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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Land forces & warfare
This volume details the uniforms, organisation and equipment of all the Canadian and British units that defended British North America during the tense years in the run up to war with the United States. The colourful Fencible and Provincial Regiments are featured along with the Glengarry Light Infantry and Canadian Voltigeurs.
In spite of the outcome of the Cold War, English argues persuasively here that the nuclear defensive posture adopted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was inherently flawed. Victory in the Cold War, moreover, seems to have increased the attractiveness of this potentially dangerous model. In fact, NATO's attempts to replace conventional armies with nuclear technology represented a misreading of history inasmuch as war has always been more of a social than technological phenomenon. From his succinct survey of the growth and operations of field armies from medieval times to the Gulf War, English concludes that the legitimately constituted conventional army of the nation-state still remains the best instrument for bringing some semblance of order to the destructive chaos of war. The development of field armies has involved much more sophistication than generally supposed. In both practice and theory, army operations have been as knowledge-based and intellectually rigorous as any academic discipline, ensuring them an enduring place as a practical means of applying massive force. Fortunately, the NATO attempt to replace conventional armies with nuclear technology was never tested in a real war. But English suggests that the likelihood of deterrence continuing in war, because of its transmutability, also offers hope that it can be controlled in the future, as it was in the past, by social forces. This book offers a longer, more realistic view of war than that normally embraced by technocrats in search of better weapons and peacemakers in search of utopia. This book also addresses in detail the questions of why armies became so large and why war itself transmutated. The technological transformation of war that occurred after 1815 is discussed, in turn, for the effect it exerted upon the future operations of armies. A novel perspective on the tactical and operational progression of warfighting up to the end of World War II is also provided through an examination of modern defensive theory. On a more elevated plane, the book critically assesses the ways in which nuclear deterrence ultimately affected NATO's defensive posture in central Europe. Also subjected to detailed scrutiny are the theoretical and practical dimensions of ground force concepts for the defense of the NATO central front. Finally, English evaluates ground force operations in the Gulf War with a view to drawing relevant conclusions and lessons for the future.
This classic work of scholarship scrutinizes all aspects of Roman military forces throughout the Roman Empire, in Europe, North Africa, and the Near and Middle East. Graham Webster describes the Roman army's composition, frontier systems, camps and forts, activities in the field (including battle tactics, signaling, and medical services), and peacetime duties, as well as the army's overall influence in the Empire. First published in 1969, the work is corrected and expanded in this third edition, which includes new information from excavations and the finding of contemporary scholars. Hugh Elton provides an introduction surveying scholarship on the Roman army since the last edition of 1985.
"In the making of Allied Force Headquarters into a truly single Allied inter-service headquarters, Eisenhower started on a task that was to continue throughout the war--and beyond. Its fulfillment was perhaps more than any other his special contribution to the practice of war."Because he did not actually command troops in battle, Eisenhower has occasionally been underestimated by military writers. The "Eisenhower" volume in the classic "Military Commanders" series clearly demonstrates that his organization of the Allied effort in Europe owed nothing to the practices followed in World War I and represented a decisive breakthrough in the conduct of war, particularly in coalition warfare. Ike was a military manager without equal, who also had the ability to inspire confidence and loyalty among his subordinates of all nationalities. Eisenhower is most closely associated with the military principle of "Unity of Command," and his doctrines are more relevant today than ever, in the world of coalition armies and high-tech battlefields. General Sixsmith's comprehensive description of Eisenhower's World War II actions makes for particularly interesting comparisons with the lessons forgotten in Vietnam and re-applied in the Persian Gulf.
A man of extraordinary inner strength and patriotic devotion, General Harold K. Johnson was a soldier's officer, loved by his men and admired by his peers for his leadership, courage, and moral convictions. Lewis Sorley's biography provides a fitting testament to this remarkable man and his dramatic rise from obscurity to become LBJ's Army Chief of Staff during the Vietnam War. A native of North Dakota, Johnson survived more than three grueling years as a POW under the Japanese during World War II before serving brilliantly as a field commander in the Korean War, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for "extraordinary heroism." The latter experiences led to a series of high-level positions that culminated in his appointment as Army chief in 1964 and a cover story in Time magazine. What followed should have been the most rewarding period of Johnson's military career. Instead, it proved to be a nightmare, as he quickly became mired in the politics and ordeal of a very misguided war. Johnson fundamentally disagreed with the three men--LBJ, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, and General William Westmoreland--running our war in Vietnam. He was sharply critical of LBJ's piecemeal policy of gradual escalation and his failure to mobilize the national will or call up the reserves. He was equally despondent over Westmoreland's now infamous search-and-destroy tactics and reliance on body counts to measure success in Vietnam. By contrast, he advocated greater emphasis on cutting the North's supply lines, helping the South Vietnamese provide for their own internal defenses, and sustaining a truly legitimate government in the South. Unheeded, he nevertheless continued to work behind the scenes to correct the nation's flawed approach to the war. Sorley's study adds immeasurably to our understanding of the
Vietnam War. It also provides an inspiring account of principled
leadership at a time when the American military is seeking to
recover the very kinds of moral values exemplified by Harold K.
