In 1711 Peter the Great, the Tsar of Russia, led a large army of veterans from Poltava and his other Great Northern War victories into the Balkans. He aimed to humble the Ottomans in the same way he had the Swedes a few years before. Victory would secure useful allies in the Balkans, cement Russia's `Great Power' status and offer Peter the opportunity to finally gain control over the Swedish king, Charles XII, thus completing his victory over Sweden. Yet within a few months, the `backward' Ottomans had forced the Tsar and his Tsarina and their army of veterans into a humbling surrender near the Pruth River. The war was the first time that Russia was strong enough to confront the Ottomans independently rather than as a member of an alliance. It marked an important stage in Russia's development. However, it also showed the significant military strength of the Ottoman Empire and the limitations of Peter the Great's achievements. The war was of significance to the allies of both the Russians and the Ottomans. It was of course of an even greater importance to all those directly affected by the war such as the Swedish, the Polish, and the Cossacks, who had taken refuge from the reverses of the Great Northern War in the Ottoman territory. It would also bring about the defeat of the Moldavian and Walachian ambitions to shake off the Ottoman overlordship, elevating Dimitrie Cantemir into the position of a national hero celebrated to this day by the people of Romania. The book looks at the causes of this little known war and its course. Using contemporary and modern sources it examines in detail the forces involved in the conflict, seeking to determine their size, actual composition, and tactics, offering the first realistic determination on the subject in English.

"The times Kakar writes about have . . . pervasively influenced every life in Afghanistan. . . . He was continuously faced with different versions of the Afghan experience as his country went through one of the great cataclysms of its history. We are fortunate to have his account."--Robert Canfield, editor of "Turko-Persia in Historical Perspective

"This is the first history of recent events in Afghanistan by a native historian trained in London. Kakar writes objectively about the Soviets, the Afghan government, and the Mujahideen. With personal observations, including years spent in Kabul's notorious Pul-i Charkhi prison, this book is unique in revealing many events hitherto not known or recorded. It will remain a standard work on the tragic years of contemporary Afghanistan."--Richard N. Frye, Harvard University

"Kakar, one of Afghanistan's most distinguished scholars, has provided an outstanding account of a complex and interesting phase of modern Afghanistan history. . . . A fascinating and absorbing analysis . . . exhaustive and most valuable."--Vartan Gregorian, President, Brown University

In this tragic and powerful story, the two Opium Wars of 1839??1842 and 1856??1860 between Britain and China are recounted for the first time through the eyes of the Chinese as well as the Imperial West. Opium entered China during the Middle Ages when Arab traders brought it into China for medicinal purposes. As it took hold as a recreational drug, opium wrought havoc on Chinese society. By the early nineteenth century, 90 percent of the Emperor's court and the majority of the army were opium addicts.
Britain was also a nation addicted-to tea, grown in China, and paid for with profits made from the opium trade. When China tried to ban the use of the drug and bar its Western smugglers from it gates, England decided to fight to keep open China's ports for its importation. England, the superpower of its time, managed to do so in two wars, resulting in a drug-induced devastation of the Chinese people that would last 150 years.
In this page-turning, dramatic and colorful history, The Opium Wars responds to past, biased Western accounts by representing the neglected Chinese version of the story and showing how the wars stand as one of the monumental clashes between the cultures of East and West.
"A fine popular account."-Publishers Weekly
"Their account of the causes, military campaigns and tragic effects of these wars is absorbing, frequently macabre and deeply unsettling."-Booklist

When the United States goes to war, the nation's attention focuses on the president. As commander in chief, a president reaches the zenith of power, while Congress is supposedly shunted to the sidelines once troops have been deployed abroad. Because of Congress's repeated failure to exercise its legislative powers to rein in presidents, many have proclaimed its irrelevance in military matters. After the Rubicon challenges this conventional wisdom by illuminating the diverse ways in which legislators influence the conduct of military affairs. Douglas L. Kriner reveals that even in politically sensitive wartime environments, individual members of Congress frequently propose legislation, hold investigative hearings, and engage in national policy debates in the public sphere. These actions influence the president's strategic decisions as he weighs the political costs of pursuing his preferred military course. Marshalling a wealth of quantitative and historical evidence, Kriner expertly demonstrates the full extent to which Congress materially shapes the initiation, scope, and duration of major military actions and sheds new light on the timely issue of interbranch relations.

