The United States relied heavily on bombing to defeat the Germans and the Japanese in World War II, and air raids were touted as "precision" bombing in American propaganda. But was precision really possible over cloud-covered Europe or a darkened Japanese countryside? Could the vaunted telescopic sights really "drop bombs into pickle barrels"? Were the American aircrews well trained and well protected? What were the real results of the raids? This work explores the myths and facts surrounding the United States use of strategic bombing in World War II. Chapters cover the events leading up to World War II; the start of the war; the seers and the planners; the airplanes, bombs, bombsights, and aircrews; the planes Germany used to defend itself against American planes; the five cities (Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki) that saw the heaviest bombing; and the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey of the damage done by aerial bombing. The book also probes the governments myth-building statements that supported Americas view of itself as a uniquely humanitarian nation, and analyzes the role played by interservice rivalry--"battleship admirals" against "bomber generals."

As long ago as 1961 a young Terry Parsons, then still in his twenties, began his long search for lost aircraft and memories of the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. What he discovered over the decades that followed went far beyond the tangled wreckage of military aircraft, both fighters and bombers. For with each of the thousands of RAF and Luftwaffe artefacts he unearthed, came the intricate weave of life stories linking the valiant and the brave, the living and the dead. Included among the items he has recovered from the many wreck sites he has investigated, was a mud-cloaked control column from a Spitfire with its gun button still switched to firing mode, a piece of Dornier Do 17 fuselage bearing the fatal bullet holes which led it to crash to the of earth of south-east England, a pilot's waistcoat once used to stop the drafts and rattles in a Hurricane cockpit, blood-stained maps from a Luftwaffe bomber, and a buckled tail fin from a Me 110 bearing the unmistakable symbol of the swastika. Now in this exclusive biography, created from Terry's original notes and photographs stretching back almost seventy years, we learn not only about the historical significance of his own story as a wreck-hunter but the importance of remembering the lives of the men who fought in the skies above Britain in those desperate days of the Second World War. Indeed, this book shows us how one man's pioneering commitment to aviation archaeology ultimately serves as a unique tribute to thousands of young souls both lost and found of the Battle of Britain and the Blitz.

In this study Brian Bosworth looks at the critical period between 329 and 325 BC, when Alexander the Great was active in Central Asia and what is now Pakistan. He documents Alexander's relations with the peoples he conquered, and addresses the question of what it meant to be on the receiving end of the conquest, drawing a bleak picture of massacre and repression. At the same time Alexander's views of empire are investigated, his attitude to his subjects, and the development of his concepts of personal divinity and universal monarchy. Analogies are thus drawn with the Spanish conquest of Mexico, which has a comparable historiographical tradition and parallels many of Alexander's dealings with his subjects. Although of concern to the specialist, this book is equally directed at the general reader interested in the history of Alexander and the morality of empire.

This book looks at the development of Israeli-Arab relations during the formative years 1949 to 1956, focusing on Arab infiltration into Israel and Israeli retaliation. Palestinian refugee raiding and cross-border attacks by Egyptian-controlled irregulars and commandos were a core phenomenon during this period and one of the chief causes of Israel's invasion of Sinai and the Gaza strip in 1956. Morris deepens our understanding of the current situation in the Middle East and of the prospects for a lasting peace there.

This is a carefully researched and illuminating study of siege warfare in the twelfth century. The siege was an integral part of medieval military experience, and was particularly significant in the Mediterranean region. Dr Rogers explores siege warfare and the role it played in the First Crusade and the establishment of the Crusader States, in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and in the seaborne expeditions of the Italian maritime states. Dr Rogers sets out to discover how it was that crusading forces handicapped by rudimentary organisation and logistical support were able to conduct some of the most dramatic siege operations of the pre-gunpowder period. He traces the development and diffusion of techniques; and analyses the experience of siege warfare in every aspect, from the question of supplies of component parts for siege engines to the often complex political situations of besieger and besieged. This is a book which contributes not only to the military history of the twelfth century but also to its political and cultural history. `excellent work, written by a scholar who has a thorough grasp of the subject and who presents it in a lucid manner.' Speculum `an excellent work ... a fine study, full of intriguing ideas for readers interested in crusading, municipalities, and the role of warfare.' The Historian `Rogers's book is an excellent look at the medieval world's most bellicose century.' American Historical Review

