This encyclopedia traces the fascinating history of knives, daggers, bayonets, swords, sabres and lances, from their Palaeolithic origins through to the 21st century. Weapons from around the world are examined, such as the decorated daggers of Persia and the exquisite knives of Japan. A superb directory features 750 examples of sharp-edged weapons, describing the origins, capabilities and specifications of each one. With 1500 photographs and illustrations, and written by leading experts in the field, this beautiful guide is an indispensable resource for the serious collector and amateur enthusiast alike, and will fascinate anyone with an interest in historical weapons.

Since the 1960s, U.S. political leaders have engaged in a controversial debate regarding the deployment of a strategic ballistic missile defense (BMD) system to protect the American homeland. Using an analytic framework consisting of prerequisites for successful strategic weapon programs, this book assesses BMD proposals from the Cold War era (focusing primarily on the 1967 "Sentinel" proposal). The book develops a consensus-building approach to future strategic BMD policies that is based on lessons learned from Cold War proposals, recent congressional initiatives, and developments in the international security environment. To protect the American people from emerging rogue state threats and potential accidental or unauthorized launches from China and Russia, the United States should deploy a limited strategic BMD system comprising multiple ground-based interceptor sites supported by space-based missile tracking sensors. The study includes a comprehensive arms control proposal aimed at working with Russia and other strategic powers to continue the reduction of Cold War offensive arsenals while deploying limited defenses. Pursuit of the Shield presents a new strategic agenda for a new era, one that will reinforce world peace and security. With a foreword by Senator John Warner, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

This volume brings together a collection of leading international experts to revisit and review our understanding of the Cuban Missile Crisis, via a critical reappraisal of some of the key texts. In October 1962, humankind came close to the end of its history. The risk of catastrophe is now recognised by many to have been greater than realised by protagonists at the time or scholars subsequently. The Cuban missile crisis remains one of the mostly intensely studied moments of world history. Understanding is framed and informed by Cold War historiography, political science and personal experience, written by scholars, journalists, and surviving officials. The emergence of Soviet (later Russian) and other national narratives has broadened the scope of enquiry, while scrutiny of the operational, especially military, dimensions has challenged assumptions about the risk of nuclear war. The Cuban Missile Crisis: A Critical Reappraisal brings together world leading scholars from America, Britain, France, Canada, and Russia to present critical scrutiny of authoritative accounts and to recast assumptions and interpretations. The book aims to provide an essential guide for students of the missile crisis, the diplomacy of the Cold War, and the dynamics of historical interpretation and reinterpretation. Offering original ideas and agendas, the contributors seek to provide a new understanding of the secrets and mysteries of the moment when the world went to the brink of Armageddon. This book will be of great interest to students of the Cuban missile crisis, Cold War Studies, nuclear proliferation, international history and International Relations in general.

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.

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.

This fully illustrated reference book charts the complete history of frigates, from their post-World War I function as escort vessels, their role as sloops and corvettes, and their subsequent transformation into post-World War II anti-submarine vessels. A country-by-country directory of over 70 classes describes the main characteristics of each vessel. Each entry, with its expert commentary and high-quality photography, is accompanied by a specification box detailing country of origin, displacement, dimensions, armament, machinery, power, performance and protection. A useful glossary containing definitions of key naval terms is included at the back of the book. With its lively narrative and over 235 photographs, this authoritative volume provides historians and enthusiasts with key information about these important naval vessels.

This is the absorbing story of the handguns credited to Nambu Kijiro, the principal personal-defence weapons of the Imperial forces. Featuring full-color artwork and carefully chosen photographs, this book charts the origins, development, combat use, and legacy of the Nambu pistols. Cutaway artwork reveals the inner workings of these important handguns, while specially commissioned battlescenes depict them in use in action. Influenced by the German C 96 and other semi-automatic pistols, the first Nambu model was never accepted for universal issue, being confined largely to purchase by Japanese officers. Adopted in 1925, the 14th Year Type was to become the best-known of these handguns, serving in every campaign undertaken by the Japanese in the 1930s and then throughout World War II. It served alongside the bizarrely conceived Type 94, intended as the weapon of airmen, tank crew, and anyone to whom its compact dimensions were useful. When World War II ended, thousands of Nambu pistols arrived in America with US veterans of World War II, while others were carried by insurgents and other armed groups across South East Asia for decades after 1945. Fully illustrated, this is the engrossing story of these distinctive pistols, from their origins to their legacy.

The battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 marked the turning point of the American Civil War. The apex of the Confederacy's final major invasion of the North, the devastating defeat also marked the end of the South's offensive strategy against the North. From this battle until the end of the war, the Confederate armies largely remained defensive. The Artillery of Gettysburg"" is a thoughtful look at the role of the artillery during the July 1?3, 1863 conflict. Bradley M. Gottfried provides insight into how the two armies employed their artillery, how the different kinds of weapons functioned in battle, and the strategies for using each of them. He shows how artillery affected the ebb and flow of battle for both armies and thus provides a unique way of understanding the strategies of the Federal and Union commanders.""

While the military use of drones has been the subject of much scrutiny, the use of drones for humanitarian purposes has so far received little attention. As the starting point for this study, it is argued that the prospect of using drones for humanitarian and other life-saving activities has produced an alternative discourse on drones, dedicated to developing and publicizing the endless possibilities that drones have for "doing good". Furthermore, it is suggested that the Good Drone narrative has been appropriated back into the drone warfare discourse, as a strategy to make war "more human". This book explores the role of the Good Drone as an organizing narrative for political projects, technology development and humanitarian action. Its contribution to the debate is to take stock of the multiple logics and rationales according to which drones are "good", with a primary objective to initiate a critical conversation about the political currency of "good". This study recognizes the many possibilities for the use of drones and takes these possibilities seriously by critically examining the difference the drones' functionalities can make, but also what difference the presence of drones themselves - as unmanned and flying objects - make. Discussed and analysed are the implications for the drone industry, user communities, and the areas of crisis where drones are deployed.

This study of firearms analyzes the employment of such weaponry, dated more than 40 years after use in Europe, towards the close of the 1360s.

At 02.45 hours on the morning of 6 August 1945, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress, named after the pilot's mother, Enola Gay, lifted off from a tiny island deep in the Pacific Ocean on one of the most important missions in human history. The B-29 carried just one bomb; the target was Hiroshima. The dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and of a second nuclear device on Nagasaki three days later, is known throughout the world. But what is often forgotten is that these missions were only possible following the savage battles to seize the Northern Mariana Islands -which, crucially, were within the B-29's operational range of Japan. With the capture of these islands, the defeat of Hirohito's Imperial Japan became a certainty as for the first time in the war land-based heavy bombers could fly all the way to Tokyo and back. The sparsely-populated island of Tinian was turned into the biggest air base in the world. With six runways, four of which were built for the huge Superfortresses, it was from there that atomic destruction of Japan began. But, before all this, had been the battle for the island -the preliminary naval bombardment, the aerial strikes and the amphibious assault. The story of that battle is told here, in the words and images of the men who took part in that memorable, and ultimately epoch-changing, campaign. Part of this is another story, that of the warship USS Indianapolis. This Portland-class heavy cruiser was handed a secret mission of the utmost significance to national security', that of taking the enriched uranium and other vital parts of the atomic weapons to Tinian. Indianapolis succeeded in its mission, but was left to return to Pearl Harbor unescorted, resulting in one of the most unfortunate and gristly episodes in US maritime history. Few stories encapsulate human endeavour, achievement, sacrifice, and failure in quite such stark contrasts as the taking of the island of Tinian, once the centre of USAAF operations in the Pacific and now just a little-visited speck in the largest ocean in the world.

This book describes and illustrates the armies of the embattled Ottoman Turkish Empire involved in 19th-century wars during the Empire’s long spiral of decline. During the so called ‘long 19th century’, between the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the difficulties faced by the Ottoman Turkish Empire were a recurrent factor in international geopolitics. Against a background of Russian–Ottoman rivalry, France and Britain supported the Empire during the Crimean War (1854–56), but not in the Russo–Turkish War (1877–78). Portraying the uniforms, arms and appearance of Ottoman troops during this period, this book traces the history of the Ottoman Empire throughout this period, when no fewer than ten wars of regional insurgency and foreign expansion against the Empire were fought in territories in south-eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Using rare photos and illustrations from Turkish, Balkan and other sources, author, Gabriele Esposito details the history of the multi-ethnic Ottoman armies periodic attempts to modernize which enabled them to win some victories at a tactical level. But the Empire – ‘the sick man of Europe’ – lacked a coherent strategy or sufficient resources, and failed attempts to crush regional uprisings and to defend borders, saw the steady loss of territories. Due to misgovernment and economic failure, unrest finally boiled over in 1908–09, reducing the sultan’s court to a largely ceremonial role, and installing a military government by the ‘Young Turks’ led by the general Enver Pasha. This book is a vivid description of the organization, operations, uniforms and equipment of one of the most active and varied armies of the ‘long 19th century’ and paints a detailed picture of the Ottoman Empire's struggle to maintain control of its territories.

