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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > General
Initiated into Latin America via the revolutionary turmoil of the
Dominican Republic in 1965, Sewall ("Stu") Menzel began an
adventure into Latino politics and the struggle for power, wealth
and influence throughout the region, which would further take him
from one trouble-spot to another. Whether it was confronting
revolutionaries in the Caribbean, multiple guerrilla threats in
Central America, drug traffickers in the Andes Mountains, or
recalcitrant dictators, the author brings the reader onto the stage
of Latino politics as he experienced it from 1965 to 1989. In this
unvarnished presentation of conflict and revolution in the
Americas, Colonel Menzel offers a succinct critical analysis of
U.S. policy and operations against a historical backdrop of the
times. While the United States has always maintained a special
relationship with Latin America, the region has been a difficult
milieu to deal with in its complexity. Washington's Cold War
experience in Latin America amply demonstrates this truth as its
attempts to influence regional politics constantly ran up against
competing and countervailing values and cultures. As such, the
author points out how U.S. national security interests constantly
butted heads with and often worked at cross-purposes with the need
for human rights-based socio-economic and political reforms. The
primary lesson learned from the overall experience is that America
needs to know not only what it is against, but also what it is for
if it wants to have a lasting positive impact on Latin America.
Colonel Menzel's personal experiences and observations involving
the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Bolivia,
Peru, Colombia and Panama amply illustrate the point.
Warfare in the exotic world of the early days of Britain's Indian
Empire. In the early years of the nineteenth century as Napoleon's
French Army dominated Europe the British empire continued with its
expansion of power on the Indian Sub-Continent. There, a young
general-Arthur Wellesley-who would soon become the Duke of
Wellington fought his formative battles-including the one which he
would always cite as his hardest fought victory at Assaye. The
enemy were the formidable Marathas-one of the pre-eminent martial
races of India. Wellington was not alone in this pivotal war for
Indian domination. His rising, bright star has always overshadowed
the campaigns of Gerard Lake-an accomplished fighting leader of
British soldiers now close to the end of his career. Often
neglected by historians and students alike, Lake's Indian campaign
was fought against a resourceful and ruthless enemy-almost always
superior in numbers to his own forces. Commanding an army of a few
British regular cavalry and infantry regiments, together with
elements of the Honourable East India Company's own army, Lake
fought hard battles and invested strongly held fortresses. In this
book the reader will discover the mighty strongholds of Aligarh,
Agra and Deeg, Lakes own Assaye-Laswari, and the slaughter which
was the attempt on the nearly impregnable stronghold of Bhurtpur.
Lake appears with a host of colourful supporting characters-Perron
and other mercenary 'freelancers', James Skinner and his 'Yellow
Boys' irregular cavalry, the incompetent Colonel Monson and
Holkar-the despotic and cruel Maratha leader himself.
Intellectual historians generally view the Enlightenment as a
pacifist or anti-war movement. Military historians typically
consider 18th century military thinkers as backward-looking and
inept. Speelman challenges the views of both groups through a
consideration of the writings of Henry Lloyd, a soldier and Welsh
"philosophe" who combined enlightened thought and military
experience to distill a distinct theory of war. Based on previously
unused or underutilized primary materials, this is the first
biography of this key enlightenment thinker who advanced the
general understanding of war as it existed in his day.
Lloyd wrote a multivolume history of the Seven Years' War from
which he derived the Principles of War; a treatise on economics
that prefigured the liberal theories of Adam Smith; a rhapsody on
the invasion and defense of Great Britain; and finally an anonymous
critique of the English constitution that he used to demand
political and electoral reform. Overall, he argued for the reform
of military institutions and practices through breaking from custom
and traditional norms. In his works, Lloyd examined warfare within
the larger context of secular philosophy and human society; and,
thus, he personified the link between the military society and the
Enlightenment that historians often ignore or discount.
Ten years after the end of the Gulf War, the conflict continues
with unresolved questions about economic sanctions and IraQ's
participation in the oil export system. A specialist in Middle
Eastern politics and an intelligence officer, Pelletiere covered
the Iran-Iraq War as well as the subsequent Gulf conflict. He
argues that IraQ's victory over Iran in 1988 gave the nation the
capability of becoming a regional superpower with a strong say in
how the Gulf's oil reserves were managed. Because the United States
could not tolerate an ultranationalist state with the potential to
destabilize the world's economy, war then became inevitable.
This study examines the rise of the international oil system
from the 1920s when the great cartel was formed. Comprised of seven
companies, it was designed to ensure their continued control over
the world's oil supplies. When the companies lost control with the
OPEC revolution in 1973, the United States moved into the realm of
Gulf politics with the goal of protecting the world economy.
Pelletire details how Saddam Hussein unwillingly precipitated the
Gulf crisis and why the conflict is not likely to be resolved
soon-or peacefully.
This reference work provides sources on national service and
AmeriCorps from a wide range of perspectives and disciplines,
including education, public policy, political science, and public
administration. Part 1 deals with background information on
national service from the 1960s to 1992, including the 1992
presidential campaign. The crucial year 1993, when national service
legislation was proposed and passed and AmeriCorps was named, is
covered in Part 2. The implementation of the National Community
Service Trust Act in 1994 is covered in Part 3. Part 4, covering
1995, reflects a reassessment of the program by the new Republican
majority in Congress. Each section of the work includes books,
dissertations, government documents, and, primarily, serial
literature. A brief appendix accessing resources on the Internet is
also included.
