|
Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > War & defence operations > General
Foreign Military Intervention brings together prominent scholars in
an ambitious and innovative comparative study. The six case
studies-the United States in Vietnam, the Soviet Union in
Afghanistan, Syria in Lebanon, Israel in Lebanon, South Africa and
Cuba in Angola, and India in Sri Lanka-constitute a diverse set,
involving superpowers and regional powers, democracies and
nondemocracies, neighboring states and distant states, and
incumbent regimes and insurgent movements.
Using a case study based on the Army's Stryker Brigade Combat team,
the authors explore how the Army might improve its ability to
contribute to prompt global power projection, that is,
strategically responsive early-entry forces for time-critical
events.
A lethal germ is unleashed in the U.S. mail. A chain of letters
spreads terror from Florida to Washington, D.C., from New York to
Connecticut, from the halls of Congress to the assembly lines of
the U.S. Postal Service. Five people die, and ten thousand more
line up for antibiotics to protect against exposure. The
government, already outsmarted by the terrorist hijackers of 9/11,
leaves its workers vulnerable and a diabolical killer on the loose.
Based on hundreds of hours of interviews and a review of
thousands of pages of government documents, "The Killer Strain is
the definitive account of the year in which bioterrorism became a
reality in the United States. Revealing the little-known victims
and unsung heroes in the anthrax debacle, investigative reporter
Marilyn Thompson also examines the FBI's slow-paced investigation
of the crimes and the unprecedented scientific challenges posed by
the case.
"The Killer Strain, more than just a thrilling read, is also a
clarion wake-up call. It shows how billions of dollars and a decade
of elaborate bioterror dress rehearsals meant nothing in the face
of a real attack -- and how we may still be at risk.
The Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 was important for many reasons,
even though it has been regarded as something of a side-show by
many military historians. It was the first conflict in northern
Europe since the Napoleonic era, and the French belief that they
still had the elan and verve of the Old Guard was shattered by
German needle rifles and long range guns. Aerial warfare had its
genesis in the balloons of Paris, yet the belief in Vauban and the
system of wall defences prevailed: it was a war of the old versus
the new. Forbes, as special correspondent for the 'Daily News' of
London saw a great deal of the war. He travelled freely from
Cologne in the earliest days of the war, to Paris for the end of
it. His observations, although written in a tone seemingly reserved
for war correspondents of the nineteenth Century, are culled from
his dispatches and have an urgency and currency that is fascinating
to read. In view of his position he was privy to the deliberations
of both sides, and yet had time to notice the uniform of a Zouave
and to include a Prussian military music concert programme.
Altogether a first class introduction to a war which deserves more
interest than it has so far received. If nothing else, it shows
that the standard of war reporting now is not up to that of 1870
Hundreds of Israeli soldiers, called up to take part in
controversial campaigns like the 1982 invasion of Lebanon or
policing duties in the Palestinian territories today, have refused
orders. Many of these 'refuseniks' have faced prison sentences
rather than take part in what they regard as an unjust occupation
in defence of illegal Jewish settlements. In this inspirational
book, Peretz Kidron, himself a refusenik, gives us the stories,
experiences, viewpoints, even poetry, of these courageous
conscripts who believe in their country, but not in its actions
beyond its borders. We read about the cautious, even embarrassed,
response of the authorities. And we see the wider implications of
the philosophy of selective refusal - which is not the same thing
as pacifism -- for conscientious citizens in every country where
conscription still exists. Here is a real model for the peace
movement in Israel and worldwide.
A Cuban woman who moved to New Orleans in the 1850s, Loreta Janeta
Velazquez fought in the Civil War as the cross-dressing Harry T.
Buford. As Buford, she single-handedly organized an Arkansas
regiment; participated in the historic battles of Bull Run, Fort
Donelson, and Shiloh; romanced men and women; and eventually
decided that spying as a woman better suited her cause. In the
North, she was posed as a double agent and worked to traffic
information, drugs, and counterfeit bills to support the
Confederate cause. Originally published in 1876, Velazquez's
seemingly impossible account has divided scholars, some believing
this book to be a generally honest autobiography and others
believing it to be mostly fiction.
On Friday, August 7, 1942, at 1300, after a furious cannonading by
the Navy fighting vessels slamming salvo after salvo into the
shores, 36-year-old Marine Sergeant Abraham Felber jumped from a
Higgins boat onto Beach Red in the first-wave assault on the deadly
jungle island of Guadalcanal. Felber was responsible for writing
the Record of Events for his unit, and recorded in meticulous
detail the fighting that wrested Guadalcanal from the enemy in the
skies, off the shores, and in the muddy jungles.
This work is part of the diary that Abraham Felber kept during
his service in World War II. It begins with January 7, 1941, and
ends with December 31, 1945. As the 1st Sergeant of Headquarters
Battery, 11th Marines, Felber dealt with both officers and enlisted
men, which exposed him to the perspectives and insights of both.