This book investigates, and explains, the extent to which different liberal democracies have resorted to the use of force since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The responses of democratic states throughout the world to the September 2001 terrorist attacks have varied greatly. This book analyses the various factors that had an impact on decisions on the use of force by governments of liberal democratic states. It seeks to explain differences in the security policies and practices of Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the UK regarding the war in Afghanistan, domestic counterterrorism measures and the Iraq War. To this end, the book combines the concepts of strategic culture and securitisation into a theoretical model that disentangles the individual structural and agential causes of the use of force by the state and sequentially analyses the impact of each causal component on the other. It argues that the norms of a strategic culture shape securitisation processes of different expressions, which then bring about distinct modes of the use of force in individual security policy decisions. While governments can also deviate from the constraints of a strategic culture, this is likely to encounter a strong reaction from large parts of the population which in turn can lead to a long-term change in strategic culture. This book will be of much interest to students of strategic culture, securitisation, European politics, security studies and IR in general.

Only three short years after the end of the Japanese occupation, war came again to Malaya. The Chinese-backed guerrillas called it the War of the Running Dogs - their contemptuous term for those in Malaya who remained loyal to the British.

The British Government referred to this bloody and costly struggle as the 'Malayan Emergency'. Yet it was a war that lasted twelve years and cost thousands of lives. By the time it was over Malaya had obtained its independence - but on British, not on Chinese or Communist terms.

Here is the war as it was. Here are the planters and their wives on their remote rubber estates, the policemen, the generals and the soldiers, the Malays, Chinese and Indians of a polyglot country, all fighting an astute, ruthless, and well organized enemy.

From forts to blockhouses, garrison houses to trading posts, stations to presidios, missions to ranches and towns, this work provides a history of the primary fortifications established during 400 tumultuous years in what would become the United States of America. Under each state's heading, this substantial volume contains alphabetized entries with information regarding each structure's history. The earliest forts established by the Danes, Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, Swedes and Mexicans and by the temporary appearance of the Russians are listed. The colonial American forts, many of which were previously established by the European powers, are covered in detail. Beginning with the American Revolution, each of the American military fortifications, militia forts, settlers' forts and blockhouses is listed and described. Helpful appendices list Civil War defenses (and military hospitals) of Washington, D.C.; Florida Seminole Indian war forts; Pony Express depots; Spanish missions and presidios; and twentieth-century U.S. forts, posts, bases, and stations. A chronology of conflicts that paralleled the growth of the United States is also provided, offering insight into the historical context of fort construction.

This work represents a collective effort by ten social scientists with experience in the Horn of Africa to portray the marginalization and deprivation of the pastoralist population in that region. It includes case studies from the Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia and Kenya, as well as a case study from Mali, included for purposes of comparison with another region of Africa. The central issue addressed by the contributors is the political consequence of the decline of pastoralism in a region ravaged by conflict.

The Art of Maneuver is an important theoretical study of an issue that is currently the subject of much discussion in professional military journals and symposia. The author takes a fresh, unbiased look at what soldiers consider the maneuver-oriented American army and finds that we do not understand the importance of maneuver as classical writers on the subject going back to Sun Tzu have understood it. In fact, we are culturally conditioned to see war as an attritional phenomenon--think of the emphasis on body count and the use of over-whelming firepower in Vietnam. A similar mind-set was operative as recently as Operation Just Cause, the U.S. invasion of Panama. On the other hand, General Schwarzkopf found maneuver warfare extremely effective in Operation Desert Storm. Leonhard shows how true maneuver-warfare theory has been applied in campaigns throughout history. With a genius for apt analogy he shows how our obsession with fighting and winning set-piece battles causes us to overlook an enemy's true vulnerabilities. But as low-intensity conflicts promise to become the dominant warfare of the future, the importance of maneuver in attacking an enemy's critical vulnerability will render attrition approaches to warfighting ever more obsolete.

The day-to-day experiences of the American soldiers fighting in the Mexican War James McCaffrey examines America's first foreign war, the Mexican War, through the day-to-day experiences of the American soldier in battle, in camp, and on the march. With remarkable sympathy, humor, and grace, the author fills in the historical gaps of one war while rising issues now found to be strikingly relevant to this nation's modern military concerns.

