Military and defence strategy Books

Book SynopsisThe Future of Iraq provides a primer on the history and political dynamics of this pivotal state divided by ethnic, religious, and political antagonisms, and provocatively argues that the least discussed future of Iraq might be the best: managed partition. Anderson and Stansfield incisively analyze the dilemmas of American policy. They suggest that even a significant American presence will not stabilize Iraq because it is an artificial state and its people have never shared a common identity. In addition to the legacy of tyrannical rule and the primacy of political violence are eroded social bonds and entrenched tribal allegiances, fallow ground for democracy. In the new afterward they consider the events of the last two years, especially the elections in Iraq, and their conclusion is that little has changed for the better and much has changed for the worse, adding further support to their original argument.

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Book SynopsisAcclaimed by Critics, Historians, and Military Leaders the World OverTrade Review"A compelling book...Mr. Spurr bases his narrative on extensive interviews with survivors from both sides." - The New York Times Book Review."

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Book SynopsisOut-of-print and out of the hands of military professionals for years, Artech House answers the demand, making the sought-after, classic work, "Stratagem: Deception and Surprise in War", available once again. This timeless and widely cited volume offers professionals a model and template for studying and analyzing deception operations. Readers get an historical analysis of deception and surprise, over 100 real-world case studies, and a set of methods that underlie and pervade the entire book. This unique resource takes a broad and deep look at surprise operations, presenting intriguing questions and hypotheses about the possible causes of surprise, including deception. Thoroughly referenced and supported with clear data tables, the case studies concentrate on goals, planning, expectations, security, leaks, warnings, intelligence assessments, and final results. The book concludes with analytical lists of battles from 1914 to 1968, systematically laid out in columns for cross-tabulation.Table of ContentsIntroduction. Preface. Acknowledgements. Stratagem in Warfare. Deception in National Military Doctrines. Surprise & Deception in Theory. A Theory of Stratagem. The Research Study. Speculative Conclusions. Surprise and Deception in General War. Analytical Lists of Battles, 1914-1968. Bibliography.

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Book SynopsisAs David Vine demonstrates, the overseas bases raise geopolitical tensions and provoke widespread antipathy towards the United States. They also undermine American democratic ideals, pushing the U.S. into partnerships with dictators and perpetuating a system of second-class citizenship in territories like Guam. They breed sexual violence, destroy the environment, and damage local economies. And their financial cost is staggering: though the Pentagon underplays the numbers, Vine's accounting proves that the bill approaches $100 billion per year. For many decades, the need for overseas bases has been a quasi-religious dictum of U.S. foreign policy. But in recent years, a bipartisan coalition has finally started to question this conventional wisdom. With the U.S. withdrawing from Afghanistan and ending thirteen years of war, there is no better time to re-examine the tenets of our military strategy. Base Nation is an essential contribution to that debate.

