Since September 2001, the United States has waged what the government initially called the "global war on terrorism (GWOT)." Beginning in late 2005 and early 2006, the term Long War began to appear in U.S. security documents such as the National Security Council's National Strategy for Victory in Iraq and in statements by the U.S. Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the JCS. The description Long War--unlimited in time and space and continuing for decades--is closer to reality and more useful than GWOT. Colonel Robert Cassidy argues that this protracted struggle is more correctly viewed as a global insurgency and counterinsurgency. Al Qaeda and its affiliates, he maintains, comprise a novel and evolving form of networked insurgents who operate globally, harnessing the advantages of globalization and the information age. They employ terrorism as a tactic, subsuming terror within their overarching aim of undermining the Western-dominated system of states. Placing the war against al Qaeda and its allied groups and organizations in the context of a global insurgency has vital implications for doctrine, interagency coordination, and military cultural change-all reviewed in this important work. Cassidy combines the foremost maxims of the most prominent Western philosopher of war and the most renowned Eastern philosopher of war to arrive at a threefold theme: know the enemy, know yourself, and know what kind of war you are embarking upon. To help readers arrive at that understanding, he first offers a distilled analysis of al Qaeda and its associated networks, with a particular focus on ideology and culture. In subsequent chapters, he elucidates the challenges big powers face when theyprosecute counterinsurgencies, using historical examples from Russian, American, British, and French counterinsurgent wars before 2001. The book concludes with recommendations for the integration and command and control of indigenous forces and other agencies.

Victory over Mexico added vast western territories to America, but it also quickened the domestic slavery debate and crippled Mexico for decades, making the Mexican War one of our most ambiguous conflicts. Primary documents, biographical sketches and narrative chapters rounded out by twenty images and maps and a robust bibliography and index make this work by two of America's foremost Antebellum historians a must have to understand one of our most contentious episodes. The United States went to war with Mexico in the spring of 1846 and by the fall of 1847 American soldiers were walking in the streets of Mexico City. The following February, Mexico was forced to sign the Treaty fo Guadalupe Hidalgo that ceded what became the U.S. Southwest and Pacific Coast. Rather than an isolated episode, the war was the culmination of a series of events that began before Mexican independence and included treaty arrangements with Spain, the revolt of Mexico's northern province of Texas, and the growing discord over American reactions to Texan independence. The legacy of the war was dire for both countries. The victorious United States commenced a bitter argument over the fate of slavery in the territories acquired from Mexico that eventually culminated in southern secession and Civil War. Defeated Mexico coped for decades with a ruined economy and a broken political system while nursing a grudge against the Colossus of the North. This book examines these events from both the American and Mexican perspectives. Topics covered include succinct histories of the American and Mexican Republics from their colonial founding to their independence from European countries; The problems over Texas, including Anglo immigration, the Texas Revolution, and the controversies surrounding U.S. annexation of Texas; the crises instigated by American annexation of Texas brought on by the crossed purposes of American expansionist aims and domestic concerns over slavery; the northern campaigns of the war in California and New Mexico; Winfield Scott's amphibious landing and siege at Vera Cruz and his epic march to Mexico City and the collapse of the Mexican government; and finally the crafting of the peace treaty and the bitter legacies of the war for both the U.S. and Mexico. Biographical sketches of Valentin Gomez Farias, Jose Joaquin de Herrere, Sam Houston, Stephen Watts Kearny, President James Polk and other notable figures of the event provide firsthand glimpses into the motivations of the key players. Nine maps, eleven images, a detailed chronology, and a dozen vital annotated primary documents add considerable depth to the book. An extensive annotated biography and robust index complete this valuable new edition on one of Young America's most trying and contentious periods.

Napoleon, finding his proffers of peace rejected by England with contumely and scorn, and declined by Austria, now prepared, with his wonted energy, to repel the assaults of the allies. As he sat in his cabinet at the Tuileries, the thunders of their unre

Understanding how leaders make foreign policy and national security decisions is of paramount importance for the policy community and academia. This book explores how leaders such as Trump, Obama, Netanyahu and others make decisions using the Applied Decision Analysis (ADA) method. The chapters gathered here analyse the decisions made by key political figures around the world, past and present, in order to shed light on how these decisions are made and what policy implications they have for their own and other nations. Several chapters also focus on military decision making, including around pivotal times in history including the second world war and the evolution of nuclear warfare.