As a foreign correspondent, Scott Peterson witnessed firsthand Somali's descent into war and its battle against US troops, the spiritual degeneration of Sudan's Holy War, and one of the most horrific events of the last half century: the genocide in Rwanda. In Me Against My Brother, he brings these events together for the first time to record a collapse that has had an impact far beyond African borders. Filled with dust, sweat and powerful detail, this book graphically illustrates how preventive action and a better understanding of Africa - especially by the US - could have averted much suffering.

On August 25 1886, the Apache chief, Geronimo, surrendered to the US army, ending a long and bloody struggle. This fascinating book draws on fresh evidence to examine the ironies, dangers, and vicissitudes of that campaign. Based on the papers collected by Lt. Charles B. Gatewood - the one white man Geronimo trusted - including depositions from old soldiers and scouts, official documents, articles, letters, and photographs, the book shows that it was essentially a war no one won - the Apaches (like the Sioux, Comanche, and Nez Perce before them), losing their land and lifestyle, the Americans losing all that the tribes might have contributed to the union and more than a measure of national self-respect.

An exciting trip back in time to the American Revolution, "a reminder of what history can be when written by a master."--Publishers Weekly

The book focuses on peacekeeping as a device for maintaining international stability, and for remedying situations in which states are in conflict with each other. Alan James examines around fifty cases, explaining the background to each one, and analysing its political significance. There is also a detailed examination of the concept of peacemaking, and a look into its increasing importance in international affairs, emphasised by the fact that the United Nations won the Nobel Peace Prize for its peacekeeping activities.

Some of the most active debate about the Vietnam War today is prompted by those who believe that the United States could have won the war either through an improved military strategy or through more enlightened social policies. Eric Bergerud takes issue with both of these positions. Carefully analyzing the entire course of the war in a single key province, "The Dynamics of Defeat" shows that the Vietnam War was a tragedy in the true sense of the word: American policy could not have been much different than it was and could only have led to failure.Examining the war at the operational level, where political policy is translated into military action, "The Dynamics of Defeat "provides a case study of the efficacy on the ground of policies emanating from Washington. Many of the policy alternatives now proposed in hindsight were actually attempted in Hau Nghia to one degree or another. Bergerud is able on that basis to critique these policies and to offer his own conclusions in a thought-provoking but utterly unpolemical fashion.Based on extensive research in U.S. Army archives and many personal interviews with those who experienced the war in Hau Nghia, "The Dynamics of Defeat" is a story full of violence, frustration, and numbing despair, but also one rich with lessons for American foreign policy.

An assessment of the prospects for building down the NATO/Warsaw Pact military confrontation in Europe by negotiated and unilateral measures. The book also gives a far-sighted view of an organization of defence in Europe that will be set up to replace the existing security organizations.

A comprehensive analysis of the relationship between political judgement, bureaucratic advice and military intelligence in the mismanagement of Britain's Falklands policy. The author argues that the Junta's responsibility for the invasion does not exonerate British decision-makers.

For the romantic generation of Americans in the mid-nineteenth century, the Mexican war was a grand exercise in self-identity: it legitimized the young republic's convictions of mission and destiny to a doubting world. This book examines the war's place in the popular imagination of the era. The Mexican War was the first American conflict to be widely reported in the press, as well as the first to be waged against an alien in a distant, strange, and exotic land. For mid-century Americans, the author shows, the war provided a window onto the outside world, promoting an awareness - if not an understanding - of a people and a land unlike any they had known before. Drawing on military and travel accounts, newspaper dispatches, and a host of other sources, the author recreates the mood and feeling of the period - its unbounded optimism and its patriotic pride.