Few would contest that the U.S. occupation of Iraq is a clear example of just how fraught a military occupation can become. In Occupational Hazards, David M. Edelstein elucidates the occasional successes of military occupations and their more frequent failures. Edelstein has identified twenty-six cases since 1815 in which an outside power seized control of a territory where the occupying party had no long-term claim on sovereignty.

In a book that has implications for present-day policy, he draws evidence from such historical cases as well as from four current occupations Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq where the outcome is not yet known. Occupation is difficult, in Edelstein's view, because ambitious goals require considerable time and resources, yet both the occupied population and the occupying power want occupation to end quickly and inexpensively; in drawn-out occupations, impatience grows and resources dwindle.

This combination sabotages the occupying power's ability to accomplish two tasks: convince an occupied population to suppress its nationalist desires and sustain its own commitment to the occupation. Structural conditions and strategic choices play crucial roles in the success or failure of an occupation. In describing those factors, Edelstein prescribes a course of action for the future."

The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945 unleashed a force as mysterious as it was deadly--radioactivity. In 1946, the United States government created the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) to serve as a permanent agency in Japan with the official mission of studying the medical effects of radiation on the survivors. The next ten years saw the ABCC's most intensive research on the genetic effects of radiation, and up until 1974 the ABCC scientists published papers on the effects of radiation on aging, life span, fertility, and disease.
"Suffering Made Real" is the first comprehensive history of the ABCC's research on how radiation affected the survivors of the atomic bomb. Arguing that Cold War politics and cultural values fundamentally shaped the work of the ABCC, M. Susan Lindee tells the compelling story of a project that raised disturbing questions about the ethical implications of using human subjects in scientific research.
How did the politics of the emerging Cold War affect the scientists' biomedical research and findings? How did the ABCC document and publicly present the effects of radiation? Why did the ABCC refuse to provide medical treatment to the survivors? Through a detailed examination of ABCC policies, archival materials, the minutes of committee meetings, newspaper accounts, and interviews with ABCC scientists, Lindee explores how political and cultural interests were reflected in the day-to-day operations of this controversial research program.
Set against a period of conflicting views of nuclear weapons and nuclear power, "Suffering Made Real" follows the course of a politically charged research program and reveals indetail how politics and cultural values can shape the conduct, results, and uses of science.

Based on official records held at the National Archives and other published sources, 'Hunters over Arabia' presents an in-depth account of the operations performed by the Hawker Hunter squadrons policing the desert wastelands and high mountain ranges of the Middle East. Copiously illustrated with colour and black and white photographs, a high percentage of operations performed by this versatile British ground attack and reconnaissance fighter are described in detail. Using a chronological format, the narrative focuses on the period during which the Hunter served in the Middle East, from 1960 to 1971. Further chapters are dedicated to the three Hunter variants most closely associated with the Middle East, the FGA.9, FR.10 and T.7, together with their respective allocation dates. A short background to Aden, its historical links to Britain, and RAF airfields administered by Middle East Command complete this factual account.

The 48th edition of the SIPRI Yearbook analyses developments in 2016 in: -Security and conflicts -Military spending and armaments -Non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament The SIPRI Yearbook contains extensive annexes on the implementation of arms control and disarmament agreements and a chronology of events during the year in the area of security and arms control.

