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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Weapons & equipment
While the Red Army's arsenal at the start of the Second World War included weapons dating back to the Great War or earlier, the 1930s' modernization programme had introduced the automatic Tokarev pistol and self-loading Tokarev rifle. Its small arms were soon replaced by mass-produced sub-machine guns, such as the PPSh 1941, nicknamed the PePeSha,'. Supplementing the submachine guns, the Degtyarev Light Machine Gun DP-27. Fitted with a circular pan magazine, it received the not-unsurprising nickname Record Player.' New mortars and towed artillery pieces, ranging from 76mm to 203mm, entered service in the pre-war years. In addition to a wide range of towed, self-propelled and anti-tank guns, the Soviets fielded the Katyusha rocket launchers in 1941, nicknamed the Stalin's organ' by the Germans. The 1930s saw the introduction of the BT light tank series. The iconic T-34 medium tank series came into service in late 1940, joined by the IS-2 heavy tank from early 1944, the prefix letters IS' translates to Joseph Stalin. These formidable AFVs led the Red Army to victory in May 1945 over Nazi Germany. All these weapons and more are covered with numerous images in this authoritative overview of the subject.
The establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons, a concept more recently broadened to cover all weapons of mass destruction (WMD), has been before the international community for decades. In this book, two experts from the region explore why the matter remains unresolved, and outline a comprehensive yet achievable roadmap to a Middle East free of WMD. Weapons of mass destruction pose an existential threat to global peace and security. But nowhere is it more urgent to stem their spread than in the Middle East, a region fraught with mistrust and instability. Accounting for these geopolitical realities, including the ongoing talks to curb Iran's nuclear program, the authors present a practical and innovative strategy to a Middle East free of weapons of mass destructions (WMD). They outline a phased approach toward disarmament in the region, prescribing confidence-building measures and verification tools to create trust among the region's governments. Their vision also sees the realization of a WMD-free zone within a broader regional agenda for security and cooperation to advance socioeconomic and political progress. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of international relations, politics and security studies in the Middle East.
As part of its general rethinking of America's global strategy, the
Bush Administration initiated a reexamination of America's nuclear
doctrine that has generated considerable controversy with its focus
on maintaining a reliance on nuclear weapons and potentially
increasing willingness to use them. Here a group of leading
strategic analysts examine the background to the reevaluation,
issues of implementation, and potential implications
internationally.
Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945-2015 is a timely contribution to postwar Japan security studies. It is the first comprehensive account of Japan's post-1945 army, including a comprehensive institutional history, together with the evolution of roles and missions and the adoption of successive professional identities. The organizational history is embedded within a thorough examination of Japan's own defense policy, as well as of America's policy of alliance with Japan. The book examines and challenges assumptions about the drafting and adoption of the War Renunciation clause of Japan's postwar Peace Constitution, Article 9, which uniquely not only renounces war, but the arms to wage war. Thus Japan's army is not called an army, but the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF). The work also examines the place of an army and soldiers in the formation of Japan's national identity after its last devastating war, and explores the impact of constitutional, legal and policy restrictions, as well as the power of the legacy of the still-largely vilified Imperial Japanese Army on GSDF members who seek to serve because "there are people we want to protect." The study is rounded by an examination of the place of soldiers in Japan's popular culture, focused on movies, manga and anime, assessing the impact on the GSDF of a public imagination that most often ignores or villainizes soldiers, though ending with a note that some positive images of soldiers and of the GSDF members themselves have started to appear in the last few years. The book's author, a retired U.S. Army soldier who spent more than twenty years working, studying and training with the GSDF, offers a broad-ranging exploration of a unique organization. This work is extensively researched, using English and Japanese sources, and will appeal to anyone interested in Japanese security studies, alliance studies, and military imagery in Japanese pop culture, as well as to students of military history, international security, international relations, and cultural identity.
The history of biological weapons (BW), chemical weapons (CW), and nuclear weapons is complicated. It can be disturbing, tragic, and occasionally encouraging. It is rarely amusing, although the names selected for certain weapons suggest a casualness toward the consequences of their use: Atomic Annie, Blue Peacock, Dew of Death, Fat Man, Flying cow, George, Gilda, Helen of Bikini, Hurricane, Katie, Little Boy, Lulu, Mike, Red Beard, Sewer Pipe, Squirt. Use of BW and CW in warfare has produced mixed results in terms of effecting the outcome of a battle or campaign; despite this mixed record, both weapon types have attracted intense interest and strong advocacy for further use. The sole experience with use of nuclear weapons in warfare is viewed as hastening surrender by Japan, created competition among nations to develop more such weapons, and influenced efforts to ban any use or even stockpiling of such weapons. Each of these three weapon types has its own peculiar history, as recounted in this dictionary. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 700 cross-referenced entries on terms related to NBC warfare, ranging from basic descriptions of substances used to details on incidents and episodes where NBC weapons were used, historical events, persons important to NBC warfare, countries where such weapons have been developed or used, and international treaties and treaty-related organizations.