The seventh edition of this highly successful textbook analyzes the history, evolution, and processes of national security policies. It examines national security from two fundamental fault lines - the end of the Cold War and the evolution of contemporary terrorism dating from the 9/11 terrorist attacks - and traces their path up to ISIS and beyond. The book considers how the resulting era of globalization and geopolitics guides policy. Placing these trends in conceptual and historical context and following them through military, semimilitary, and nonmilitary concerns, National Security treats its subject as a nuanced and subtle phenomenon that encompasses everything from the global to the individual with the nation at its core. New to the Seventh Edition An assessment of the impact of the Trump presidency on national security and relevant domestic policies, including border security and energy security matters. The continuing impact and evolution of terrorism as a security problem, with notable emphasis on the decline of the Islamic State (IS) and what terrorist threats are likely to succeed it. A description of the cyber security problem with an emphasis on Russian efforts to interfere with the 2016 US presidential election and beyond. A revised delineation of the geographic and substantive challenges facing the United States in the form of a chapter on "lethal landscapes," emphasizing the rise of China as a global rival and opponent in Asia and an attempt to deal with state aspirants like the Kurds. This book will continue to be highly beneficial to students and scholars working and studying in security studies, military and strategic studies, defense studies, foreign policy, US politics and international relations.

When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 the Red Army had four times as many tanks as the Wehrmacht and their tanks were seemingly superior, yet the Wehrmacht won the border battles with extraordinary ease the Red Armys tank force was pushed aside and for the most part annihilated. How was this victory achieved, and were the Soviet tanks really as well designed as is often believed? These are the basic questions Boris Kavalerchik answers in this absorbing study of the tanks and the tank tactics of the two armies that confronted each other at the start of the war on the Eastern Front. Drawing on technical and operational documents from Russian archives, many of which were classified until recently and are unknown to Western readers, he compares the strengths and weakness of the tanks and the different ways in which they were used by the opposing armies. His work will be essential reading for military historians who are interested in the development of armoured warfare and in this aspect of the struggle on the Eastern Front.

After recounting his early days as a naval cadet, including a voyage to the Far East aboard the cruiser _K ln_, and as the navigator/observer of the floatplane carried by the pocket battleship _Admiral Scheer_ during the Spanish Civil War, the author describes his flying training as a Stuka pilot. The author's naval dive-bomber Gruppe was incorporated into the Luftwaffe upon the outbreak of war. What follows is a fascinating Stuka pilot's-eye-view of some of the most famous and historic battles and campaigns of the early war years: the Blitzkrieg in France, the Dunkirk Evacuation, the Battle of Britain, the bombing of Malta, North Africa, Tobruk, Crete and, finally, the invasion of the Soviet Union. The author also takes the reader behind the scenes into the day-to-day life of his unit and brings the members of his Gruppe to vivid life; describing their off-duty antics and mourning their loss in action. The story ends when he himself is shot down in flames by a Soviet fighter and severely burned. He was to spend the remainder of the war in various staff appointments.

Use of military force without a declaration of war has been a weapon in the arsenal of U.S. presidents for the last 200 years. Force has become an increasingly more (relevant) foreign policy action in the post-Cold War world. This comprehensive resource approaches the study of the use of force from several theoretical approaches: the "historical record," which includes regional analyses of Latin America/the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, the Middle East/North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa; the "data setS" that focus on the use of force; the "international level," which includes democratic peace, multilateralism, and Yugoslavia; "domestic politicS," which includes Congress, the media, and public opinion; "executive-congressional" relations, including political and constitutional issues; "ethicS"; and "theories of decision making" on the use of force.

The volume includes a list of important concepts and terms and a selected bibliography, as well as suggested readings following each entry, and an index. It will be of interest to students and scholars in political science, U.S. history, international relations, and foreign policy. Academic libraries and selected public libraries will also be interested in this comprehensive volume.

In this razor-sharp analysis, TomDispatch.com commentator Michael Schwartz shows how the US occupation is fuelling civil war in Iraq and beyond. He punctures all the myths used to sell the idea of an endless war in this incisive and hard-hitting argument.

In The African Wars Chris Peers provides a graphic account of several of the key campaigns fought between European powers and the native peoples of tropical and sub-tropical Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His pioneering and authoritative study describes in vivid detail the organization and training of African warriors, their weapons, their fighting methods and traditions, and their tactics. He concentrates on the campaigns mounted by the most successful African armies as they struggled to defend themselves against the European scramble for Africa. Resistance was inconsistent, but some warlike peoples fought long and hard - the Zulu victory over the British at Isandhlwana is the best known but by no means the only occasion when the Africans humiliated the colonial invaders.