This in-depth and forthright biography examines the personal and professional life of General David Petraeus, today's most prominent military leader. David Petraeus: A Biography offers an objective assessment of the life and career of the man who is arguably the most important military figure of the decade and certainly an officer who has had an enormous impact on U.S. military strategy and policy. The biography examines the full range of Petraeus's experiences, from his youth in New York to his involvement with the 101st Airborne Division to the 2007 MoveOn.org controversy. The author, a military historian and army strategist, explores the general's considerable influence on officer development, as well as the ways in which his integration of diplomatic, economic, and informational components into military campaigns have transformed the Department of Defense's approach to warfare. Readers will be able to clearly trace Petraeus's rise to prominence and discover how his actions have shaped, and been shaped by, current events in the United States and the Middle East.

"Roger Ball is a magnificent read about a great and distinguished life well lived. John Monroe Smith is a living legend in Naval aviation: an all-American boy living his dream, a dream of becoming the best fighter pilot and carrier aviator in the Navy. He succeeded in being the best in a way that only one with unbridled passion, fierce commitment, boundless energy, unconditional dedication and relentless resolve can experience." -Ed Allen, Rear Admiral, USN (Retired) In the wake of the hard lessons of the Vietnam War, a pantheon of committed naval aviators struggled valiantly to modernize fighter aircraft and overhaul tactics. It was a seemingly titanic task marked by political intrigue, doctrinal apoplexy, and sadly, petty politics. This is the personal story of one of those naval aviators, Captain John Monroe "Hawk" Smith. It chronicles his growth as a naval officer, his seasoning as a fighter pilot, and his hardening as a commanding officer. It tells of the raw courage of naval aviators and captures the visceral loyalty, unswerving commitment, and the unsinkable camaraderie that is the brotherhood of naval aviation. Roger Ball is a seven-g, heart-in-the-throat story of the very unforgiving profession of naval aviation.

Often the only time a nation evaluates the education of its armed forces is during the aftermath of a great military disaster. Even in the light of an overwhelming victory, such as the Gulf War, questions about how well military education was addressing the study of asymmetric warfare, the Revolution in Military Affairs, the role of non-state actors and international relations in the new world order were the subject of debate in and around the various staff colleges and military universities in the West. This work brings together the ideas of international scholars, all recognized as leaders in their fields, to examine the professional military education experience of various nations during the last 250 years. Case studies of each branch of the military reveal success and failure in the past and present, with a goal of improving military education in the future.

Underlying themes clearly reveal the need for those questioning military education to utilize history as the preferred method and model of imperial analysis. These include economics and defense spending; national psyches and the proper maintenance of armed forces; and the importance of individuals, both military and civilian, with a clear vision, determination, and the moral courage to formulate and support military education programs. In practice, training often predominates over education, and the result has frequently been an officer corps that has not functioned well in peacetime preparations and has ultimately failed on the battlefield due to an inability to think effectively. This study highlights the role of civilian educators as vital in the creation of successful educational programs.

Samuel Pepys began his celebrated diary in 1660, at the age of 26, as a young and ambitious secretary. Due to his support of the king's restoration, he soon found himself in an influential position in the Royal Navy's administration. He was to keep the diary for nearly ten years, until his eye sight failed, and in it he would record many of the great events of the age, such as the outbreak of plague and the Great Fire of London, as well as many smaller, domestic and personal happenings. Although written in shorthand and principally for his own personal remembrance and pleasure, it is clear at times that Pepys had one eye on posterity. It is a large work, conveniently divided into one volume per year; here is the first, based on the first complete edition, that of Henry B. Wheatley, originally published in 1893.

This book offers a perspective decidedly different from that of the Bush Administration and its neoconservative supporters. Since the United Nations embraced the right of national self-determination in 1945, the historical odds have been unfavorable to great powers that impose military occupations on smaller nations. This point is bolstered by the evidence from history, and is particularly pertinent to the American occupation of Iraq, where a robust insurgency has delayed projected successes by the administration and wartime planners. Drawing on historical antecedents to the occupation of Iraq, Gannon examines events such as the British Struggles in Palestine, French enterprises in Algeria, the Soviet debacle in Afghanistan, and other instances in which occupying powers to demonstrate the struggles and failures of occupying powers in the face of determined insurgencies. Since the United Nations adopted the principle of national self-determination in 1945, great powers like the United States that occupy smaller nations like Iraq lose more often than not when confronted with credible insurgencies. The evidence is taken from recent history: the Zionist victory over Britain in Palestine, and the defeats of France in Algeria, America in Vietnam, the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, and Israel in Lebanon. On the surface these outcomes seem perverse-powerful modern armies brought down by rag-tag rebels. The explanation comes from the types of warfare fought. Great powers are equipped to fight other great powers in great battles over large territory. Rebels fight shadow wars, neutralizing the fire power and mobility of the occupying army. Insurgencies continue for years, allowing politicalconsiderations to come into play, including propaganda, international pressure, and the stream of dead and wounded returning from the war zone. The home front turns against the war, and new policymakers conclude that the nation's interests are best served by getting out. History is not an exact science, so the judgment here is expressed in probability, not certainty; witness the British defeat of insurgencies in Malaya and Kenya before giving up these colonies, and the four-decades-old Israeli occupation and partial colonization of the West Bank.