It's 1942 and the Nazis are racing to build an atomic bomb. They have the physicists, but they don't have enough 'heavy water' - essential for their nuclear designs. For two years, the Nazis have occupied Norway, and with it the Vemork hydroelectric plant, the world's sole supplier of heavy water. Under threat of death, its engineers push production into overtime. For the Allies, Vemork must be destroyed. But how could they reach the plant, high in a mountainous valley? The answer became the most dramatic commando raid of the war: the British SOE brought together a brilliant scientist and eleven refugee Norwegian commandos, who, with little more than parachutes, skis and tommy guns, would destroy Hitler's nuclear ambitions. Based on exhaustive research and never-before-seen diaries and letters, The Winter Fortress is a compulsively readable narrative about a group of young men who survived the cold of a Norwegian winter and evaded the clutches of the Gestapo, to save the world from destruction.
Innovation shapes wars, and twelve studies by former faculty members of West Point's United States Military Academy examine specific cases of past and present military innovation. The complex, competitive, and dynamic environment that defines war drives combatants to seek solutions to potentially lethal problems. As some solutions prove effective, gain traction, and win emulation, they follow a path of innovation. The chapters address a broad array of innovations, including in weapon technology, strategy, research and development philosophy, organization of the military instrument, and leveraging maps for strategic goals. Geographically, the examples in this volume span four continents and the Mediterranean Sea, and chronologically they proceed from the twelfth century to the twenty first. Collectively, the studies point to the interconnected value of pursuing constructive solutions to challenges, networking interdisciplinary forms of knowledge, appropriately balancing expectations and capabilities, and understanding an innovation as a journey rather than as an episodic event.
The flak started about four or five minutes before the target and immediately it was apparent that it was intense and extremely accurate. Oboe entailed the pilot flying dead straight and level for ten minutes on the attack run. Suddenly a tremendous flash lit up the sky about 50 yards ahead of our nose and exactly at our altitude. Within a tenth of a second we were through the cloud of dirty yellowish-brown smoke and into the blackness beyond. I shall never forget the spontaneous reaction of both my pilot and myself. We turned our heads slowly and looked long and deep into one anothers eyes - no word was spoken - no words were needed. The Mosquito was probably World War IIs most versatile combat aircraft. This book contains hundreds of first-hand accounts from many of the twoman crews who flew in them; pilots and navigators. It portrays the dramatic experiences of flying in its many roles as pathfinder, night fighter, reconnaissance aircraft, precision bombing and low-level ground attack aircraft. It describes many of the RAFs most audacious raids on prime but difficult targets where carpet bombing by heavy bombers was likely to be ineffective and cause unnecessary casualties to civilians. It is a remarkable record of the aircraft and the men that flew them.
Photo history of the long-gun versions of Germany's Panzer IV during WWII.
The contributors to this book describe, discuss, and evaluate the normative reframing brought about by the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (the Ban Treaty), taking you on a journey through its genesis and negotiation history to the shape of the emerging global nuclear order. Adopted by the United Nations on 7 July 2017, the Ban Treaty came into effect on 22 January 2021. For advocates and supporters, weapons that were always immoral are now also illegal. To critics, it represents a profound threat to the stability of the existing global nuclear order with the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty as the normative anchor. As the most significant leap in nuclear disarmament in fifty years and a rare case study of successful state-civil society partnership in multilateral diplomacy, the Ban Treaty challenges the established order. The book's contributors are leading experts on the Ban Treaty, including senior scholars, policymakers and civil society activists. A vital guide to the Ban Treaty for students of nuclear disarmament, arms control and diplomacy as well as for policymakers in those fields.
