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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > General
The Jewish attachment to Zion is many centuries old. Although the modern Zionist movement was organized only a little more than a century ago, the roots of the Zionist idea reach back almost 4,000 years, to the day that the biblical patriarch Abraham left his home in Ur of the Chaldees to settle in the promised land - the place where the Jewish state subsequently arose. For many decades, Zionism was not supported by the majority of Jews for whom the state was intended. It was only as a result of some of the most tragic events in human history that it became widely accepted, within the Jewish community, and further afield, and that it achieved its goals. Historical Dictionary of Zionism is an excellent source of information on Zionism, its founders and leaders, its various strands and organizations, major events in its struggle, and its present status. By showing the movement's strengths and weaknesses, it also acts as a corrective to overly idealistic comments by its supporters and the wilder claims of its opponents. A much more realistic understanding is offered in the Introduction, which presents and explains the movement; the Chronology, which shows its historic progression; the
Since Bush's infamous "Axis of Evil" speech, war in Iraq was a
seemingly inevitable consequence of the War on Terrorism. Cornish
brings together an expert group of analysts to provide a balanced
and coherent study of the pre-War build up, all aspects of the
conflict, and the War's political and economic ramifications for
all involved.
My Side of the Story shares a narrative of G. Warren Collier's World War II experiences in the western European theater, as told to his daughter, Judy Collier Johnson. He shares the intimate detail of what it was like to be in the army during World War II through a series of letters and recollections. Collier, a young man from a simple Iowa farm, found himself in an army plagued by rules and regulations. After advanced training at Camp Roberts, California, in the desert, he received his marching orders and was sent first to England and then to Omaha Beach. As a private serving the company commander as his driver, he was privy to the ways the army operated, which were frequently unorganized at best. Many times, Collier and his commander took a command car on dangerous scouting expeditions. At the same time he was driving for the commander, he was also serving as the company clerk since he was the only man in his company who could type. Th rough his work, he became acquainted with ordinary soldiers and spent as much time with them as possible. My Side of the Story paints a picture of lives of everyday soldiers during World War II and the joys and heartaches they shared.
The War for Independence had substantial impact on the lives of all Americans, establishing a nation and confirming American identity. This book focuses on a conflict which was both civil war and revolution, and assesses how Americans coped with the shock waves and met the challenge of adapting to the ideals of Independence and Republicanism. While the war effected political reconstruction and brought economic self-sufficiency and expansion, it also had a negative side in the oppression of dissenting and ethnic minorities. The text seeks to highlight the effect of the war on the lives of those who lived through it.
This is the story of the last few months of WWII in the Pacific, seen through the eyes of one man, a radio operator aboard a B29 Superfortress who kept a diary of 28 missions over Japan. The diary tells of the horrors of war. It was written in darkness, and often fear, with a pen-light during lonely hours confined for up to 18 hours at a time. Herb Greer our main author, 23 years old, frightened and sitting on up to 20,000 pounds of jellied gasoline (napalm), while blindly flying through constant flak bursts and fighter opposition. The plane is blacked out save the dull red glow of the instrument panels as they pass through the target area. Suddenly the most intense bright light floods the aircraft, blinding us - the tension in the aircraft shot up, hearts started beating a whole lot faster as we instantly realized that we were being singled out of the sky by a searchlight and were now firmly in the sights of air and ground fire, we were the main act, and center stage. From that moment everything went into slow motion as we pass through the target - seconds felt like minutes and minutes, hours. BOOM, an explosion, the plane rocks, bucks, flak is searing its way through the fragile fabric of the fuselage, loose items are flying around, I'm scared - they say you can taste fear - well they're absolutely right. This personal view gives us two perspectives, the first is the story of Herb Greer speaking to us aboard a B29 through the written entries of his diary and then the second recounted from his armchair 60 years later. Written with an immediacy that can only be shared by those who were there, while capturing for posterity their bravery and dignity of sacrifice.