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.

In How Nuclear Weapons Spread, Frank Barnaby examines the far-reaching effects - both beneficial and detrimental - of nuclear weapons. He looks in detail at the nuclear programmes of Third World countries, including India, Israel and Pakistan which have or could very rapidly acquire nuclear weapons, and assesses the nuclear capabilities of countries such as Iran, Iraq and North Korea. He also considers the alarming possibility that terrorists might obtain nuclear weapons, and considers methods of controlling their spread.

During the Cold War, many believed that the superpowers shared a conception of strategic stability, a coexistence where both sides would compete for global influence but would be deterred from using nuclear weapons. In actuality, both sides understood strategic stability and deterrence quite differently. Today's international system is further complicated by more nuclear powers, regional rivalries, and nonstate actors who punch above their weight, but the United States and other nuclear powers still cling to old conceptions of strategic stability. The purpose of this book is to unpack and examine how different states in different regions view strategic stability, the use or non-use of nuclear weapons, and whether or not strategic stability is still a prevailing concept. The contributors to this volume explore policies of current and potential nuclear powers including the United States, Russia, China, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. This volume makes an important contribution toward understanding how nuclear weapons will impact the international system in the twenty-first century and will be useful to students, scholars, and practitioners of nuclear weapons policy.

In the aftermath of the Great War, multilateral disarmament was placed at the top of the international agenda by the Treaty of Versailles and the Covenant of the League of Nations. This book analyzes the naval, air and land disarmament policies of successive British governments from 1919 to 1934, articulating their dilemma either to fulfil their obligations or to avoid them. Daring and controversial, the present study challenges the hitherto accepted view that Britain occupied the high moral ground by drastically reducing its armaments and argues that, during this period, British disarmament policy was reactive and generally failed to provide the leadership that this extremely sensitive time in international politics demanded.

Hunt the Bismarck, now available in paperback, tells the story of Operation Rheinubung, the Atlantic sortie of Nazi Germany's largest battleship, Bismarck, in May 1941 and her subsequent pursuit by the Royal Navy. Bismarck entered naval service in the summer of 1940. She was well-armed, with eight 15in guns as well as a powerful array of lighter weapons, while her armoured protection earned her the reputation of being unsinkable. This claim was put to the test in May 1941 when she sortied into the Atlantic and fought the legendary battle of the Denmark Strait, destroying HMS Hood, the pride of the Royal Navy. Bismarck was now loose in the North Atlantic. However, damage sustained in the battle limited her ability to roam at will, and the Royal Navy deployed the Home Fleet to avenge the sinking of the Hood. The stage was set for the greatest chase story in the history of naval warfare. Drawing on a wealth of first-hand accounts and intertwining extensive research into a fast-paced narrative, this is the most readable and accurate account of Bismarck's epic pursuit ever produced.

Life and Times of the Atomic Bomb takes up the question of how the world found itself in the age of nuclear weapons - and how it has since tried to find a way out of it. Albert I. Berger charts the story of nuclear weapons from their origins through the Atomic Age and the Cold War up through the present day, arguing that an understanding of the history of nuclear weapons is crucial to modern efforts to manage them. This book examines topics including nuclear strategy debates, weapon system procurement decisions, and arms control conferences through the people and leaders who experienced them. Providing a chronological survey, Life and Times of the Atomic Bomb starts with the major scientific discoveries of the late 19th century that laid the groundwork for nuclear development. It then traces the history of nuclear weapons from their inception to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 and the reaction to them by key players on both sides. It continues its narrative into the second half of the twentieth century, and the role of nuclear weapons throughout the Cold War, engaging in the debate over whether nuclear weapons are an effective deterrent. Finally, the closing chapters consider the atomic bomb's place in the modern world and the transformation of warfare in an age of advanced technology. This clear and engaging survey will be invaluable reading for students of the Cold War and twentieth-century history.

