Over the years, there has been great interest in the works of Sun Zi. His treatise, the Art of War has received great attention both in the military war room and the corporate boardroom. Even in the 2003 war against Iraq, one could easily detect strategies that were inspired by this work. While many people have quoted form and analysed the Art of War, there are very few translated books that ac…
When most people think of ‘guns’, they are thinking of small arms. Broadly speaking, small arms are firearms intended for use by individuals. Small arms are the primary weapons issued to military, law enforcement, and other armed security personnel, and are widely owned and used by civilians for hunting, sport shooting, and other pursuits. The key characteristics of firearms considered to b…
Throughout history, military engagements have altered the course of historical events, causing major changes both on a global scale (the battles of Yarmouk & al-Qadisiyyah in 636 determined the religious/linguistic orientation of the Middle East that persists today) as well as within individual cultures (the 1836 battle of San Jacinto gave the United States nearly one-third of its continental t…
The following information is provided for individuals preparing for the physical demands of Initial Military Training (IMT). The staff of the U.S. Army Physical Fitness School (USAPFS) prepared this Pocket Physical Training Guide. This document is the sole property of United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) and is intended for use by U.S. Army Recruiters to assist future Soldi…
The Politics of Security tells the story of how people experienced the cold war as a war. It is about the impact of the cold war on political cultures. This crucial issue is often forgotten in historical memory. In particular, the book follows British and West German anti-nuclear-weapons activists in their attempts to campaign for and create security after the destruction of the Second World Wa…
Functionally fit1 leaders are likely to be more effective than leaders struggling with personal issues that may interfere with professional competence, critical decision making and genuine care and concern for soldiers under their command They are those leaders who are not just physically fit, but mentally robust as well with sound psychological health to endure highly stressful and de…
Thoroughly updated in light of new scholarship, including revised sections on President Nixon’s policies in Vietnam and President Reagan’s approach to U.S.-Soviet relations Features six all new "counterparts" sections that juxtapose important historical figures to illustrate the contrasting viewpoints that characterized the Cold War Argues that the success of Western capitalism during th…
International politics has become ever more volatile in the last decade,increasing the risk of large-scale military violence. Yet the precise charac-ter of future wars will depend on a range of factors that relate to adversaries,allies, technology, geographical scope, and multiple domains of warfighting.Few would question that land forces will also be important in the foreseeablefuture. Recent …
In Februruary 1972, Working in the perpetual Drizzle that shrouds the central coast of Vietnam each winter, soldiers from the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) produced a photographic inventory of two bases newly acquired from the Americans. Just a few weeks before, some thirty thousand US Army and Marine Corps troops removed themselves with thousands of tons of equipment from Ph…
This collection brings together essays concerned with the military profession and professionalism in Denmark, Norway and Sweden – theoretical and empirical studies of professional value systems, professional roles, professional logics, pro-fessional development and professional education and training.European militaries have changed, in some ways quite profoundly, since t…
The science of strategy is a theoretical system about strategy and a discipline that studies the overall guiding laws for the use and construction of military forces. Its main task is to reveal the essence, characteristics, and basic principles of strategy, to study the guiding laws of military conflict and army building as a whole, and to provide systematic and scientific theoretical guidance …
The modern US Army as we know it was largely created in the years between the two world wars. Prior to World War I, officers in leadership positions were increasingly convinced that building a new army could not take place as a series of random developments but was an enterprise that had to be guided by a distinct military policy that enjoyed the support of the nation. In 1920, Congress accepte…
In the Active Duty chapters of this report, data are presented for the four DoD Service branches (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force). Some information about the DHS’s Active Duty Coast Guard is presented in the Total Military Force chapter of this report. In the Reserve and Guard Members chapter, the label “Total DoD” is used to reflect the six Reserve components under DoD (Army Nat…
Several changes have occurred since the 1985 revision of General Information Leaflet (GIL) Number 7, Military Service Records in the National Archives of the United States. This reference information paper (RIP) replaces GIL 7 and updates much of its content. For example,some records listed under the Coast Guard section of GIL 7 as residing in the Washington National Records Center in Suitland…
This is the first broad-ranging, comprehensive and comparative study of the concepts of propaganda and neutrality. Bringing together world-leading and early career historians, this open access book explores case studies from the time of the First World War to the end of the Cold War in countries such as Belgium, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Switzerland, Vichy France, USA, Argentina, Turkey…
Military Revolution and the Thirty Years War 1618–1648 investigates change and decline in military institutions during a period of protracted and destructive European warfare. Conceptual background is provided by the Military Revolution thesis, which argues that changes in military technology and tactics drove revolutionary transformation in the way states organised and waged war in the early…
By the time of the Vietnam War era, the “Mexican American Generation” had made tremendous progress both socially and politically. However, the number of Mexican Americans in comparison to the number of white prisoners of war (POWs) illustrated the significant discrimination and inequality the Chicano population faced in both military and civilian landscapes. Chicanos were disproportionately…
Standardized military and associated terminology forms the foundation of joint doctrine. It enables the joint force to organize, plan, train, and execute operations with a common language that is clearly articulated and universally understood. Since 1948, military terms have been codified in the DOD Dictionary. Although different in purpose, policy documents also require standardized terminolog…
Today in the world of 24-hour news, we cannot help but be aware of the brutality and human cost of war. It is difficult to imagine the festive atmosphere of parades and cheering as local regiments marched off to fight in the American Civil War, or even in the early days of World War I. Yet in spite of our lack of illusion about the reality of war, the idea of war still holds an enduring fascina…
The ninja were the secret agents and assassins of feudal Japan and they remain a subject of enduring fascination. They first arose during the power struggles of 9th and 10th century Japan - where they catered for an increasing demand for spies, informants and assassins - and were used until the mid-1600s when, due to a campaign to destroy them, disappeared.