China's rise to global economic and strategic eminence, with the potential for achieving pre-eminence in the greater-Asian region, is one of the defining characteristics of the post-Cold War period. This work offers a basic understanding of the military-strategic basis and trajectory of a rising China, provides background, and outlines current and future issues concerning China's rise in strategic-military influence.

The next decade may witness China's assertion of military or strategic pressure on Japan, the Korean Peninsula, India, the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, Central Asia, or even on behalf of future allies in Africa and Latin America. While conflict is not a foregone conclusion, as indicated by China's increasing participation in many benign international organizations, it is a fact that China's leadership will pursue its interests as it sees them, which may not always coincide with those of the United States, its friends, and allies.

Until now, no single volume has existed that provides an authoritative, comprehensive, and concise description of China's evolving geo-strategy or of how China is transforming its military to carry out this strategy. Fisher examines how China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) remains critical to the existence of the Chinese Communist government and looks at China's political and military actions designed to protect its expanded strategic interests in both the Asia-Pacific and Central to Near-Asian regions. Using open sources, including over a decade of unique interview sources, Fisher documents China's efforts to build a larger nuclear force that may soon be protected by missile defenses, modern high technology systems for space, air, and naval forces, and how China is now beginning to assemble naval, air, and ground forces for future power projection missions. His work also examines how the United States and other governments simultaneously seek greater engagement with China on strategic concerns, while hedging against its rising power. Although China faces both internal and external constraints on its rise to global eminence, it cannot be denied that China's government is pursuing a far-reaching strategic agenda.

The Peninsular War and Waterloo told in an ordinary British infantryman's own words
Young Dorset-man William Lawrence had no appetite to be apprenticed to an abusive builder. He attempted to sign on as a sailor bound for Newfoundland, but when that failed he launched himself into a military career in the 40th regiment of foot. He was now a red-coated infantryman of the British Army at a time when there would be years of continual war-first with Spain during the River Plate Expedition in South America and then in the Iberian peninsula fighting under the command of the Duke of Wellington against Napoleon's invading French army. Lawrence adapted well to the life of a soldier and was no angel. He stole, looted and absconded and had the marks of the lash on his back to show for it. Yet he was also the consummate soldier-a typical, tough, hard-fighting component of the army that could 'go anywhere and do anything'. He fought in most of the famous engagements of the Peninsular War including it's most bloody assault at Badajoz. After Napoleon's abdication Lawrence sailed to America, only to return in time for the momentous battle of Waterloo of which he gives us an often quoted account. This are Lawrence's entire recollections told in his own simple dispassionate style-essential as a memoir of the quintessential British infantryman on campaign during the Napoleonic Age.

In the summer of 1940, the German Luftwaffe was preparing to destroy London by bombing it for fifty-six consecutive days and nights.

To spare British children from witnessing the carnage and from possible death, millions of youth were evacuated from their London homes and sent away to safe locations. For many boys and girls, their lives would start over in new towns and often with unknown families. Historically, the idea of evacuating an entire generation of children, separating them from their parents, was unprecedented.

This is the story of one of those evacuee children, Jayne Jaffe, who at age nine, began witnessing the best and worst of humanity: war, love, death, separation, tears, euphoria, destruction and rebuilding.

For the first time, Jayne's remarkable journey is told with compelling narrative by author Jon Helminiak in "This Token of Freedom."

""This Token of Freedom" is an extraordinarily well written and heartwarming story about family courage in a time of historic global strife. It's important reminder of the upheavals wrought by WWII on British parents and their children." "The British Literary Society"

This book fills an important gap in the literature of modern warfare by focusing on random elements in warfare often overlooked in both the planning and execution of military operations—factors that can turn certain success into devastating failure. By definition, the unforeseeable cannot be seen, but one way to bring more variables under consideration when planning a military action is to review those instances where the unforeseeable changed everything. For professionals and enthusiasts alike, Imponderable But Not Inevitable: Warfare in the 20th Century does just that, reviewing specific instances in 20th-century warfare when things did not go according to plan. Imponderable but Not Inevitable uses case studies to expose the "Inevitability Syndrome," exploring the role of luck, fate, and randomness in influencing both victory and defeat. In essays drawn from World War II, Konfrontasi, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War, a distinguished set of military experts looks at real scenarios of inexplicable losses, illustrating why nothing—nothing—should be taken for granted in war.

Exactly how did the Israelites cross the desert? How did Moses cross the Red Sea? How did Joshua take Jericho, and how did the sun appear to stand still at the Ayjllon Valley? No one has ever analyzed the Bible as a military history Gabriel provides the first attempt at a continuous historical narrative of the military history of ancient Israel. He begins with a military analysis of Exodus, an unprecedented and hugely significant contribution to Exodus Studies. This book includes collaborative findings from archaelogy, demography, ethnography, and other relevant disciplines. As a seasoned infantry officer and military historian, Gabriel brings a soldier's eye to the infantry combat described in the Bible. Seeking to make military sense of the Biblical narrative as preserved in Hebrew, he renders comprehensible some of the "mysterious" explanations for famous events.

In volume, an emerging generation of African scholars examines specific states in Africa where instability is the order of the day. Considerations of African instability are highly relevant in today's world, where one examines the types of regimes that were put in place after the Cold War and their effects on Africa. Multiparty systems introduced in Africa, rather than bringing about inclusive governance, allowed for the emergence of religious strife, ethnic conflict, and cronyism inscribed in the continent's "politicalscapes." The economics of exclusivity fueled by globalization have decisively contributed to the emergence of non-state actors claiming sovereignty in sovereign states. From Libya's implosion to the low-key war in Mozambique to the crisis of climate change, there are many variables that make stability a mirage on the continent. Widespread terrorism implies that for the foreseeable future, the continent may be a theater of crises. Regime change, as seen in Libya, Ivory Coast, and Liberia, not only increases instability in the states concerned, but has and will have spill over effects in adjacent states. Boko Haram's activities in Nigeria, which ought to be an internal matter of the Abuja government, for instance, are having negative effects in Chad, Niger, and Cameroon. The effect on food production, disputed access to farmland, and daily challenges faced by food producers are instances of underdevelopment perpetuated by climate change and other challenges considered in this timely book.

In late 1775, a few months after the first shots of the Revolution were fired, Benedict Arnold led over 1,000 troops into Quebec to attack the British there. Departing from Massachusetts, by the time they reached Pittston, Maine, they were in desperate need of supplies and equipment to carry them the rest of the way. Many patriotic Mainers contributed, including Major Reuben Colburn, who constructed a flotilla of bateaux for the weary troops. Despite his service in the Continental Army, many blamed Colburn when several of the vessels did not withstand the harsh journey. In this narrative, the roles played by Colburn and his fellow Mainers in Arnold's march are re-examined and revealed.