This volume offers an innovative and counter-intuitive study of how and why artificial intelligence-infused weapon systems will affect the strategic stability between nuclear-armed states. Johnson demystifies the hype surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) in the context of nuclear weapons and, more broadly, future warfare. The book highlights the potential, multifaceted intersections of this and other disruptive technology - robotics and autonomy, cyber, drone swarming, big data analytics, and quantum communications - with nuclear stability. Anticipating and preparing for the consequences of the AI-empowered weapon systems are fast becoming a critical task for national security and statecraft. Johnson considers the impact of these trends on deterrence, military escalation, and strategic stability between nuclear-armed states - especially China and the United States. The book draws on a wealth of political and cognitive science, strategic studies, and technical analysis to shed light on the coalescence of developments in AI and other disruptive emerging technologies. Artificial intelligence and the future of warfare sketches a clear picture of the potential impact of AI on the digitized battlefield and broadens our understanding of critical questions for international affairs. AI will profoundly change how wars are fought, and how decision-makers think about nuclear deterrence, escalation management, and strategic stability - but not for the reasons you might think. -- .
The Illustrated guide to the Anglo-Zulu War is a guide to the famous clash in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. The title describes and explains the origins of the conflict, the Zulu, British and colonial military systems, the combatants’ tactics and strategies. It includes a narrative of the course of the campaign accompanied by maps of military operations, descriptions of the fortifications with detailed diagrams, and accounts with maps of all the major battles and several lesser engagements. All the campaign, battle and sector maps are in full colour, as are many of the pictures which enliven the text. The aim is to lead the reader through the history of the campaign and to guide them to the actual sites of the ware, while at the same time providing a sense of the human and social context in which military and civilian commentators of a previous century experienced the violence of invasion and war. In all its aspects this title is the essential guide to a full understanding of the Zululand campaign of 1879.
In 1095 the First Crusade was launched, establishing a great military endeavour which was a central preoccupation of Europeans until the end of the thirteenth century. In Western warfare in the age of the Crusades, 1000-1300 John France offers a wide-ranging and challenging survey of war and warfare and its place in the development of European Society, culture and economy in the period of the Crusades. Placing the crusades in a wider context, this book brings together the wealth of recent scholarly research on such issues as knighthood, siege warfare, chivalry and fortifications into an accessible form. Western warfare in the age of the Crusades, 1000-1300 examines the nature of war in the period 1000-1300 and argues that it was primarily shaped by the people who conducted war - the landowners. John France illuminates the role of property concerns in producing the characteristic instruments of war: the castle and the knight. This authoritative study details the way in which war was fought and the reasons for it as well as reflecting on the society which produced the crusades.
A comprehensive overview of warfare in Vietnamese history from the early efforts to free themselves from Chinese control, through the Indo-China and Vietnam Wars, the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, up to the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979. Concentrating on the Vietnam War, the author explores the conflict from the Vietnamese perspective, demonstrating how for many Vietnamese the war was merely one of a long series of struggles against foreign domination. Encompassing socio-political, economic, diplomatic and cultural issues, this text provides an introduction to Vietnam's military history and will be of interest to students of 20th century American and Asian history.
The year 2002 marked the 250th anniversary of the birth of General George Rogers Clark. In celebrating Clark's life, this book presents new information and new interpretations of his impact upon the settlement of Kentucky and his control of the Old Northwest Territories. The co-editors-- who include traditional historians, social historians, and revisionists--include new details not previously published or found within a single source to bring Clark research into the new century. Thirteen experts on various aspects of Clark's life and achievements go beyond his military career as a Revolutionary War hero and frontier Indian fighter to detail the whole of his accomplishments. They address his tragedies along with his triumphs in a refreshingly balanced portrayal. Specific topics of interest include Clark's settlement at Fort Jefferson, the myths surrounding his love life, his management of the Kentucky/Ohio Valley frontier, and a collection of portraiture art never before gathered in one volume.
A collection of essays charting the developments in military practice and warfare across the world in the early modern and modern periods.
For some historians, wars are made of battles and maps, generals and strategies. But only the soldier who was there, on the ground, can truly comprehend the realities of war, its stories of individual triumph, the formation of lifelong friendships, and above all, doing a job that had to be done against all adversity. "The 440th Signal Battalion" chronicles the saga of one U.S. Army battalion over seven decades, a time during which the world, and its warfare, changed more than it had in the thousand years that came before. Experience war as the 440th did, as they are attacked the night of December 10, 1944, by the Japanese, often unable to see their adversaries, but close enough to exchange taunts with an enemy soldier, through the heart wrenching story of the death of Specialist Aaron R. Clark in Iraq in December 2003, the battalion's last wartime loss before its inactivation in 2007. From World War II, through Korea, the Cold War, and the Gulf War, the story of the 440th comes to life through hundreds of interviews, documents, and photographs. Ultimately, it is a story of ordinary people acting extraordinarily. For more information, visit http: //440thsignalbattalion.blogspot.com.