From the North African desert to the bloody stalemate in Italy, from the London blitz to the D-Day beaches, a group of highly courageous and extremely talented American journalists reported the war against Nazi Germany for a grateful audience. Based on a wealth of previously untapped primary sources, War Beat, Europe provides the first comprehensive account of what these reporters witnessed, what they were allowed to publish, and how their reports shaped the home front's perception of some of the most pivotal battles in American history. In a dramatic and fast-paced narrative, Steven Casey takes readers from the inner councils of government, where Franklin D. Roosevelt and George Marshall held clear views about how much blood and gore Americans could stomach, to the command centers in London, Algiers, Naples, and Paris, where many reporters were stuck with the dreary task of reporting the war by communique. At the heart of this book is the epic journey of reporters like Wes Gallagher and Don Whitehead of the Associated Press, Drew Middleton of the New York Times, Bill Stoneman of the Chicago Daily News, and John Thompson of the Chicago Tribune; of columnists like Ernie Pyle and Hal Boyle; and of photographers like Margaret Bourke-White and Robert Capa. These men and women risked their lives on countless occasions to get their dispatches and their images back home. In providing coverage of war in an open society, they also balanced the weighty responsibility of adhering to censorship regulations while working to sell newspapers and maintaining American support for the war. These reporters were driven by a combination of ambition, patriotism, and belief in the cause. War Beat, Europe shows how they earned their reputation as America's golden generation of journalists and wrote the first draft of World War II history for posterity.

The impact of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5 was incalculable. It was the first victory by an Asian power over a European one since the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century. Japanese victory was ascribed to the "spirit" of the Japanese people, which helped their soldiers to overcome superior numbers and technology. A fascinating glimpse into prevailing nationalistic and militaristic attitudes in early-twentieth-century Japan, "Human Bullets" is also an engaging story of combat and an excellent source of insights about a relatively obscure but immensely influential conflict. Tadyoshi Sakurai was a junior officer in the Japanese campaign against Port Arthur, Russia's ice-free port in China. His account is an interesting introduction to the concept of "yamato-damashii," or "traditional Japanese spirit." This spirit was something greater than mere high morale. Japanese soldiers were the emperor's "human bullets." Like bullets, they were unconcerned with victory, comfort, or self-preservation, existing only to strike the enemy.

Victor Israelyan was a senior ambassador in the Soviet Foreign Ministry when the armies of Egypt and Syria invaded Israeli-occupied territory on October 6, 1973. Critical to the outcome of this conflict were the Soviet Union and the United States, whose diplomatic maneuverings behind the scenes eventually ended what came to be known as the Yom Kippur War. During the crisis, however, tensions between the superpowers nearly escalated into nuclear war. Israelyan is the first Soviet official to give us a firsthand account of what actually happened inside the Kremlin during these three important weeks in 1973.

Israelyan's account is a fascinating mixture of memoir, anecdotes, and historical reporting. As a member of Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko's staff, he was assigned to a four-man task force that attended the many Politburo meetings held during the war. The job of this task force was to take notes and prepare drafts of letters and other documents for the Politburo. In remarkable detail, made possible by his sharp memory and the notes and documents he saved, Israelyan chronicles the day-by-day activities of Kremlin leaders as they confronted the crisis. For the first time we can see how the cumbersome Soviet policy-making mechanism, headed by the Politburo, functioned in a tense international situation. We see how the actions of Henry Kissinger, Anwar Sadat, Hafiz al-Assad, and other participants in the crisis were interpreted in Moscow. From his own experience Israelyan gives us intimate portraits of top Soviet officials including Brezhnev, Gromyko, and Andropov. His access to important documents--including letters from Richard Nixon to Leonid Brezhnev, never officially released in the U.S.--provide a much-needed corrective to assertions made by Kissinger, Nixon, and Sadat about the war.

Supplemented by rare photographs and interviews with other Soviet officials, Inside the Kremlin During the Yom Kippur War is more than a record of the past. Israelyan offers a unique vantage point on the continuing Middle East conflict, and his candid assessment of the mindset of Russian leaders is instructive for understanding how the present leadership of Russia faces its new role in the post-Cold War world.

On June 23, 1812, Napoleon's Grande Armee, over 500,000 men strong, poured over the Russian border. An equally massive Russian army faced them. The ensuing campaign was a catastrophe for Napoleon. Although the battle of Borodino, which resulted in heavy losses on both sides, allowed Napoleon to enter Moscow, his stay in that empty and decimated city was disastrous. By the time Napoleon had retreated to the Berezina river in late November, his Grande Armee was only a fifth of its original strength. His retreat had become a rout, and his allies began to desert him. In this book, Clausewitz analyzes all the significant players with sharp and enlightening characterizations, and provides perhaps the best eyewitness accounts of the battle of Borodino and the Convention of Tauroggen. The Campaign of 1812 in Russia is a brilliantly observed study of one of the major turning points of history.

