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Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Military history
In the wake of the Second World War, Samuel Beckett wrote some of
the most significant literary works of the 20th century. This is
the first full-length historical study to examine the far-reaching
impact of the war on Beckett's creative and intellectual
sensibilities. Drawing on a substantial body of archival material,
including letters, manuscripts, diaries and interviews, as well as
a wealth of historical sources, this book explores Beckett's
writing in a range of political contexts, from the racist dogma of
Nazism and aggressive traditionalism of the Vichy regime to Irish
neutrality censorship and the politics of recovery in the French
Fourth Republic. Along the way, Samuel Beckett and the Second World
War casts new light on Beckett's political commitments and his
concepts of history as they were formed during Europe's darkest
hour.
This easy-to-use reference book covers the most important people,
places, events, and technologies of Roman warfare during the
republic (400-31 BCE), providing a wealth of reference material and
invaluable primary source documents. The study of ancient Rome
remains both a high-interest topic and a staple of high school and
university curricula, while recent Hollywood movies continue to
heighten popular interest in Rome. This multi-format handbook
examines warfare in ancient Rome during the republic period, from
approximately 400 BCE to 31 BCE. Presenting ready reference,
primary source documents, statistical information, and a
chronology, the title explore all aspects of conflict during this
time period, including key military leaders, pivotal battles and
sieges, new weapons and technologies, and the intersections of
warfare and society in the ancient world. The reference entries
provide detailed snapshots of key people, events, groups, places,
weapons systems, and strategies that enable readers to easily
understand the critical issues during 400 years of the Roman
Republic, while various overview, causes, and consequences essays
offer engaging, in-depth coverage of the most important wars. By
providing students with in-depth information about how the Roman
Army operated, they develop a fuller understanding Roman, ancient,
and world history. Connects the constant change of the Roman Army
adapting to new enemies and demands to the ongoing political and
social changes in Rome itself Provides an easy-to-use, ready
reference on Roman warfare during the Republic based on the most
recent research Includes primary source documents that provide
valuable information and encourage readers to apply their critical
thinking skills Offers multiple topic finders that make it easy for
readers to find the information they are looking for and follow
connections within the material
By the end of the American war in Vietnam, the coastal province of
Phu Yen was one of the least-secure provinces in the Republic of
Vietnam. It was also a prominent target of the American strategy of
pacification - an effort, purportedly separate and distinct from
conventional warfare, to win the 'hearts and minds' of the
Vietnamese. In Robert J. Thompson III's analysis, the consistent,
and consistently unsuccessful, struggle to place Phu Yen under
Saigon's banner makes the province particularly fertile ground for
studying how the Americans advanced pacification and why this
effort ultimately failed. In March 1970, a disastrous military
engagement began in Phu Yen, revealing the enemy's continued
presence after more than three years of pacification. Clear, Hold,
and Destroy provides a fresh perspective on the war across multiple
levels, from those making and implementing policy to those affected
by it. Most pointedly, Thompson contends that pacification, far
from existing apart from conventional warfare, actually depended on
conventional military forces for its application. His study reaches
back into Phu Yen's storied history with pacification before and
during the French colonial period, then focuses on the province
from the onset of the American War in 1965 to its conclusion in
1975. A sharply focused, fine-grained analysis of one critical
province during the Vietnam War, Thompson's work demonstrates how
pacification is better understood as the foundation of U.S.
fighting in Vietnam.
A dedicated career soldier and excellent division and corps
commander, Dominique Vandamme was a thorn in the side of
practically every officer he served. Outspoken to a fault, he even
criticized Napoleon, whom he never forgave for not appointing him
marshal. His military prowess so impressed the emperor, however,
that he returned Vandamme to command time and again.In this first
book-length study of Vandamme in English, John G. Gallaher traces
the career of one of Napoleon's most successful midrank officers.
He describes Vandamme's rise from a provincial youth with neither
fortune nor influence to an officer of the highest rank in the
French army. Gallaher thus offers a rare look at a Napoleonic
general who served for twenty-five years during the wars of the
French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire. This was a time when a
general could lose his head if he lost a battle. Despite Vandamme's
contentious nature, Gallaher shows, Napoleon needed his skills as a
commander, and Vandamme needed Napoleon to further his career.
Gallaher draws on a wealth of archival sources in France - notably
the Vandamme Papers in Lille - to draw a full portrait of the
general. He also reveals new information on such military events as
the Silesian campaign of 1807 and the disaster at Kulm in 1813.
Gallaher presents Vandamme in the context of the Napoleonic command
system, revealing how he related to both subordinates and
superiors. Napoleon's Enfant Terrible depicts an officer who was
his own worst enemy but who was instrumental in winning an empire.
In January 1969, one of the most promising young lieutenant colonels the U.S. Army had ever seen touched down in Vietnam for his second tour of duty, which would turn out to be his most daring and legendary. David H. Hackworth had just completed the writing of a tactical handbook for the Pentagon, and now he had been ordered to put his counterguerilla-fighting theories into action. He was given the morale-drained 4/39th -- a battalion of poorly led draftees suffering the Army's highest casualty rate and considered its worst fighting battalion. Hackworth's hard-nosed, inventive and inspired leadership quickly turned the 4/39th into Vietnam's valiant and ferocious Hardcore Recondos. Drawing on interviews with soldiers from the Hardcore Battalion conducted over the past decade by his partner and coauthor, Eilhys England, Hackworth takes readers along on their sniper missions, ambush actions, helicopter strikes and inside the quagmire of command politics. With Steel My Soldiers' Hearts, Hackworth places the brotherhood of the 4/39th into the pantheon of our nation's most heroic warriors.
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