From Crossbow to H-bomb PDF Download

Author: Bernard Brodie
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Military art and science
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Author: Bernard Brodie
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 9780253201614
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
" . . . offers the quickest way I know to acquire the basic historical background that we ought all to have." —Louis J. Halle, Survival This classic in the field of military history covers weaponry from Archimedes' catapult down to MIRV and the ABM, emphasizes the contributions of science to warfare, and includes an extensive new chapter on the weapons of the nuclear age.

Author: Robert L. O'Connell
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199878900
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
The appearance of the crossbow on the European battle field in A.D. 1100 as the weapon of choice for shooting down knights threatened the status quo of medieval chivalric fighting techniques. By 1139 the Church had intervened, outlawing the use of the crossbow among Christians. With this edict, arms control was born. As Robert L. O'Connell reveals in this vividly written history of weapons in Western culture, that first attempt at an arms control measure characterizes the complex and often paradoxical relationship between men and arms throughout the centuries. In a sweeping narrative that ranges from prehistoric times to the nuclear age, O'Connell demonstrates how social and economic conditions determine the types of weapons and the tactics used in warfare and how, in turn, innovations in weapons technology often undercut social values. He describes, for instance, how the invention of the gun required a redefinition of courage from aggressive ferocity to calmness under fire; and how the machine gun in World War I so overthrew traditional notions of combat that Lord Kitchener exclaimed, "This isn't war!" The technology unleashed during the Great War radically altered our perceptions of ourselves, as these new weapons made human qualities almost irrelevant in combat. With the invention of the atomic bomb, humanity itself became subservient to the weapons it had produced. Of Arms and Men brilliantly integrates the evolution of politics, weapons, strategy, and tactics into a coherent narrative, one spiced with striking portraits of men in combat and penetrating insights into why men go to war.

Author: Matthew Hughes
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230625371
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
This book provides a concise and accessible introduction to modern military history. The collection is a clear and up to date survey of the significant debates, interpretations and historiographical shifts for a series of key themes in military history. Each chapter is supported by notes and a brief bibliography outlining further reading.

Author: Barry Scott Zellen
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1441133372
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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The book examines Bernard Brodie's strategic and philosophical response to the nuclear age, embedding his work within the classical theories of Carl von Clausewitz.

Author: Barry Howard Steiner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
Steiner analyzes how and why Brodie's understanding of weapons of unparalleled explosive force led him to posit the need for revolutionary strategic thinking in broadminded analytic method and in the focus upon cities as nuclear targets. He shows the tremendous effect Brodie's work had on the intellectual climate in which policy is determined, particularly in his frequent combatting of conventional wisdom.

Author: Robert A. Pape
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801471508
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
From Iraq to Bosnia to North Korea, the first question in American foreign policy debates is increasingly: Can air power alone do the job? Robert A. Pape provides a systematic answer. Analyzing the results of over thirty air campaigns, including a detailed reconstruction of the Gulf War, he argues that the key to success is attacking the enemy's military strategy, not its economy, people, or leaders. Coercive air power can succeed, but not as cheaply as air enthusiasts would like to believe.Pape examines the air raids on Germany, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq as well as those of Israel versus Egypt, providing details of bombing and governmental decision making. His detailed narratives of the strategic effectiveness of bombing range from the classical cases of World War II to an extraordinary reconstruction of airpower use in the Gulf War, based on recently declassified documents. In this now-classic work of the theory and practice of airpower and its political effects, Robert A. Pape helps military strategists and policy makers judge the purpose of various air strategies, and helps general readers understand the policy debates.

Author: Stephanie Carvin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107067170
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
Founded and rooted in Enlightenment values, the United States is caught between two conflicting imperatives when it comes to war: achieving perfect security through the annihilation of threats; and a requirement to conduct itself in a liberal and humane manner. In order to reconcile these often clashing requirements, the US has often turned to its scientists and laboratories to find strategies and weapons that are both decisive and humane. In effect, a modern faith in science and technology to overcome life's problems has been utilized to create a distinctly 'American Way of Warfare'. Carvin and Williams provide a framework to understand the successes and failures of the US in the wars it has fought since the days of the early Republic through to the War on Terror. It is the first book of its kind to combine a study of technology, law and liberalism in American warfare.

Author: Antulio J. Echevarria II
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107091977
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
Surveys how American strategic theorists have understood the nature and character of war in the twentieth century.

Author: Ann Hironaka
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316802965
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description
War presents a curious paradox. Interstate war is arguably the most carefully planned endeavor by states, yet military history is filled with disasters and blunders of monumental proportions. These anomalies happen because most military history presumes that states are pursuing optimal strategies in a competitive environment. This book offers an alternative narrative in which the pillars of military planning - evaluations of power, strategy, and interests - are theorized as social constructions rather than simple material realities. States may be fighting wars primarily to gain or maintain power, yet in any given historical era such pursuits serve only to propel competition; they do not ensure military success in subsequent generations. Allowing states to embark on hapless military ventures is fraught with risks, while the rewards are few.