Readings in American Military History


Book Description

"This reader is designed for courses in American military history or as collateral reading in American history survey courses. It includes selections in the field from the colonial period through September 11, 2001-- America's second "day of infamy"--That date after which the nation's armed forces have come face to face with challenges to America's security without precedent in the annals of their rich and colorful record of service to the nation. The editor has chosen 28 selections from the abundant field of military history in order to allow military history instructors to select subjects which best fit their approaches to the study of America's military past. Some are descriptive, some are analytical, some are both. All provide the student with a close-up view of warfare, strategy, tactics, and command decisions that have shaped the country's rich and crucial military engagements on American and foreign soils and seas"--Page [4] of cover. Our first Southeast Asian war / David R. Kohler and James Wensyel -- ch. 7. World War I, 1914-1918. Iron general / Thomas Fleming -- The unreal city : the trenches of World War I / Robert Cowley -- ch. 8. The interwar years, 1919-1939. Innovation in the U.S. Army, 1917-1945 / David E. Johnson -- The "industrial-military complex" in historical perspective : the interwar years / Paul A.C. Koistenen -- ch. 9. World War II : European Theater, 1939-1945. Imperfect victory at Falaise / Flint Whitlock -- Evolution of U.S. strategic bombing of urban areas / Conrad C. Crane -- ch. 10. World War II : Pacific Theater, 1939-1945. The Dorn report -- The epic Battle of Leyte Gulf, 1944 / Thomas J. Cutler -- ch. 11. Cold War and Korea, 1945-1960. The Korean War : a fresh perspective / Harry G. Summers, Jr. -- Truman fires MacArthur / David McCullough -- ch. 12. Cold War and Vietnam, 1960-1975. The Vietnam War, 1964-1969 : a Chinese perspective / Xiaoming Zhang.




The Soldier and the State


Book Description

In a classic work, Samuel P. Huntington challenges most of the old assumptions and ideas on the role of the military in society. Stressing the value of the military outlook for American national policy, Huntington has performed the distinctive task of developing a general theory of civil–military relations and subjecting it to rigorous historical analysis. Part One presents the general theory of the "military profession," the "military mind," and civilian control. Huntington analyzes the rise of the military profession in western Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and compares the civil–military relations of Germany and Japan between 1870 and 1945. Part Two describes the two environmental constants of American civil–military relations, our liberal values and our conservative constitution, and then analyzes the evolution of American civil–military relations from 1789 down to 1940, focusing upon the emergence of the American military profession and the impact upon it of intellectual and political currents. Huntington describes the revolution in American civil–military relations which took place during World War II when the military emerged from their shell, assumed the leadership of the war, and adopted the attitudes of a liberal society. Part Three continues with an analysis of the problems of American civil–military relations in the era of World War II and the Korean War: the political roles of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the difference in civil–military relations between the Truman and Eisenhower administrations, the role of Congress, and the organization and functioning of the Department of Defense. Huntington concludes that Americans should reassess their liberal values on the basis of a new understanding of the conservative realism of the professional military men.




Military Leadership


Book Description

The sixth edition of this classic text continues its popular interdisciplinary approach to the topic of leadership by examining fundamental elements of military leadership: the 'process' of leadership, the dynamic personal interactions between leader and followers, and the individual and organizational values that foster effective military leadership. Military Leadership provides a thoroughly reconsidered and greatly expanded mix of classic and contemporary articles as well as original essays, with authors representing all of the services. Incisive introductory essays to each section highlight themes and connections. Eric B. Rosenbach joins the editorial team for this edition, helping infuse the text with fresh perspectives. The essays of the sixth edition confront the kudos and criticisms that surround military leadership today, offer international viewpoints, and relate military leadership to contemporary leadership theory and approaches.




Marshall: Lessons in Leadership


Book Description

The gripping story of the only military commander in American history to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. General George C. Marshall was a skillful and compassionate leader with a unique legacy. He never fired a shot during WWII and led no troops into battle—his brilliance was purely strategic and diplomatic, and incredibly effective. He was responsible for the building, supplying, and, in part, the deployment of over eight million soldiers. In 1947, as Secretary of State, he created the Marshall Plan, a sweeping economic recovery effort that pulled the war-shattered European nations out of ruin, and gave impetus to NATO and the European Common Market. It was for the Marshall Plan that he won the Nobel Peace Prize—the only time in history a military commander has ever been awarded this honor. H. Paul Jeffers and Alan Axelrod shows Marshall's skilled combination of military strategy and politics, his emphasis on planning as well as execution, and expertise in nation-building holds lessons for military and civilian leaders today.




