The age of the Caudillo, 1791-1899


Book Description

Krigshistorie. To bindsværk om latinamerikansk militærhistorie m.v. 1791 - 2001, herunder om årsagerne til krige, grænsestridigheder, konflikter, interne stridigheder og politisk uro samt udenlandsk intervention (politisk, militær og økonomisk) bl.a fra Portugal, Spanien, Storbritannien og USA i hhv. det 19. og 20. århundrede.




Latin America's Wars: The age of the caudillo, 1791-1899


Book Description

Covers every type of military activity, including internal and external conflicts, terrorism, coups, and conflicts born of ideological, economic, racial, and religious strife




Latin America's Wars Volume II: The Age of the Professional Soldier, 1900-2001


Book Description

The second volume in Robert Scheina's definitive study of Latin American military history draws upon years of extensive research and teaching in the field. Although wags in the United States have quipped that if Latin America's military forces were not constantly seeking political power they would have nothing to do, Scheina describes how these men have not only bravely defended their own homelands from foreign enemies but have also gone abroad to fight in both world wars and in the Korean War. This groundbreaking volume also examines the numerous U.S. interventions in Latin America during the twentieth century and the various motivations for them, ranging from the petty interests of influential North American businesses to global concerns with grand strategy which, for example, resulted in the building of the Panama Canal. Scheina concludes by exploring the role of Latin America in the Cold War and Colombia's ongoing conflict with the drug cartels. He focuses on operational history in the context of war as an instrument of politics and society, including insightful analyses of the military as an institution and of its relations with civilian government. Latin America's Wars fills a void in the literature, broadens U.S. readers' understanding of their neighbors, and serves as a point of departure for new scholarship.




Rulers, Guns, and Money


Book Description

The explosion of the industrial revolution and the rise of imperialism in the second half of the nineteenth century served to dramatically increase the supply and demand for weapons on a global scale. No longer could arms manufacturers in industrialized nations subsist by supplying their own states' arsenals, causing them to seek markets beyond their own borders. Challenging the traditional view of arms dealers as agents of their own countries, Jonathan Grant asserts that these firms pursued their own economic interests while convincing their homeland governments that weapons sales delivered national prestige and could influence foreign countries. Industrial and banking interests often worked counter to diplomatic interests as arms sales could potentially provide nonindustrial states with the means to resist imperialism or pursue their own imperial ambitions. It was not mere coincidence that the only African country not conquered by Europeans, Ethiopia, purchased weapons from Italy prior to an attempted Italian invasion. From the rise of Remington and Winchester during the American Civil War, to the German firm Krupp's negotiations with the Russian government, to an intense military modernization contest between Chile and Argentina, Grant vividly chronicles how an arms trade led to an all-out arms race, and ultimately to war.




War and Independence In Spanish America


Book Description

During the period from 1808 to 1826, the Spanish empire was convulsed by wars throughout its dominions in Iberia and the Americas. The conflicts began in Spain, where Napoleon’s invasion triggered a war of national resistance. The collapse of the Spanish monarchy provoked challenges to the colonial regime in virtually all of Spain's American provinces, and colonial demands for autonomy and independence led to political turbulence and violent confrontation on a transcontinental scale. During the two decades after 1808, Spanish America witnessed warfare on a scale not seen since the conquests three centuries earlier. War and Independence in Spanish America provides a unified account of war in Spanish America during the period after the collapse of the Spanish government in 1808. McFarlane traces the courses and consequences of war, combining a broad narrative of the development and distribution of armed conflict with analysis of its characteristics and patterns. He maps the main arenas of war, traces the major campaigns by and crucial battles between rebels and royalists, and places the military conflicts in the context of international political change. Readers will come away with a fully realized understanding of how war and military mobilization affected Spanish American societies and shaped the emerging independent states.




The Long Process of Development


Book Description

This groundbreaking book examines the history of Spain, England, the United States, and Mexico to explain why development takes centuries.