What is the role of peace support operations in managing
non-traditional crises? This is the central focus of Sloan's
analysis of peacekeeping and the changing nature of the
international community's involvement in Bosnia following the
outbreak of civil war in 1992. The key players in this drama are
three institutions-the European Union, NATO, and the United
Nations-and five major powers, including Britain, France, Germany,
Russia, and the United States. Sloan examines their actions and
undertakings through the prism of several perspectives, including
the peacekeeping, peacemaking, peace enforcement, and peace
building dimensions. This study advances current thinking on
peacekeeping and related operations by distinguishing key
characteristics of the forms of operation and indicating how they
best relate to one another. It also challenges the notion that the
international response to conflict in Bosnia was haphazard or
confused, suggesting instead that the international community's
actions can be readily understood as a reflection of the evolution
of great power interests. The overall effect is to shed light on
two timely, complex, and interrelated subjects. The reader comes
away with a clear understanding of what went wrong (and right) and
why in Bosnia, and what lessons the experience holds for the
future. This is must reading for military and peacekeeping planners
and for scholars and researchers in the fields of strategic
studies, international security, and international relations.
Rogel, a leading U.S. specialist on Yugoslavia and the war in
Bosnia, examines the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, the war in
Bosnia, the peace settlement, and the problems that continue to
exist in Bosnia and Serbia today. She provides information and
analysis to help students understand the collapse of Tito's
Yugoslavia, the causes and effects of the ensuing war, and the
aftermath of the conflicts. Seven essays analyze the crisis,
including two that focus on the aftermath of a decade strained with
conflict and war, and the current conditions in the former
Yugoslavia. Ready reference features include: A timeline of events
Lengthy biographical sketches of Yugoslav leaders and Western
diplomats Primary documents A glossary of selected terms An
annotated bibliography of recommended further reading, films,
documentaries, and Web sites
This volume examines the state of the art in modern military
history, and the utility of the subject as a training, educational,
and policy-relevant tool for professional armed forces. Part 1
explores the state of military historical writing in Britain and
the United States, and on specific topics, such as air warfare,
naval warfare, intelligence, low-intensity conflict, and the most
recent trends in the New Military History. Part 2 illustrates the
utility of the historical method in analyzing command decisions,
providing an institutional memory for a wide range of policy,
command, and operational problems, and its application in specific
subjects such as naval strategy, and by certain countries (the US,
Germany, and the Soviet Union) in the search for lessons and
fundamental principles. The contributing authors represent an
impressive cross-section of prominent academic and official
historians recognized as leading scholars in the study of military
history. The Foreword is written by Anne N. Foreman, Undersecretary
of the United States Air Force.
This book will be of interest to the academic and the official
historian (and their students) and to military professionals.
After the Cold War, Africa earned the dubious distinction of being
the world's most bloody continent. But how can we explain this
proliferation of armed conflicts? What caused them and what were
their main characteristics? And what did the world's governments do
to stop them?
In addressing these and other questions, Paul Williams offers
the first comparative assessment of more than two hundred armed
conflicts which took place in Africa between 1990 and 2009 - from
the continental catastrophe in the Democratic Republic of Congo to
the environmental disaster in the Niger Delta and mass atrocities
in the Sudan. Taking a broad comparative approach to examine the
political contexts in which these wars occurred, he explores the
key ingredients that provoked them and the major international
responses undertaken to deliver lasting peace.
Part I, Contexts provides an overview of the most important
attempts to measure the number and scale of Africa's armed
conflicts and provides a conceptual and political sketch of the
terrain of struggle upon which these wars were waged.
Part II, Ingredients analyses the role of five widely debated
features of Africa's wars: the dynamics of neopatrimonial systems
of governance; the construction and manipulation of ethnic
identities; questions of sovereignty and self-determination; as
well as the impact of natural resources and religion.
Part III, Responses, discusses four major international
reactions to Africa's wars: attempts to build a new institutional
architecture to help promote peace and security on the continent;
this architecture's two main policy instruments, peacemaking
initiatives and peacekeeping operations; and efforts to develop the
continent.
"War and Conflict in Africa" will be essential reading for all
students of international peace and security studies as well as
Africa's international relations.
In spite of all the attention that has been devoted to men's
identity in recent years, the links between men and the military
have until now remained unquestioned, and thus unexplored. This
groundbreaking volume deconstructs the traditional stereotypes of
military identity and makes a strong case for a plurality of
identities within a range of theoretical and empirical contexts.
Drawing on various disciplines--including sociology, anthropology,
ethnography, human geography, and feminist epistemology--the
contributors consider the ways in which military masculine
identities are created and sustained in the armed forces and the
societies in which they operate. Though mainly focused on the
British army, this volume explores universal issues such as
violence among military communities, the identity of women in the
military, and the treatment of conscientious objectors.
Making official history from all over the world accessible, this
volume and its companion complement and bring Robin HighaM's 1970
classic work, "Official Histories," up to date. Each chapter,
written by the staff of the relevant historical office, gives both
historiographical background and information on the volumes
published by that office. Covering the Western Hemisphere and the
Pacific Rim, this volume provides a plethora of information, as
does the companion volume on Europe, Russia, Africa, the Middle
East, and India
Buried in official history volumes is a lot of fine and useful
history, and official volumes deserve to be perused. This book will
make those histories available to scholars and graduate students
and will be especially useful to those concerned with military,
social, and diplomatic history as well as medicine.
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