Johnson. As such, it presents a profound morality tale for our own
era.
When Colonel Charles S. Wainwright (1826-1907), later a brevet brigadier general, was commissioned in the First New York Artillery Regiment of the Army of the Potomac in October 1861, he began a journal. As an officer who fought at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Spotsylvania, and Petersburg, and who witnessed the leadership of Generals McClellan, Hooker, Burnside, Meade, Grant, and Sheridan, he brilliantly describes his experiences, views, and emotions. But Wainwright's entries go beyond military matters to include his political and social observations. Skillfully edited by Allan Nevins, historian and author of the classic multivolume Ordeal of the Union , this journal is Wainwright's vivid and invaluable gift to posterity.
Adrian Goldsworthy examines how the Roman army operated on campaign and in battle. He compares the army's organization and strategic doctrine with those of its chief opponents and explores in detail the reality of battle: tactics, weaponry, leadership, and, most of all, the important issue of morale.
"A People's Army" documents the many distinctions between British
regulars and Massachusetts provincial troops during the Seven
Years' War. Originally published by UNC Press in 1984, the book was
the first investigation of colonial military life to give equal
attention to official records and to the diaries and other writings
of the common soldier. The provincials' own accounts of their
experiences in the campaign amplify statistical profiles that
define the men, both as civilians and as soldiers. These writings
reveal in intimate detail their misadventures, the drudgery of
soldiering, the imminence of death, and the providential world view
that helped reconcile them to their condition and to the war.
Military analyst Michael O'Hanlon shows how outside forces could successfully intervene to stop an ongoing cycle of warfare in a country whose government has collapsed or come under severe internal challenge. Based largely on recent U.S. experiences in Panama, Somalia, Bosnia, and elsewhere, as well as on U.S. military doctrine and information from the Pentagon's training and simulation centers, the book discusses the steps in an intervention and estimates likely casualties and costs. O'Hanlon shows that modern Western militaries are capable of executing these types of operations with high proficiency. While conditions are unlikely to resemble those of Desert Storm, which allowed the U.S. and allies to take full advantage of modern technology, top-notch militaries have advantages in infantry combat situations--night-vision equipment, attack and transport helicopters, counterartillery radars--that would enable them to establish order and prevail in any firefights. O'Hanlon warns that operations as casualty-free as those in Haiti and, to date, in Bosnia would be unlikely. Moreover, the political framework that outside powers would attempt to employ in establishing a new order would be critical: if intervening forces are seen as taking sides or occupying territory without legitimacy, they could meet protracted guerrilla-style resistance of the types witnessed in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Somalia. Formerly titled Stopping Civil Conflict with Force Part of the Studies in Foreign Affairs series
Lee Kennett provides a vivid portrait of the American soldier, or G.I., in World War II, from his registration in the draft, training in boot camp, combat in Europe and the Pacific, and to his final role as conqueror and occupier. It is all here: the "greetings" from Uncle Sam; endless lines in induction centers across the country; the unfamiliar and demanding world of the training camp, with its concomitant jokes, pranks, traditions, and taboos; and the comparative largess with which the Army was outfitted and supplied. Here we witness the G.I. facing combat: the courage, the heroism, the fear, and perhaps above all, the camaraderie - the bonds of those who survived the tragic sense of loss when a comrade died. Finally, when the war was over, the G.I.'s frequently experienced clumsy, hilarious, and explosive interactions with their civilian allies and with the former enemies whose countries they now occupied. Lee Kennett is Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Georgia. Among his many books are For the Duration . . .: The United States Goes to War, Pearl Harbor-1942, A History of Strategic Bombing, and, most recently, Marching through Georgia: The Story of Soldiers and Civilians during Sherman's Campaign.