Defeat and death at the Little Bighorn gave General George Custer and his Seventh Cavalry a kind of immortality. In "Custer's Last Stand," Brian W. Dippie investigates the body of legend surrounding that battle on a bloody Sunday in 1876. His survey of the event in poems, novels, paintings, movies, jokes, and other ephemera amounts to a unique reflection on the national character.

Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution vests in Congress the power "to declare War." Pursuant to that power, Congress has enacted 11 declarations of war during the course of American history relating to five different wars, the most recent being those that were adopted during World War II. In addition, Congress has adopted a number of authorizations for the use of military force, the most recent being the joint resolution enacted on October 16, 2002, authorizing the use of military force against Iraq. To buttress the nations ability to prosecute a war or armed conflict, Congress has also enacted numerous statutes which confer standby authority on the President or the executive branch and are activated by the enactment of a declaration of war, the existence of a state of war, or the promulgation of a declaration of national emergency. This book examines a number of topics related to declarations of war and authorizations for the use of military force by the United States. It provides historical background on each of the declarations of war and on several major authorizations for the use of force that have been enacted; analyzes the implications of declarations of war and authorizations for the use of force under both international law and domestic law; lists and summarizes the more than 250 standby statutory authorities that can come into effect pursuant to a declaration of war, the existence of a state of war, and/or a declaration of national emergency; describes the procedures in Congress governing the consideration of declarations of war and authorizations for the use of force, including the procedures under the War Powers Resolution; and sets forth in two appendices the texts of all of the declarations of war and the major authorisations for the use of force that have been enacted.

Throughout its history, the Department of Defense (DOD) has relied on contractors to support a wide range of military operations. Operations over the last thirty years have highlighted the critical role that contractors play in supporting U.S. troops - both in terms of the number of contractors and the type of work being performed. Over the last decade in Iraq and Afghanistan, and before that, in the Balkans, contractors accounted for 50% or more of the total military force. Regardless of whether future operations are similar to, or significantly different from, those of the past decade most analysts and defence officials believe that contractors will continue to play a central role in overseas military operations. Consequently, these observers believe that the DOD should be prepared to effectively award and manage contracts at a moment's notice, anywhere in the world, in unknown environments, and on a scale that may exceed the total contract obligations of any other federal agency. This book provides background information and identifies issues for Congress on the use of contractors to support military operations. The DOD's extensive use of contractors poses several potential policy and oversight issues for Congress and has been the focus of numerous hearings. Congress' decisions on these issues could substantially affect the extent to which the DOD relies on contractors in and is capable of planning for and overseeing contractors in future operations.

A raw, honest and evocative account of life as the most highly decorated serving soldier in the British Army. From the breakneck pace of an opening where he is in action in Helmand province, under fire from the Taliban, Mick Flynn pulls no punches. It's obvious that he is a trained killer. But how did it reach this point? The journey starts with his childhood, a working class lad, learning to fight and finding himself repeatedly on the wrong side of the law. Even after joining the Army he is found at fault and jailed, an experience that finally shocks him into behaving himself. From there, it is off to Northern Ireland and straight into hotspots where Mick's courage and determination are all that keep him alive. There's love too: his estranged wife, Denise, is being brought back into the picture, just as Mick tries to start a new life with his girlfriend Rachel. Can he manage to separate his ferocious soldiering persona from the real Mick? As things remain complicated, Mike flings himself into further tours of duty, in Bosnia, Iraq, the Falklands. Action-packed, shoots-from-the-hip narration from an engaging hero, this is gritty realism at its most shocking.