The contributors to this book describe, discuss, and evaluate the normative reframing brought about by the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (the Ban Treaty), taking you on a journey through its genesis and negotiation history to the shape of the emerging global nuclear order. Adopted by the United Nations on 7 July 2017, the Ban Treaty came into effect on 22 January 2021. For advocates and supporters, weapons that were always immoral are now also illegal. To critics, it represents a profound threat to the stability of the existing global nuclear order with the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty as the normative anchor. As the most significant leap in nuclear disarmament in fifty years and a rare case study of successful state-civil society partnership in multilateral diplomacy, the Ban Treaty challenges the established order. The book's contributors are leading experts on the Ban Treaty, including senior scholars, policymakers and civil society activists. A vital guide to the Ban Treaty for students of nuclear disarmament, arms control and diplomacy as well as for policymakers in those fields.
This book addresses the technical, organizational and political aspects of the national implementation measures of the projected Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). It is essential that individual potential states parties now undertake studies to present a detailed picture of the implications of their obligations under a CWC. Experts from several countries in the field of disarmament and from the chemical industry examine and review experiences gained from different areas of arms control and disarmament regulations, national legislation and regulations relevant to the operation of the National Authority in the framework of the projected Convention. The study presents a range of options and is aimed at helping states parties in the development of procedures required by the National Authority. A detailed analysis of their obligations as outlined in the current draft text of the Convention is also presented. This study attempts to stimulate the potential states parties to start a review of their own specific national implementation obligations. The book includes a bibliography, tables, and relevant documents.
The participants of the Second Review Conference of the parties to the Biological Weapons Convention agreed on instituting voluntary confidence-building measures (CBMs) to strengthen the Convention. For this book SIPRI has gathered together experts in the fields of disarmament, epidemiology, molecular genetics, and virology. They evaluate the extent to which these CBMs contribute to preventing or reducing the occurrence of ambiguities, doubts, and suspicions which might be raised about compliance with the BW convention, and how CBMs contribute to improving international co-operation in the field of peaceful biological activities.
The breech-loading, single-shot .458in Martini-Henry rifle has become a symbol of both the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 and the numerous battles in Egypt and the Sudan in 1884-85, but continued to be used by both British and colonial troops well into the 20th century. Its invention and introduction into British service were in direct response to the success of the Prussian Dreyse needle gun, which demonstrated that the breech-loading rifle offered faster loading, improved accuracy and superior range; significantly, the weapon could be loaded and fired from a prone position, thus offering the rifleman greater security on the battlefield. Due to the longevity of service, many Martini-Henry rifles survive today, both in museums and in private collections, and the weapon is highly prized by shooting enthusiasts. Featuring specially commissioned full-colour artwork and an array of arresting first-hand accounts and written by an authority on warfare in the Victorian era, this engaging study tells the story of the powerful Martini-Henry and its impact on the battlefield, from the Anglo-Zulu War to the opening months of World War I.
The outbreak of WW1 in 1914 found the British Army unready in many respects for a new age of warfare. However, the British led the world in the personal equipment worn by the infantryman thanks to an American officer named Anson Mills and the skills of the company created to produce his design - the 1908 equipment set made in woven cotton web. By the outbreak of WW2, the British infantry had new 1937 pattern equipment, whose design reflected a new generation of weapons and tactics. This proved unequal to the special demands of jungle warfare in the Far East: so 1944 saw yet another set of kit. In this book the author offers collectors and students of militaria a detailed review of these infantry equipments which spanned the British soldier's combat experience throughout most of the 20th century.
This book explores the implications of drone warfare for the legitimacy of global order. The literature on drone warfare has evolved from studying the proliferation of drones, to measuring their effectiveness, to exploring their legal, moral, and ethical impacts. These "three waves" of scholarship do not, however, address the implications of drone warfare for global order. This book fills the gap by contributing to a "fourth wave" of literature concerned with the trade-offs imposed by drone warfare for global order. The book draws on the "English School" of International Relations Theory, which is premised on the existence of a society of states bounded by common norms, values, and institutions, to argue that drone warfare imposes contradictions on the structural and normative pillars of global order. These consist of the structure of international society and diffusion of military capabilities, as well as the sovereign equality of states and laws of armed conflict. The book presents a typology of contradictions imposed by drone warfare within and across these axes that threaten the legitimacy of global order. This framework also suggests a confounding consequence of drone warfare that scholars have not hitherto explored rigorously: drone warfare can sometimes strengthen global order. The volume concludes by proposing a research agenda to reconcile the complex and often counter-intuitive impacts of drone warfare for global order. This book will be of considerable interest to students of security studies, global governance, and International Relations.