Felber was also granted the unusual privilege of taking photographs
during the Guadalcanal and Cape Gloucester campaigns, some of which
are published here for the first time. Felber's accounts of his
units role in the combat at Guadalcanal and Cape Gloucester; his
time at Guantanamo Bay, Parris Island and Camp Lejune; daily life,
and other experiences are presented here as he recorded them.
Provides a definition of capabilities-based planning, puts it in
the larger context of defense activities generally, and sketches an
analytic architecture for carrying it out. Capabilities-based
planning has become a central theme of defense planning. It is
defined in broad terms in the 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review, but
opinions differ about its details and how to implement it. This
book reviews and extends ideas developed over the last decade
regarding capabilities-based planning. It puts capabilities-based
planning in the larger context of defense activities generally,
sketches an analytic architecture for carrying it out, and offers
recommendations about how to proceed, including a suggested
architecture that emphasizes mission-level work and such concepts
as mission-system analysis, exploratory analysis, and hierarchical
portfolio methods for integration and tradeoffs in an economical
framework. Capabilities-based planning is related to the objective
of transforming U.S. forces to deal effectively with the changes
taking place in military affairs. The book also emphasizes that the
new paradigm of capabilities-based planning is particularly apt
given the objective of transforming U.S. forces to deal effectively
with the changes taking place in military affairs.
More than three and a half centuries have passed since the Peace of
Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War (1618-48); but this most
devastating of wars in the early modern period continues to capture
the imagination of readers: this book reveals why. It was one of
the first wars where contemporaries stressed the importance of
atrocities, the horrors of the fighting and also the sufferings of
the civilian population. The Thirty Years' War remains a conflict
of key importance in the history of the development of warfare and
the 'military revolution'. It marked a turning point in the extent
to which states would involve themselves in large-scale military
conflicts for the sake of religious and constitutional issues in
addition to their normal strategic concerns.
This work is based on a conference whose objectives were to:
explain the significance of urban areas in current and future
military operations; and discuss methods and means of seizing,
stabilizing, or controlling such areas in the 21st century, for
example.
Aineias Tacticus (mid-fourth century BC) is not only the earliest
but also one of the most historically interesting of ancient
military writers. Important, too, as a social commentator, he sheds
valuable light on the nature of life and the psychological and
strategic preoccupations of a typical Greek city-state (polis) at a
time dominated by two extraordinarily atypical ones, Athens and
Sparta. In Aineias' work we see what conditions were like in a
polis obliged to play a minor and much more passive role in the
history of its age - not laying siege like the big players but
suffering it. His practical recommendations derive clearly from
accumulated personal experience in the first place; but at the same
time he also draws copious illustrative material from both
Herodotus and Thucydides. This edition has the Greekless reader
firmly in mind, providing a fresh modern translation of "How to
Survive Under Siege", a comprehensive introduction to Aineias and
his work, and a full historical commentary.
"Montcalme and Wolfe" frames the war years through the lives of its
two brilliant opposing generals. Weaving together the campaigns on
both sides of the Atlantic. Parkman travels from opulent royal
courts to muddy colonial fields, from Fort Necessity to the Plains
of Abraham. He couples impeccable history with rich insightful
narration, revealing the war as a deeply personal conflict between
Louis de Montcalm and James Wolfe, the two ambitious leaders who
ultimately died heroes' deaths on the frontlines. Accompanied by
over forty detailed maps and illustrations--some selected specially
for this edition--Parkman's timeless work shows how the enormous
transfer of land from France to England at the war's end sowed the
first seeds of colonialism--seeds that, in the due course, led
America to its revolution, and eventually, its independence.
The United States is incrcasingly participating in coalition
military operations. Coalition support may be required for
successful military operations and in most such operations the
United States desires to share the burden. U.S. allies recognize
the increased security that coalition operations can bring. Because
interoperability is a key element in coalitions, RAND undertook
research to help the Air Force identify potential interoperability
problems that may arise in coalition air operations and to suggest
nonmateriel and technology-based solutions. The research focus is
on command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance,
and reconnaissance (C3ISR) systems in out-of-NATO-area operations.
The authors' review of recent coalition air operations found that
interoperability problems arose because of differences in doctrine,
incompatible communications, different planning and execution
systems, and different weapon system capabilities. For example,
allies may lack sufficient all-weather, day and night
precision-guided weapons. The authors suggest the following to
increase interoperability in coalition operations: (1) common or
harmonized doctrine for combined joint task force operations, from
planning through assessment, (2) compatible or adaptable concepts
of operation for airborne surveillance and control, (3) common
information-sharing standards and compatible tactical communication
systems, and (4) expert, experienced personnel who understand the
capabilities of coalition partners. From a technology perspective
and cost considerations, C3ISR initiatives appear to offer the best
opportunities for interoperability enhancements.
Throughout its modern history, China has suffered from
immensedestruction and loss of life from warfare. During its worst
periodof warfare, the eight years of the Anti-Japanese War
(1937-45),millions of civilians lost their lives. For China, the
story of modernwar-related death and suffering has remained hidden.
Hundreds ofmassacres are still unrecognized by the outside world
and even by Chinaitself. The focus of this original hisotry is on
the social andpsychological, not the economic, costs of war on the
country.
|
|