Since the mid-19th century, the United States has frequently employed the U.S. Army on its southern border to perform various roles in support of the Nation, from outright war, to patrolling the border, to chasing bandits while securing persons and property on both sides of the border, and most recently to supporting civil law enforcement and anti-drug efforts. The military generally provides support to law enforcement and immigration authorities along the southern border. Reported escalations in criminal activity and illegal immigration, however, have prompted some lawmakers to re-evaluate the extent and type of military support that occurs in the border region. Events since 9/11, such as the recent deployment of National Guard Soldiers to the Mexican border, are only the latest manifestation of this long tradition. This book reviews the lengthy history of the U.S. Army on the Mexican border and highlights recurring themes that are relevant to today's ongoing border security mission. This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.

The reign of Louis XIV of France had a great impact on the course of European and world military history. The years 1643 to 1715 were a defining epoch for western military, diplomatic and economic matters. Most of those years were marked by conflict between major European powers and the Sun King's forces. This four volume series is the first that present an extensive account of the many facets of the French army and the wars it fought. It was an era during which the Sun King's and eventually all armies saw extraordinarily significant changes such as: the advent of very large professional armies; increasingly centralized command systems; professional training for officers and men; introduction of obligatory military service, improvements in discipline and control; technical advances regarding armament thus affecting battlefield tactics; marked progress regarding fortifications; introduction of uniforms; logistics capable of supplying large armies; financial practices that permitted the upkeep and pay large military forces. The above and even more factors produced many influences that weighted heavily in European geo-political and geo-strategic maters. In these, the Sun King largely dominated Europe's agenda from the time he took effective autocratic power in 1661 to his last moments in 1715. Since his army was, initially, the largest, most modern and effective in Europe, he had success to the point that neighbouring countries formed coalitions to stop him. However, the Sun King was a master at geo-strategy, notably regarding the balance that he managed to maintain with the Ottoman Empire whose forces always threatened the eastern frontiers of France's opponents. Thus, France's forces were always sufficient to keep enemies mostly on the defensive; it was unthinkable that they would ever reach Paris. These and many more topics are presented in this four volume work. Each volume is basically in two parts. The first part is the era of the wars and their context, the second part consist of a detailed look at a part of the French army. The appendices present certain aspects such as uniform lists of the period and evaluations of opponent and allied armies of the Sun King's forces. Volume 1 deals with the Sun King's early years, from his birth in 1638, the resounding victory of Rocroi when he was five and a child king, the unstable years of the Fronde civil wars, his seizure of absolute power in 1661, the initial foreign military adventures culminating with the French army's blitzkriegs of 1667-1668. This is followed by a look at the command systems, short biographies of the senior officers, their own guards, their lifestyles and orders of chivalry. Closing with several chapters on the Royal Guard including their more mundane or obscure duties with their battle record, uniforms and material culture. Of the appendices, the largest is devoted to the opponent Spanish army of the 17th century. This volume, like the three others, has about 200 illustrations, most in colour, taken from contemporary sources joined by many works by now nearly forgotten 19th century eminent military illustrators such as Marbot, Titeu, Philippoteaux and JOB. As a bonus, each volume has five especially commissioned colour plates of three figures each showing usually never before seen uniforms reconstructed from descriptions and three especially commissioned colour plates showing colours and standards.

The true story of the most famous SAS operation in history. 'Bravo Two Zero' was the code-name of the famous SAS operation: a classic story of bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. BRAVO TWO ZERO by patrol commander 'Andy McNab' became an international bestseller, as did the book by 'Chris Ryan' (THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY). Both men became millionaires. Three members of the patrol were killed. One, veteran sergeant Vince Phillips, was blamed in both books for a succession of mistakes. As Michael Asher reveals, the stories in BRAVO TWO ZERO and THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY grew considerably in the telling. Their heroic tales of taking out tanks with their rocket launchers, mowing down hundreds of Iraqi soldiers, the silent stabbing of the occasional sentry, were never mentioned at their post-war debriefings... In an investigation literally in the footsteps of the patrol, Michael Asher tells the true story.