Army Leadership


Book Description

Competent leaders of character are necessary for the Army to meet the challenges in the dangerous and complex security environment we face. As the keystone leadership manual for the United States Army, FM 6-22 establishes leadership doctrine, the fundamental principles by which Army leaders act to accomplish their mission and care for their people. FM 6-22 applies to officers, warrant officers, noncommissioned officers, and enlisted Soldiers of all Army components, and to Army civilians. From Soldiers in basic training to newly commissioned officers, new leaders learn how to lead with this manual as a basis. FM 6-22 is prepared under the direction of the Army Chief of Staff. It defines leadership, leadership roles and requirements, and how to develop leadership within the Army. It outlines the levels of leadership as direct, organizational, and strategic, and describes how to lead successfully at each level. It establishes and describes the core leader competencies that facilitate focused feedback, education, training, and development across all leadership levels. It reiterates the Army Values. FM 6-22 defines how the Warrior Ethos is an integral part of every Soldier's life. It incorporates the leadership qualities of self-awareness and adaptability and describes their critical impact on acquiring additional knowledge and improving in the core leader competencies while operating in constantly changing operational environments. In line with evolving Army doctrine, FM 6-22 directly supports the Army's capstone manuals, FM 1 and FM 3-0, as well as keystone manuals such as FM 5-0, FM 6-0, and FM 7-0. FM 6-22 connects Army doctrine to joint doctrine as expressed in the relevant joint doctrinal publications, JP 1 and JP 3-0. As outlined in FM 1, the Army uses the shorthand expression of BE-KNOW-DO to concentrate on key factors of leadership. What leaders DO emerges from who they are (BE) and what they KNOW. Leaders are prepared throughout their lifetimes with respect to BE-KNOW-DO so they will be able to act at a moment's notice and provide leadership for whatever challenge they may face. FM 6-22 expands on the principles in FM 1 and describes the character attributes and core competencies required of contemporary leaders. Character is based on the attributes central to a leader's make-up, and competence comes from how character combines with knowledge, skills, and behaviors to result in leadership. Inextricably linked to the inherent qualities of the Army leader, the concept of BE-KNOW-DO represents specified elements of character, knowledge, and behavior described here in FM 6-22.




Losing Small Wars


Book Description

This new edition of Frank Ledwidge’s eye-opening analysis of British involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan unpicks the causes and enormous costs of military failure. Updated throughout, and with fresh chapters assessing and enumerating the overall military performance since 2011—including Libya, ISIS, and the Chilcot findings—Ledwidge shows how lessons continue to go unlearned. “A brave and important book; essential reading for anyone wanting insights into the dysfunction within the British military today, and the consequences this has on the lives of innocent civilians caught up in war.”—Times Literary Supplement




American Military History Volume 1


Book Description

American Military History provides the United States Army-in particular, its young officers, NCOs, and cadets-with a comprehensive but brief account of its past. The Center of Military History first published this work in 1956 as a textbook for senior ROTC courses. Since then it has gone through a number of updates and revisions, but the primary intent has remained the same. Support for military history education has always been a principal mission of the Center, and this new edition of an invaluable history furthers that purpose. The history of an active organization tends to expand rapidly as the organization grows larger and more complex. The period since the Vietnam War, at which point the most recent edition ended, has been a significant one for the Army, a busy period of expanding roles and missions and of fundamental organizational changes. In particular, the explosion of missions and deployments since 11 September 2001 has necessitated the creation of additional, open-ended chapters in the story of the U.S. Army in action. This first volume covers the Army's history from its birth in 1775 to the eve of World War I. By 1917, the United States was already a world power. The Army had sent large expeditionary forces beyond the American hemisphere, and at the beginning of the new century Secretary of War Elihu Root had proposed changes and reforms that within a generation would shape the Army of the future. But world war-global war-was still to come. The second volume of this new edition will take up that story and extend it into the twenty-first century and the early years of the war on terrorism and includes an analysis of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq up to January 2009.




The Staff Ride


Book Description

Discusses how to plan a staff ride of a battlefield, such as a Civil War battlefield, as part of military training. This brochure demonstrates how a staff ride can be made available to military leaders throughout the Army, not just those in the formal education system.




The Art of Command


Book Description

What essential leadership lessons do we learn by distilling the actions and ideas of great military commanders such as George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Colin Powell? That is the fundamental question underlying The Art of Command: Military Leadership from George Washington to Colin Powell. The book illustrates that great leaders become great through conscious effort—a commitment not only to develop vital skills but also to surmount personal shortcomings. Harry S. Laver, Jeffrey J. Matthews, and the other contributing authors identify nine core characteristics of highly effective leadership, such as integrity, determination, vision, and charisma, and nine significant figures in American military history whose careers embody those qualities. The Art of Command examines each figure’s strengths and weaknesses and how those attributes affected their leadership abilities, offering a unique perspective of military leadership in American history. Laver and Matthews have assembled a list of contributors from military, academic, and professional circles, which allows the book to encompass diverse approaches to the study of leadership.




The Leader's Bookshelf


Book Description

For the last several years Adm. James Stavridis and his co-author, R. Manning Ancell, have surveyed over two hundred active and retired four-star military officers about their reading habits and favorite books, asking each for a list of titles that strongly influenced their leadership skills and provided them with special insights that helped propel them to success in spite of the many demanding challenges they faced. The Leader’s Bookshelf synthesizes their responses to identify the top fifty books that can help virtually anyone become a better leader. Each of the works—novels, memiors, biographies, autobiographies, management publications—are summarized and the key leadership lessons extracted and presented. Whether individuals work their way through the entire list and read each book cover to cover, or read the summaries provided to determine which appeal to them most, The Leader’s Bookshelf will provide a roadmap to better leadership. Highlighting the value of reading in both a philosophical and a practical sense, The Leader’s Bookshelf provides sound advice on how to build an extensive library, lists other books worth reading to improve leadership skills, and analyzes how leaders use what they read to achieve their goals. An efficient way to sample some of literature’s greatest works and to determine which ones can help individuals climb the ladder of success, The Leader’s Bookshelf is for anyone who wants to improve his or her ability to lead—whether in family life, professional endeavors, or within society and civic organizations.