Villegas talks about the struggles he has taken part in over four decades -- in Cuba, the Congo, and Bolivia, to the war in Angola and the defeat of the South African apartheid army at Cuito Cuanavale in 1988. Above all, he explains the importance of Guevara's political legacy for new generations of fighters the world over.
Richard Moser uses interviews and personal stories of Vietnam veterans to offer a fundamentally new interpretation of the Vietnam War and the antiwar movement. Although the Vietnam War was the most important conflict of recent American history, its decisive battle was not fought in the jungles of Vietnam, or even in the streets of the United States, but rather in the hearts and minds of American soldiers. To a degree unprecedented in American history, soldiers and veterans acted to oppose the very war they waged. Tens of thousands of soldiers and veterans engaged in desperate conflicts with their superiors and opposed the war through peaceful protest, creating a mass movement of dissident organizations and underground newspapers. Moser shows how the antiwar soldiers lived out the long tradition of the citizen soldier first created in the American Revolution and Civil War. Unlike those great upheavals of the past, the Vietnam War offered no way to fulfill the citizen-soldier's struggle for freedom and justice. Rather than abandoning such ideals, however, tens of thousands abandoned the war effort and instead fulfilled their heroic expectations in the movements for peace and justice. According to Moser, this transformation of warriors into peacemakers is the most important recent development of our military culture. The struggle for peace took these new winter soldiers into America rather than away from it. Collectively these men and women discovered the continuing potential of American culture to advance the values of freedom, equality, and justice on which the nation was founded.
A first hand account of the military campaigns and political events that culminated in the January 1959 popular insurrection that overthrew the U.S.-backed dictatorship in Cuba. With clarity and humor, Guevara describes his own political education. He explains how the struggle transformed the men and women of the Rebel Army and July 26 Movement led by Fidel Castro. And how these combatants forged a political leadership capable of guiding millions of workers and peasants to open the socialist revolution in the Americas. Guevara's Episodes appears here complete for the first time in English.
"A collection of varied and amazing lives, all bent on shaping
history. Together, these experienced, undeterred Nicaraguan women
offer powerful clues about a truly revolutionary and democratizing
feminism."--Adrienne Rich
Describing the radical transformation in German Infantry tactics that took place during World War I, this book presents the first detailed account of the evolution of stormtroop tactics available in English. It covers areas previously left unexplored: the German Infantry's tactical heritage, the squad's evolution as a tactical unit, the use of new weapons for close combat, the role of the elite assault units in the development of new tactics, and detailed descriptions of offensive battles that provided the inspiration and testing ground for this new way of fighting. Both a historical investigation and a standard of excellence in infantry tactics, Stormtroop Tactics is required reading for professional military officers and historians as well as enthusiasts. Contrary to previous studies, Stormtroop Tactics proposes that the German Infantry adaption to modern warfare was not a straightforward process resulting from the "top down" intervention of reformers but instead a "bottom up" phenomenon. It was an accumulation of improvisations and ways of dealing with pressing situations that were later sewn together to form what we now call "Blitzkrieg." Focusing on action at the company, platoon, and squad level, Stormtroop Tactics provides a detailed description of the evolution of German defensive tactics during World War I--tactics that were the direct forbears of those used in World War II.
This new book will be an essential reference for modellers and wargamers who build and paint World War II British armoured fighting vehicles. It provides extensive information on different types of vehicles, describing when they were used, by whom and for what purpose. In addition, the many modifications made to vehicles during the war are included, with guidance on how to create these for models. Step-by-step building and painting guides illustrate vehicles in 1/35, 1/72 and 1/76 scale. This book features models, often with a comparison of models from different manufacturers, for the following: M3 Grant Mk1, including a North African version; Cromwell Mk IV; Royal Marine Centaur; Cavalier Observation Post; Sherman M4A1 and Crab; Crusader III AA Mk 1; Matilda; Morris and Guy Quads; Bedford QLs; Scammell Pioneer Heavy Artillery tractor conversion; Anti-tank guns, e.g. the 'Pheasant', field guns, anti-aircraft guns, etc and, finally, figures which include uniform painting guides.
Depicts the uniforms, insignia, decorations, horse equipment, and weaponry of cavalry regiments against the background of events in American military history.