Lewis thoroughly analyzes the processes through which social reality is constructed and subjectively appropriated by individuals. Step-by-step he shows precisely how a war in Southeast Asia became a young man's reality, how Americans found themseles compelled to scrap the cultural knowledge they had been taught, how an individual went from civilian to combat soldier and back again and was flung into a cultural twilight zone. To reconstruct their world view, Lewis dips into the minds, hearts, and souls of the young men who witnessed the Vietnam War firsthand. As they tell their own stories he focuses on the socio-psychological consequences.
First published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
The nature and role of paid foreign forces have altered considerably in the late twentieth century. 'Military companies' - private firms providing active military assistance, in some cases involving combat - have exploited the increasing reluctance of Western governments and multilateral organizations to intervene directly in civil conflicts. As a result, their influence has increased. David Shearer argues that the debate over the use of these companies - notably the South African firm Executive Outcomes (EO) - has not, however, kept pace with their development. Companies such as EO are widely seen as merely modern-day mercenary outfits exploiting violence for private gain. Shearer contends that the need to recast the debate on military companies is urgent. These companies are not a passing phenomenon; if anything, their influence and activities are set to increase in the next century as Western military retrenchment continues. Efforts to restrict the activities of military companies by drafting international or domestic legislation have to date been ineffective, and are likely to remain so. This paper - the first detailed analysis of the private military sector - argues that dismissing it as an unpleasant aberration is misleading and unhelpful. Military companies can claim success in achieving immediate strategic objectives. The author cites two examples at length - EO's operations in Angola in 1993-94, and in Sierra Leone in 1995-96 - and suggests that military force can stabilize a crisis. Engagement with military companies may create possibilities for them to complement international and regional peacekeeping efforts. Traditional UN peacekeeping is flawed in terms of its speed of mobilization and lines of authority, and is hampered by interference from contributing countries. The private sector may avoid many of these difficulties. Private Armies and Military Intervention concludes that transparency of operations and business relationships is a crucial first step towards ensuring the accountability of the private military sector. However, a coherent policy towards military companies has yet to be formulated. Current frameworks under international law are insufficient and inappropriate. Characterizing the activities of military companies as 'mercenary' offers few useful means to tackle the issue within a framework of international policy. What is required is a more pragmatic approach that assesses the effectiveness of - and engages with - private armies.
This work of military history integrates the Italian dimension into the wider political and military history of early modern Europe.
This book makes the case for why cooperation is the key to security within and between states, and for dealing with complex threats and challenges to international peace and security. It argues that cooperation is not altruism or liberal internationalism, rather it is in the self-interest of states. Drawing on both theory and practice, it looks at how cooperation can be promoted within and between states as well as in the global community. It explains the concept of 'cooperative security' and its potential contribution to promoting integration against the current of fragmentation. Furthermore, the book explores the potential impact of technology on cooperation. It makes an urgent call for new ideas and approaches to encourage people and states to work together to deal with complex threats and challenges. This book will be of particular interest to students of diplomacy studies, foreign policy and international relations, and to practitioners dealing with security issues.
This book explores the causes and implications of the Libyan crisis since the anti-Gaddafi uprisings of 2011 from the perspective of the EU and NATO. It asks the question of why those organizations failed to stabilize the country despite the serious challenges posed by the protracted crisis to European and transatlantic stakes in the region. This book argues that such failure originated in a twofold problem common to both organizations: their prioritization of legitimacy over strategy, and their path dependence - the insufficient degree of adaptation to meet the different needs of the crisis. Through a critical and integrated analysis of official sources and extensive interviews with EU, NATO, UN, and national government officials and militaries, as well as from NGO personnel, Libyan institutions and civil society, and media, the volume brings the perspective of both state and non-state actors to the fore. It reveals how wrong assumptions and centrifugal forces within the EU and NATO hampered initiatives, and how the inability to use hard power judiciously and effectively in an increasingly complex and multifaceted scenario worsened the crisis. This allowed for unprecedented influence of regional and global competitors such as Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey and Russia in the richest African country. This book will be of key interest for scholars and students of Libya and North Africa, NATO, the European Union, security and conflict studies, Middle East studies, migration, terrorism, peacebuilding and, more broadly, international relations. |
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