"Whirlwind & Storm" introduces us to the colorful and impetuous Lieutenant Colonel Charles Farnsworth, a Connecticut cavalryman in the Union Army. Farnsworth was fiery, ambitious, and bold, sometimes a little too bold for his own good---in combat, in business ventures, and in the river crossing that ended his life tragically early. Drawing from a rich and previously ignored trove of letters and diaries, Farnsworth s great-grandson and namesake, a military veteran himself, has done a marvelous job of bringing alive this officer in all his flawed glory.

Adam Hochschild, author of "To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918" and other books.

With excellent research and clear writing, "Whirlwind & Storm" paints an impartial, intriguing, and entertaining account of the author s privileged ancestor, who served heroically with the First Connecticut Cavalry battalion in the Civil War. Before, during, and after the war Charlie Farnsworth exuded those common human traits that so defined him: driven, disciplined, courageous, opportunistic, and passionate. "Whirlwind & Storm" adds an illuminating, original, and personal work to the collage of our great American heritage.

Robert B. Angelovich, author of the forthcoming "Riding for Uncle Samuel: The History of the First Connecticut Cavalry in the Civil War."

"If you want to know what the Civil War was really like, this is the book for you: an intimate, personal portrait of the war experience and the people who lived it, giving the reader a firsthand view of its realities. It is meticulously researched, authoritatively documented, and gracefully written."

William Bennett Turner, author of Figures of Speech: First Amendment Heroes and Villains."

"Lieutenant Colonel Charlie Farnsworth of Norwich emerges here as a free-spirited and ambitious young cavalry officer, with unique and often irreverent views on the Civil War and its leaders. His wide experience in the war, including imprisonment in Richmond, is well-researched and very readably presented. I found it especially fun to follow Charlie's love life through this most enjoyable book."

Vic Butsch, New London County (Connecticut) Civil War Round Table, Norwich Historical Society."

An intimate look at a young Norwich, Connecticut cavalry officer---in war, love, and his attempts to strike it rich---and his fierce ambition to make his mark in the Civil War and early Reconstruction. Lieutenant Colonel Charles Farnsworth s letters and diaries form the cornerstone for this short biography about an adventurer who helped organize the First Connecticut Cavalry. The book covers Charlie s near-fatal shooting while searching for Confederate bushwhackers in Virginia, his protests against incompetent Union leadership, his capture and confinement in Richmond s notorious Libby Prison, his romantic entanglements, his political connections with President Lincoln that sent him south in early 1865, and his tragic struggle to make his mark in Georgia during the early years of Reconstruction."

Is NATO still in the best interest of the United States? This provocative work argues that the focus on NATO distracts the U.S. from the vital foreign policy challenges of the 21st century, most notably China's rise in power. Since its beginning in 1949, NATO-the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-has been at the center of U.S. foreign policy. The alliance was crucial during the decades of the Cold War, and the United States collaborated closely with NATO during crises in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Libya. But does the NATO alliance still serve the best interests of the U.S.? The NATO of today-one that has expanded to 30 member countries-risks involving the U.S. in unwanted military activities of the future, actions that were not intended in the original Atlantic alliance. In addition, the real challenges for foreign policy of 21st century are not in Europe, but in the expanding economic powerhouses in Asia, especially China. NATO Reconsidered argues that the changes in world politics in recent decades requires that the more than 70-year-old alliance should no longer be the principal focus of U.S. foreign policy. Makes an original and contrarian argument openly questioning U.S. participation in NATO in the 21st century Takes account of NATO's full history, putting today's international reality into context Analyzes surprising data on Germany's growing economic and political ties to Russia, questioning Germany's reliability as a NATO ally Reflects the author's unique perspective on NATO stemming from experience in the State Department, in international business, and as a professor teaching world politics with a focus on Europe Openly eschews the globalists' "party line" and offers solid analysis and conclusions needed to ensure the U.S.' future security