Violence and The Caste War of Yucatán


Book Description

This book analyzes the extent and forms of violence in one of the most significant indigenous rural revolts in nineteenth-century Latin America. Combining historical, anthropological, and sociological research, it shows how violence played a role in the establishment and maintenance of order and leadership within the contending parties.




Pirate Hunting


Book Description

For thousands of years pirates, privateers, and seafaring raiders have terrorized the ocean voyager and coastal inhabitant, plundering ship and shore with impunity. From the victim's point of view, these attackers were not the rebellious, romantic rulers of Neptune's realm, but savage beasts to be eradicated, and those who went to sea to stop them were heroes. Engaging and meticulously detailed, Pirate Hunting chronicles the fight against these plunderers from ancient times to the present and illustrates the array of tactics and strategies that individuals and governments have employed to secure the seas. Benerson Little lends further dimension to this unending battle by including the history of piracy and privateering, ranging from the Mycenaean rovers to the modern pirates of Somalia. He also introduces associated naval warfare; maritime commerce and transportation; the development of speed under oar, sail, and steam; and the evolution of weaponry. More than just a vivid account of the war that seafarers and pirates have waged, Pirate Hunting is invaluable reading in a world where acts of piracy are once more a significant threat to maritime commerce and voyagers. It will appeal to readers interested in the history of piracy, anti-piracy operations, and maritime, naval, and military history worldwide.




Understanding Non-State Actors


Book Description

Understanding Non-State Actors aims to reduce the scarcity of academic literature on armed non-state actors (NSAs) that have always been a part of world politics and wars. This monograph offers, possibly for the first time, a systematic historical review as well as a substantive theory of NSAs and their arming efforts. From the Jewish rebellions against Rome to the war between the Ukrainian separatists and the Ukrainian government, NSAs’ weapons acquisition has been vital for the build-up of their force, enabling both the employment of that force and its sustainability. While weapons are not necessarily the most important factor in military build-up, NSAs need weapons to fight, and revolts usually erupt after the organizers have acquired a certain number of weapons. Conversely, many revolts lose momentum and operations are not carried out, or turn ineffective, due to shortages of arms and ammunition. A major theme of this monograph is that in spite of dramatic political and technological changes, armed NSAs in different periods have employed similar methods to acquire weapons. Self-production, looting and stealing, external support, and the arms trade were always the major ways for NSAs to acquire weapons, though the importance of each method and the type of arms has changed remarkably over time. Understanding Non-State Actors discusses the factors – political, social, cultural, technological, and organizational – that have both facilitated and constrained the ability of NSAs to acquire arms. Especially, lecturers and students of Military, Terrorism, Conflict studies, War and peace studies will benefit from this study.




Expansionism


Book Description

Starting in the early part of the nineteenth century, American administrations expressed a desire to own Cuba. A rationale for adding Cuba to the territory of the United States could be built on Cuba's sugar and tobacco industries, as well as Cuba's mineral deposits. But economics was not the primary motivation. American presidents knew that in the event of war, any nation occupying Cuba would have an advantage over the US military strategies; this fear, coupled with the economic benefit, explains a century of policy decisions. As Frank R. Villafana shows, Cubans were not sitting idle, waiting for outsiders to liberate them from Spanish oppression. A major part of this research is devoted to studying Cuban efforts to liberate their island from prolonged Spanish domination. Cuba had been struggling for independence from Spain since the 1830s, followed by the Ten Year War. During the 1895-1898 War of Independence, Cuba came close to defeating Spain, but a merciless Spanish military effort converted Cuba into a series of concentration camps. Spain surrendered after its naval defeats by the US at Manila Bay and Santiago de Cuba, following a failed ground campaign in eastern Cuba. After the US occupied Cuba militarily, American political leaders realized only a small minority of Cubans supported annexation, and the Platt Amendment was developed as a substitute. Today, most Cubans agree that independence, even constrained by the United States, was better than enslavement by the Castro brothers. However, as Villafana emphasizes, Cubans living in Cuba as well as abroad still seek a land free and independent of foreign threat and domestic tyrants.