Another volume in Praeger's "The Military Profession" series, this revised edition of the 1984 Praeger classic tells the story of infantry in the 20th century and its impact on the major conflicts of our time. Its purpose is to provide the reader--whether infantryman or not--with hitherto unavailable insights on the role that infantry plays in the larger battle and how that has helped shape the world that we live in today. Unique aspects of the book include the treatment of technical issues in non-technical language, the extensive use of German and French sources generally unavailable to the English-speaking reader, and the shattering of some long-cherished myths. Combat motivation and combat refusal, the role played by small units (such as the squad and fire team), the role of infantry in the Blitzkrieg, and many other issues often papered over in the literature of infantry are discussed and analyzed in detail in this revised edition.
Soldiers of the Sun traces the origins of the Imperial Japanese
Army back to its samurai roots in the nineteenth century to tell
the story of the rise and fall of this extraordinary military
force.
In "Assault at West Point," John F. Marszalek, the highly acclaimed author of "Sherman: A Soldier's Passion for Order," has written a dramatic account of one of the most momentous trials in American history. Set in the 1880s, this riveting story focuses on Whittaker, a former slave who became the third black to enter West Point. Like his two predecessors, he was ostracized for the entire three years of his training. One morning Whittaker didn't show up for drill. He was found in his room, unconscious, tied tightly to the bed, with blood streaming from his head. In a trial that received major attention from the press, Whittaker was accused of faking the crime to get sympathy from the public and from his professors. Author Marszalek weaves his rich narrative from historical records to tell how Whittaker sought justice against all odds. Now the basis if the Showtime original movie "Assault at West Point," this compelling work brings to life a case that rocked the country and involved the highest reaches of power-- and vividly demonstrates the impact of racism on teh fabric of American society.
"Extraordinary...recreates the Vietnam experience in visceral terms."—Col. Harry G. Sumniers, Jr., editor, Vietnam magazine.
The Russian BMP infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) was one of the most significant innovations in infantry tactics in the latter half of the 20th century. Built in response to the threat of nuclear warfare, it was the world's first IFV, providing the infantry squad with unprecedented firepower, mobility and protection. With over 55,000 manufactured since 1966, the BMP is also numerically one of the most important armoured vehicles ever built. This richly illustrated book examines the development and design of the BMP, detailing its armaments, performance in combat and variants.
When John Bell Hood entered into the services of the Confederate Army, he was 29 years old, a handsome man and courageous soldier, loyal to the ideal of Confederate Independence and eager to fight for it. He led his men bravely into the battles of Second Manassas, Gaines's Mill, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Chickamauga. He rose fast, attaining the temporary rank of full general, only to fall faster. Hood emerged from the war with his left arm shattered and uselss, his right leg missing, his face aged far beyond his 33 years, and with his military reputation in disgrace. Blamed by contemporaries for contributing to the defeat of his beloved Confederacy, Hood struggled to refute their accusations. His most vehement critic, General Johnston, charged Hood with insubordination while serving under him and, after succeeding him in command, of recklessly leading Confederate troops to their slaughter" and useless butchery." Sherman, too, in his Memoirs, took a harsh view of Hood. Born of controversy, Advance and Retreat is of course a highly controversial book. It is also full of invaluable information and insights into the retreat from Dalton in early 1864, the fighting around Atlanta, and the disastrous Tennessee Campaign in winter of that year. Far from being a careful, sober, objective account, this book is the passionate, bitter attempt of a soldier to rebut history's judgment of himself as general and man.
In 1665 the Carignan-Salieres Regiment was sent to Canada by King Louis XIV to quell the Iroquois, whose attacks were strangling the colony's fur-based economy and threatening to destroy its tiny settlements. In the course of its three-year stay in Canada, the regiment established a period of relative peace that allowed the French to consolidate their foothold on the north shore of the St Lawrence, establish new settlements across the river, and rebuild the economy to its former prosperity. Promoted by Abbe Lionel Groulx as a body of chosen men sent to do God's work, the regiment came to be viewed as an elite corps of Catholic crusaders. In The Good Regiment Jack Verney sets the record straight, revealing that the Carignan-Salieres Regiment was not a group of saintly knights but caroused, womanized, and gambled in off hours just like any other infantry regiment.
Frank Raymond Secoy wrote this classic work while at Columbia University in the early 195s. In his introduction, John C. Ewers considers the influence of Secoy's book on scholars since its original publication in 1953. Ethnologist emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution, Ewers is the author of "The Horse in Blackfoot Indian Culture" (1955), "Blackfeet: Their Art and Culture" (1987), and other works. |
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