Making the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party's nuclear tests in 1998 its starting point, this book examines how opinion amongst India's 'attentive' public shifted from supporting nuclear abstinence to accepting - and even feeling a need for - a more assertive policy, by examining the complexities of the debate in India on nuclear policy in the 1990s. The study seeks to account for the shift in opinion by looking at the parallel processes of how nuclear policy became an important part of the public discourse in India, and what it came to symbolise for the country's intelligentsia during this decade. It argues that the pressure on New Delhi in the early 1990s to fall in line with the non-proliferation regime, magnified by India's declining global influence at the time, caused the issue to cease being one of defence, making it a focus of nationalist pride instead. The country's nuclear programme thus emerged as a test of its ability to withstand external compulsions, guaranteeing not so much the sanctity of its borders as a certain political idea of it - that of a modern, scientific and, most importantly, 'sovereign' state able to defend its policies and set its goals.

The view that America and Russia have burned their candles on security cooperation with respect to nuclear weapons is simply mistaken. This timely study identifies twelve themes or issue areas that must be addressed by the United States and Russia if they are to provide shared, successful leadership in the management of nuclear world order. Designed as supplementary reading in upper division and graduate courses in national security policy, defense, and nuclear arms control, it is also suitable for courses taught at military staff and command colleges and-or war colleges.

The Pacific Profiles series presents the most accurate WWII profiles of aircraft which served in the South Pacific theatre. Volume Seven covers the Douglas C-47, including numerous derivatives such as the C-53, R4D and DC-3. This was the most universal aircraft type to appear in the South Pacific and was deployed from day one to the cessation of hostilities. It was utilised by every military organisation including eighteen Fifth and Thirteenth Air Force USAAF squadrons, and also by the USN, USMC, RAAF, RNZAF, RAF and Dutch Air Force. Most profiles are presented for the first time, alongside a full explanation of the markings. Frequent trading of airframes between units resulted in wide-ranging heraldry, unit markings and nose art. In particular until now there has been a paucity of information about the markings of Thirteenth Air Force C-47s and USMC R4Ds, a gap largely filled by this volume. This volume illustrates the development of unit markings from the first commandeered DC-3 airliners in Australia through to the RNZAF C-47s used in the last days of the Pacific War in the Solomons. The profiles are accompanied by unit histories and photos. A wide range of reference material has been consulted including photos, colour movies, official records, diaries and information from wreck sites. The author, Michael Claringbould, is world-renown for his expertise on the Pacific air war. Never before have such meticulous colour profiles of the C-47 series been illustrated with such detailed and accurate markings.

The proliferation of advanced militarily relevant technologies in the Asia-Pacific over the past few decades has been a significant, and perhaps even alarming, development. This volume addresses how such technologies may affect military capabilities and military advantage in the region.

A gripping examination of the Battle of the Barents Sea, fought in the near darkness and icy cold of the northern winter, in which the Kriegsmarine sought to sever the crucial Allied Arctic Convoy route once and for all. The Arctic convoys that passed through the cold, dangerous waters of the Barents Sea formed a vital lifeline - a strategic link in tanks, supplies and above all goodwill between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. In December 1942, under Operation Regenbogen (Rainbow), the German Kriegsmarine sought to strike a crippling blow on the Arctic convoys and finally sever this all-important sea route. In this fascinating work, renowned naval expert Angus Konstam documents the fate of the Allied Convoy JW 51B as it came under attack from some of the Kriegsmarine's most powerful surface warships - a pocket battleship, a heavy cruiser and six destroyers. Illustrated with stunning battlescene artworks, maps, 3D diagrams and photographs, it explores the David and Goliath struggle between the Allied ships defending the convoy and the powerful German force, until the arrival of the two British cruisers tipped the balance of power. The Battle of the Barents Sea, fought amid snowstorms and the darkness of the Arctic night, would prove to be a turning point in the hard-fought war in northern waters, and would test Hitler's patience with his surface fleet to the limit.