From ancient times to World War II and the postwar period, Battleships charts the evolution of the vessel that ruled the seas-a vessel that, until the arrival of the aircraft carrier, would be the most expensive and complex human-made moving object in history.
This vivid volume describes the fascinating history of aircraft carriers, first deployed successfully in World War I by the Imperial Russian Navy, and indispensable to the Allied victory in World War II, now the strategic centerpiece of the world's most powerful navies.
An expert examination of the evolution of military aviation and its profound impact on warfare-from the employment of balloons during the French Revolutionary wars to the use of aircraft in World War I.
First envisioned by Leonardo da Vinci and first deployed in World War II, the helicopter is now a universal icon of modern warfare, a key component of combat planning around the world, and one of the military's most versatile and effective tools.
Fast cruisers, the eyes of the fleet, were the standard-bearers of empire, the ultimate warships of gunboat diplomacy-no other vessel class was so well equipped to serve as both a working war machine and a projection of national might.
The development of the pistol helped bring the age of the armored knight to an end, provided the elite with a status symbol of dangerous glamour, and inspired both artisans and industrialists to reach new heights of invention.
The machine gun-often called the killing machine-revolutionized modern ground combat, brought an end to the traditional infantry and cavalry charge, and changed the battlefields of war forever.
Offers detailed coverage of every country that played a significant role in World War I, from key participants including France, Germany, Great Britain, the Ottoman Empire, and the United States, to smaller nations such as Bulgaria, Montenegro, and New Zealand.
This timely and compelling book presents a broad study of all key cyber security issues of the highest interest to government and business as well as their implications.
The Path of Flames: Understanding and Responding to Fatal Wildfires is an edited volume covering the complexities of response and recovery issues relative to catastrophic wildfires.
This edited volume focuses on civil-military relations before and during great power conflicts, and comprises historical case studies of modern supreme leadership.
This timely book offers a comprehensive examination of the current state of nuclear stability postures worldwide, effectively highlighting their inherent limitations.
A neglected war in the history of the United States, the Korean conflict played a key role in greatly expanding America's commitments worldwide and contributed to the U.
This book focuses on centrifugal disasters that impact a group of seemingly unconnected people congregated temporarily often by chance, unlike centripetal disasters that strike an extant community of people.
A year before the much-heralded second front was opened at Normandy in 1944, the Allies waged a campaign in Sicily and Italy-an assault that was marked by argument and dissent from beginning to end, highlighting the fundamental differences in strategic thinking between the Americans and the British.
Little has been written about the defense of the Kingdom of Northern Italy, and this is the first study in English to detail the two-year conflict (1813-1814) within the larger context of the Napoleonic Wars.
This collection of 139 letters from six of the seven Gould brothers who left their homes in central New York to fight for the Union Army forms a moving depiction, not only of life on the front lines of the Civil War, but of life on the home front as well.
A collection of prisoner of war and concentration camp survivor stories from some of the toughest World War II camps in Europe and the Pacific, this book details the daring escapes and highlights the fundamental aspects of human nature that made such heroic efforts possible.
In 1981 the Organization of African Unity (OAU) mandated and fielded the first regional peacekeeping operation since the Arab League's mission in Kuwait 20 years earlier.
An explanation of the failure of the Communist insurgency in Greece between 1945 and 1949, this study provides a striking lesson in what happens to an armed revolutionary movement when it lacks adequate manpower and logistical resources, and is divided against itself on such basic matters as foreign policy and the employment of its military capabilities.
Since its partition in the 1950s, the Korean peninsula has directly or indirectly shaped the broader security relations between regional powerhouses, and the recent test of a nuclear weapon by the North Korean regime has heightened tensions across the world.
In the past four decades, the United States has spent $85 billion pursuing the fantasy of an effective missile defense system to shield our nation against the threat of a nuclear attack.
This illuminating book examines and refines the commonplace "e;wisdom"e; about cyber conflict-its effects, character, and implications for national and individual security in the 21st century.
A comprehensive guide to the lives and experiences of military service members, veterans, and their families in the United States today, with special emphasis given to those of the post-9/11 era.
This insightful encyclopedia examines the most influential commanders who have shaped military history and the course of world events from ancient times to the present.
Addressing the range of nation-building experiences and concerns in the United States and its allies, Watson opens with a discussion of Somalia, Haiti, and Southeastern European experiences during the 1990s.
History has often confirmed that it is not superior weapons but superior organizations that are the most effective factor in achieving military success.
The conclusion of a war typically signals the beginning of a flood of memoirs and instant campaign histories, many presenting the purported, but often dubious lessons of the recent conflict.