The book describes and analyses the Scanian War, which was fought from 1675 to 1679 between, on one side, primarily Brandenburg and Denmark-Norway and, on the other, Sweden. The war was mainly fought in Scania, the former Danish lands along the border with Sweden, and in northern Germany. The Danish objective was to retrieve Scania which, a generation earlier, had been captured by Sweden and ceded by Denmark. However, the Danish invasion of Scania was defeated by the young Swedish King Charles XI. Although the Danish fleet was victorious at sea, and an alliance headed by Brandenburg defeated the Swedes in Germany, the subsequent peace negotiations resulted in no major territorial changes. Danish partisans continued guerrilla operations in Scania for years, yet the former Danish territories remained in Swedish hands. The Scanian War was bloody, even by contemporary standards, and from a military point of view, quite inconclusive. Yet, Sweden's experiences in the Scanian War laid the foundation for the first substantial reform of the Swedish army since the Thirty Years' War. Based on what he had learnt, King Charles XI restructured the Swedish army and established a comprehensive military system that enabled Sweden to repeatedly mobilise trained armies during the even more devastating Great Northern War (1700-1721) which followed a generation later. Moreover, several recent archaeological excavations have increased our knowledge of the Scanian War, as well as the conditions of late seventeenth-century battles. The book describes the war and its results, and summarises the archaeological findings.

The 49th edition of the SIPRI Yearbook analyses developments in 2017 in: - Security and conflicts - Military spending and armaments - Non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament. The SIPRI Yearbook contains extensive annexes on the implementation of arms control and disarmament agreements, and a chronology of events during the year in the area of security and arms control.

The story of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's life, begun in Bring Me a Unicorn, continues in this fifth and final published volume of her diaries and letters. This record of the Lindberghs' wartime years is emotionally charged by the struggle between the American isolationists, who counted among their membership Charles Lindbergh, and the interventionists, who included Anne's mother and sister. In her introduction, the author sets the historical record of these years straight, fairly and equitably, before letting the diaries and letters speak with the voice of anguished immediacy. A gentle, intensely responsive woman and a pacifist, Anne experienced the conflicts of the war years -- within her own family as well as in the world -- with excruciated sensitivity. She speaks here of the many aspects of her life -- supporting an embattled husband, creating several new homes, bearing and raising children, pursuing her writing career -- and the reader sees her as she was, valiant and vulnerable, loving and beloved. What emerges from these pages is the story of the bond between Charles and Anne: two extraordinary people, tested in stress and found not wanting.

King John the Good of France was captured by the English at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356; his 14-year-old son Philip fought valiantly by his side until the bitter end, and as soon as he was in a position to do so, King John rewarded his son's courage and devotion by designating him Duke of Burgundy, a title that by chance had just become extinct. Philip was the first of the Valois Dukes of Burgundy and this fascinating text by Nicholas Michael examines the functioning and organization of the Burgundian armies from the beginning of his reign until the time of the last of the Valois Dukes: Charles the Bold.

This comprehensive introduction to the study of war and genocide presents a disturbing case that the potential for slaughter is deeply rooted in the political, economic, social and ideological relations of the modern world.

Most accounts of war and genocide treat them as separate phenomena. This book thoroughly examines the links between these two most inhuman of human activities. It shows that the generally legitimate business of war and the monstrous crime of genocide are closely related. This is not just because genocide usually occurs in the midst of war, but because genocide is a form of war directed against civilian populations. The book shows how fine the line has been, in modern history, between 'degenerate war' involving the mass destruction of civilian populations, and 'genocide', the deliberate destruction of civilian groups as such.

Written by one of the foremost sociological writers on war, "War and Genocide" has four main features:

- an original argument about the meaning and causes of mass killing in the modern world;

- a guide to the main intellectual resources - military, political and social theories - necessary to understand war and genocide;

- summaries of the main historical episodes of slaughter, from the trenches of the First World War to the Nazi Holocaust and the killing fields of Cambodia, Bosnia and Rwanda;

- practical guides to further reading, courses and websites.

This book examines war and genocide together with their opposites, peace and justice. It looks at them from the standpoint of victims as well as perpetrators. It is an important book for anyone wanting to understand - and overcome - thecontinuing salience of destructive forces in modern society.