Pritchard's chief concern is to explain why Bourbon France, the richest and most poewerful state in Europe in the middle of the eighteenth century, failed to exercise its power at sea.
From early zeppelins, to the Luftwaffe and the Enola Gay, to the unmanned aerial vehicles of today, air power has long been regarded as an invaluable instrument of war.
The massive dimensions of Syria's refugee crisis-and the search for solutionsThe civil war in Syria has forced some 10 million people-more than half the country's population-from their homes and communities, creating one of the largest human displacements since the end of World War II.
A fascinating insight into the dangers and difficulties of operating within the desert terrain From 1940 to 1943 North Africa saw the first major desert campaign by modern mechanised armies.
At the start of the twentieth century the United States led the world in advances in aviation, with the first successful engine-powered flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and Dayton, Ohio, beginning in 1903.
The reign of Peter the Great (1682-1725), long regarded as the turning point in the Europeanization of Russia, witnessed the establishment of Russia's first modern navy, the Azov Sea fleet.
Elephants have been deployed as weapons for centuries, particularly in South and South-East Asia, where war elephants constituted the bulk of most armies in the region from antiquity right up to the 19th century.
When Frederick II (later known as Frederick the Great) came to the throne in 1740, he had three advantages for which he owed thanks to his father: a modern, well-organised state; full coffers; and a properly trained and equipped army.
Chronicles the air war above Britain from March 1942 to June 1943 and includes in-the-cockpit accounts from German and British pilots Assesses offensive and defensive tactics Incorporates hundreds of rarely seen photos As the Battle of Britain came to a close, the Luftwaffe began arming its single-engine fighters with bombs and using them instead of bombers for many daylight raids against shipping and coastal installations, railways, fuel depots, and other military and civilian objectives.
This illustrated study explains how Japan's all-conquering air forces spearheaded the invasions of Malaya and the Dutch East Indies and stunned the defending British, Dutch, and American forces.
Choice Outstanding TitleWhen on May 15, 1918 a French lieutenant warned Henry Johnson of the 369th to move back because of a possible enemy raid, Johnson reportedly replied: Im an American, and I never retreat.
Noted aviation historian Robin Higham has written this comparative study of the evolution of the French and British air arms from 1918 to 1940 to determine why the Armee de l'Air was defeated in June 1940 but the Royal Air Force was able to win the battle over Britain in September.
The development of the F-5 lightweight supersonic fighter in the mid 1950s was almost a gamble for the Northrop Corporation, but ultimately resulted in one of most commercially successful combat aircraft in modern history.
As the United States grew into an empire in the late nineteenth century, notions like "e;sea power"e; derived not only from fleets, bases, and decisive battles but also from a scientific effort to understand and master the ocean environment.
In 1941 the US Navy had 17 battleships - of which eight would be knocked out on the first day of the war - four aircraft carriers, and about 340,000 men including reservists.
After the United States, along with NATO allies, bombed the Serbian forces of Slobodan Milosevic for seventy-eight days in 1999, Milosevic withdrew his army from Kosovo.
Explaining and illustrating the immediate background to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine, this book investigates the Ukrainian and Russian regular and irregular forces which have been fighting in the Donbas region since 2014.
When Frederick Morgan was appointed COSSAC (Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander), in the spring of 1943, there was no approved plan for a cross-Channel attack and no commander.
Using specially commissioned artwork and detailing technical specifications, this book explores the Bf 109's different roles occasioned by wartime necessity, from its employment as a fighter to its evolution as a fighter-bomber.
In 1927, Chiang Kai-shek - the head of China's military academy and leader of the Kuomintang (KMT) - began the `northern expeditions' to bring China's northern territories back under the control of the state.
Although New Guinea's Thunderbolt pilots faced several different types of enemy aircraft in capricious tropical conditions, by far their most common adversary was the Nakajima Ki-43-II Hayabusa, codenamed 'Oscar' by the Allies.
In the bitter air fighting over Western Europe during the last year of the war, no fewer than 37 pilots became aces flying Merlin-engined Spitfires, whilst 72 other aces increased their scores flying them.
Raised on a Montana farm, Vernon Drake enlisted in the Army Air Corps, piloting B-24 bombers and painting nose art while enduring perilous missions in the Himalayas during World War II.
The outbreak of World War II set in motion a massive expansion of the United States Marine Corps, leading to a 24-fold increase in size by August 1945.
Designed in the 1950s, the US Marines' M50 Ontos and the US Army's M56 Scorpion were both intended to be fast, light, air-droppable tank-killers for the Cold War battlefield an answer to the cumbersome and ineffective World War II-vintage tanks that had taken to the battlefield during the Korean War.
Influenced by the German use of paratroopers early in World War Two, General Sir Robert Cassels, the Commander-in-Chief India, ordered the formation of an airborne cadre in October 1940.
Xi Jinping has made his ambitions for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) perfectly clear, there is no mystery what he wants, first, that China should become a "e;great maritime power"e; and secondly, that the PLA "e;become a world-class armed force by 2050.
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 was the most prominent German fighter type of World War II over 35,000 were built and it served in many different variants and roles throughout the course of the war.
