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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence
Now It Can Be Told comprises of Philip Gibbs recollections
regarding the First World War, in which he served as an officially
commissioned war reporter. Titled in reference to the relieving of
censorship laws following the conclusion of World War One in 1918,
this book is noticeably different from the censored or dumbed-down
accounts published under Gibbs' byline in popular newspapers as the
conflict wore on. In this book, the full scale of the horror
wrought in Europe is told unflinchingly with the aim of showing the
depravity of conflict and the destruction that results. Early in
the war, Gibbs' frank and accurate accounts of the carnage of
modern warfare unnerved the British government, who were concerned
his accounts would demoralize citizens and turn them against the
war effort. Gibbs was ordered home; on refusing to cease reporting,
he was arrested and forcibly brought back to Britain.
The Sykes-Picot Agreement was one of the defining moments in the
history of the modern Middle East. Yet its co-creator, Sir Mark
Sykes, had far more involvement in British Middle East strategy
during World War I than the Agreement for which he is now most
remembered. Between 1915 and 1916, Sykes was Lord Kitchener's agent
at home and abroad, operating out of the War Office until the war
secretary's death at sea in 1916. Following that, from 1916 to 1919
he worked at the Imperial War Cabinet, the War Cabinet Secretariat
and, finally, as an advisor to the Foreign Office. The full extent
of Sykes's work and influence has previously not been told.
Moreover, the general impression given of him is at variance with
the facts. Sykes led the negotiations with the Zionist leadership
in the formulation of the Balfour Declaration, which he helped to
write, and promoted their cause to achieve what he sought for a
pro-British post-war Middle East peace settlement, although he was
not himself a Zionist. Likewise, despite claims he championed the
Arab cause, there is little proof of this other than general
rhetoric mainly for public consumption. On the contrary, there is
much evidence he routinely exhibited a complete lack of empathy
with the Arabs. In this book, Michael Berdine examines the life of
this impulsive and headstrong young British aristocrat who helped
formulate many of Britain's policies in the Middle East that are
responsible for much of the instability that has affected the
region ever since.
Today more than one hundred small, asymmetric, and revolutionary
wars are being waged around the world. This book provides
invaluable tools for fighting such wars by taking enemy
perspectives into consideration. The third volume of a trilogy by
Max G. Manwaring, it continues the arguments the author presented
in "Insurgency, Terrorism, and Crime" and "Gangs,
Pseudo-Militaries, and Other Modern Mercenaries." Using case
studies, Manwaring outlines vital survival lessons for leaders and
organizations concerned with national security in our contemporary
world.
The insurgencies Manwaring describes span the globe. Beginning with
conflicts in Algeria in the 1950s and 1960s and El Salvador in the
1980s, he goes on to cover the Shining Path and its resurgence in
Peru, Al Qaeda in Spain, popular militias in Cuba, Haiti, and
Brazil, the Russian youth group Nashi, and drugs and politics in
Guatemala, as well as cyber warfare.
Large, wealthy, well-armed nations such as the United States have
learned from experience that these small wars and insurgencies do
not resemble traditional wars fought between geographically
distinct nation-state adversaries by easily identified military
forces. Twenty-first-century irregular conflicts blur traditional
distinctions among crime, terrorism, subversion, insurgency,
militia, mercenary and gang activity, and warfare.
Manwaring's multidimensional paradigm offers military and civilian
leaders a much needed blueprint for achieving strategic victories
and ensuring global security now and in the future. It combines
military and police efforts with politics, diplomacy, economics,
psychology, and ethics. The challenge he presents to civilian and
military leaders is to take probable enemy perspectives into
consideration, and turn resultant conceptions into strategic
victories.
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