and expert assessment examines how best to end-and
avert-wars. How do we avoid war? To arrive at an answer, master
analyst Richard Weitz explores the ways nations, international
organizations, and individuals have sought to bring order to an
inherently disorderly phenomenon-potential and actual violent
conflict among organized political entities. Specifically, War and
Governance: International Security in a Changing World Order
analyzes a number of critical issues such as whether regional
security institutions have distinct advantages and liabilities in
promoting international security, as compared with universal
organizations like the United Nations. Other important questions
are addressed, as well. How will international organizations, such
as the UN, EU, and NATO, change the nature of war in the 21st
century-and be changed by it? What role might less formal
institutions and nongovernmental organizations play in peacemaking?
Will the nation-state remain the most important international
security actor? The book ends with a gap analysis that identifies
incongruities between international needs and capabilities-and
suggests ways to overcome them. Short case studies A survey of key
institutions and sub-organizations Maps
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