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Book SynopsisThe Western Front evokes images of mud-spattered men in waterlogged trenches, shielded from artillery blasts and machine-gun fire by a few feet of dirt. This iconic setting was the most critical arena of the Great War, a 400-mile combat zone stretching from Belgium to Switzerland where more than three million Allied and German soldiers struggled during four years of almost continuous combat. It has persisted in our collective memory as a tragic waste of human life and a symbol of the horrors of industrialized warfare. In this epic narrative history, the first volume in a groundbreaking trilogy on the Great War, acclaimed military historian Nick Lloyd captures the horrific fighting on the Western Front beginning with the surprise German invasion of Belgium in August 1914 and taking us to the Armistice of November 1918. Drawing on French, British, German, and American sources, Lloyd weaves a kaleidoscopic chronicle of the Marne, Passchendaele, the Meuse-Argonne, and other critical battles, which reverberated across Europe and the wider war. From the trenches where men as young as 17 suffered and died, to the headquarters behind the lines where Generals Haig, Joffre, Hindenburg, and Pershing developed their plans for battle, Lloyd gives us a view of the war both intimate and strategic, putting us amid the mud and smoke while at the same time depicting the larger stakes of every encounter. He shows us a dejected Kaiser Wilhelm II—soon to be eclipsed in power by his own generals—lamenting the botched Schlieffen Plan; French soldiers piling atop one another in the trenches of Verdun; British infantryman wandering through the frozen wilderness in the days after the Battle of the Somme; and General Erich Ludendorff pursuing a ruthless policy of total war, leading an eleventh-hour attack on Reims even as his men succumbed to the Spanish Flu. As Lloyd reveals, far from a site of attrition and stalemate, the Western Front was a simmering, dynamic “cauldron of war” defined by extraordinary scientific and tactical innovation. It was on the Western Front that the modern technologies—machine guns, mortars, grenades, and howitzers—were refined and developed into effective killing machines. It was on the Western Front that chemical warfare, in the form of poison gas, was first unleashed. And it was on the Western Front that tanks and aircraft were introduced, causing a dramatic shift away from nineteenth-century bayonet tactics toward modern combined arms, reinforced by heavy artillery, that forever changed the face of war. Brimming with vivid detail and insight, The Western Front is a work in the tradition of Barbara Tuchman and John Keegan, Rick Atkinson and Antony Beevor: an authoritative portrait of modern warfare and its far-reaching human and historical consequences.Trade Review"This is a bold book. Nick Lloyd has written a tour de force of scholarship, analysis and narration… If this volume is anything to go by, Lloyd is well on the way to writing a definitive history of the First World War." -- Laurence James - The Times"An admirably clear and judicious narrative of the battlefield course of events…Lloyd’s book will be cherished by military history buffs." -- Max Hastings - The Sunday Times"Distinguished by its trenchant observations and massive level of detail marshaled into a fluid narrative, this is a sterling record of WWI’s most consequential theater." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review"Lloyd’s keen insights and engaging prose make the book a valuable addition to the literature." -- Kirkus Reviews"This well-researched, well-written and cogently argued new analysis overturns all our assumptions and received wisdom about the fighting on the most important front of the Great War. Nick Lloyd deserves congratulation for having written what will undoubtedly now take its rightful place as the standard account of this vital theatre of the conflict." -- Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking With Destiny"Although a non-specialist in the history of World War I, I have sought to learn as much as possible about that epochal calamity that cast a dark shadow over the subsequent century. At the core of a generation's agony was the Western Front, which I never fully understood until I read Nick Lloyd's comprehensive, lucid, and evocative narrative that made starkly clear what had previously been a confusing jumble." -- James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era"An enthralling read. Lloyd deftly guides us through a labyrinth of military detail while never allowing the pace of his narrative to slacken. His account of France’s role on the Western Front, often less well documented in Anglo-Saxon accounts, is particularly revealing. Most of us are familiar with the names of the generals involved, but Lloyd brings them sharply to life with his sensitive portrayal of their personalities, idiosyncrasies and relationships with one another. This is an endlessly complex subject to which Lloyd has brought welcome lucidity while never for one moment allowing us to forget the enormity of its tragedy." -- Julia Boyd, author of Travelers in the Third Reich: The Rise of Fascism Through The Eyes of Everyday People"There were many fronts in World War I, but the Western Front, where the industrialized great powers massed their men and resources, was the crucial one. Nick Lloyd has given us the most up-to-date account of the fighting there. He brings the key statesmen and generals to life, as well as the brutal combat from the first battles to the last. Lloyd crisply details the tactical and technological innovation that brought victory, as well as the coalition strategy, economic warfare, and home front management that boosted the Allies and disintegrated the Central Powers." -- Geoffrey Wawro, author of Sons of Freedom and director of the University of North Texas Military History Center

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Book SynopsisMachiavelli draws on his extensive historical knowledge and experience as a statesman to examine the reasons that Kings, Emperors, Dukes and governments have thrived or crumbled, while highlighting the principles that guided them. In each case Machiavelli suggests a set of principles that any leader would find difficult to follow, but impossible to ignore.The Prince has had a profound influence on political thought over the past 500 years, so much so that the term ''Machiavellian'' is used to describe one who deceives and manipulates others. This is likely derived from Machiavelli''s view that "it is often necessary to act against mercy, against faith, against humanity, against frankness, against religion, in order to preserve the state." Machiavelli continues to provide an understanding of how world leaders think, and why certain decisions are made. A must read for the politically inclined and those interested in world events and the affairs of state.This case laminate collector''s edition includes a Victorian inspired dust-jacket. 

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Book SynopsisSir Charles Oman’s classic two-volume history of warfare in the Middle Ages is the key work for understanding the changing face of battle as it was tested, refined and transformed through centuries of upheaval. Both scholarly and accessible this is wonderful account, from a gifted writer, of the characteristic strategies, tactics, military organisation, and of the developments in war that took place during the Middle Ages.Volume One charts the period from 378 to the battle of Marchfield in 1278 which decided the fate of Austria and marked the ascendancy of the armoured knight. Includes the transition from the Roman to Medieval Warfare and the development of Cavalry, the Byzantine Army and its development, the Crusades, the Visigoths, the Lombards, the Franks, the Anglo-Saxons, Charlemagne, the Vikings and Magyars, their weaponry,arms and armour. With detailed descriptions of particular battles such as Adrianople, Louvain, Hastings and Lewis.Volume Two covers Edward the First’s Welsh Wars, Bannockburn,the Hundred Years War, the rise of the Swiss, the Condottieri in Italy, the Housesit Wars and the wars of the Roses. Particular importance is accorded to the early use of gunpowder and its revolutionary impact on tactics, siege craft and politics and conduct of war.

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