Engineering Victory brings a fresh approach to the question of why the North prevailed in the Civil War. Historian Thomas F. Army, Jr., identifies strength in engineering-not superior military strategy or industrial advantage-as the critical determining factor in the war's outcome. Army finds that Union soldiers were able to apply scientific ingenuity and innovation to complex problems in a way that Confederate soldiers simply could not match. Skilled Free State engineers who were trained during the antebellum period benefited from basic educational reforms, the spread of informal educational practices, and a culture that encouraged learning and innovation. During the war, their rapid construction and repair of roads, railways, and bridges allowed Northern troops to pass quickly through the forbidding terrain of the South as retreating and maneuvering Confederates struggled to cut supply lines and stop the Yankees from pressing any advantage. By presenting detailed case studies from both theaters of the war, Army clearly demonstrates how the soldiers' education, training, and talents spelled the difference between success and failure, victory and defeat. He also reveals massive logistical operations as critical in determining the war's outcome.
Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) encompasses the various disciplines of wireless interception, cryptanalysis, communications intelligence, electronic intelligence, direction-finding, and traffic analysis. It has become the basis upon which all combat operations are undertaken. It is now widely recognized as an absolutely vital dimension to modern warfare and it has proved to be a vital component in the counter-intelligence war fought between the West and Soviet bloc intelligence agencies. The Historical Dictionary of Signals Intelligence covers the history of SIGINT through a chronology, an introductory essay, an appendix, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on key personnel, SIGINT technology, intelligence operations, and agencies, as well as the tradecraft and jargon. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Signals Intelligence.
This book, first published in 1970, examines the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, when an entire industrial city was devastated and the bulk of its population killed or wounded. Coming days after the bombing of Hiroshima, Nagasaki has largely been forgotten. This book traces the decision by the US to use the second bomb, and the choice of Nagasaki as its target. It follows the bomber to the skies over Nagasaki, and the terrible events that unfolded. Using diaries, written accounts and the testimonies of hundreds of Japanese civilians who survived the bombing, this book provides the definitive text on the Nagasaki atomic bomb.
This book, first published in 1967, examines the circumstances and events that led to the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan, devastating Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The death of President Roosevelt three weeks before the end of the European war led to an incoming President, Truman, who had heard nothing of the project before taking office. He and his advisers had no precedents to guide them as they considered what to do, and withing their closely drawn circle there were genuine differences of opinion about the use of atomic weapons. This book traces the course of the discussions between the politicians and their technical advisers, the part played by personal relationships, and the attempt by some of the scientists to stop the bomb being used without warning. In addition, it supplies a thorough analysis of developments abroad, and in particular the situation in Japan. It shows that the debate in Washington and the atomic plants was careful and wide-ranging, and that issues are no less complex for being supremely important. The result is to provide both a study of decision-making and a valuable contribution to our understanding of the closing months of the Second World War.
Biological Threats in the 21st Century offers a fresh understanding of contemporary biological threats to national security. Readers are introduced to the politics, people, science and historical roots of contemporary biological threats through up-to-date, rigorous and accessible chapters written by leading academics and supplemented by expert point-of-view contributions and interviews.The book provides inspiration and resources for students and researchers, as well as policy makers in government, the public policy sector and the wider community. It is particularly pertinent for those interested in biological disarmament, non-proliferation, counterterrorism and health security.
The medium PKW of the German Wehrmacht is described in both photographs and text.
Treasures of the Royal Armouries is a photographic journey through Britain's national museum of arms and armour. It reflects the diversity of the Royal Armouries' collection, which was assembled over many centuries at the Tower of London and now spans the ancient world to the present day. At the core of this journey is the museum's unparalleled group of Tudor armours which derive from the Greenwich Armoury of Henry VIII, but European swords, paintings and manuscripts are equally well-represented. Stunning pieces from Asia are included, as are key items from the national collection of firearms, started in 1631 by Charles I and now housed at the National Firearms Centre, as well as larger guns from the National Artillery Centre at Fort Nelson. Each of the 115 entries tell compelling stories, tracing the histories of individuals, campaigns and cultures across millennia. They also consider the place of arms in an increasingly turbulent world and the new challenges that technology presents to a modern army. Treasures of the Royal Armouries is a lavishly illustrated account of some of the most interesting pieces of arms and armour in existence.
The fifth annual SIPRI review of developments in the field of chemical and biological warfare, this volume covers such topics as allegations of treaty violations during 1985; Western moves toward chemical warfare rearmament; the chemical warfare posture of the Soviet Union; proliferation of chemical weapons; and efforts made during the year to strengthen and extend the existing arms control regime. |
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