WEIGELY : The history of the United States Army (fülszöveg)
The Second World War and the Cold War have generated both a new interest in military affairs and a new emphasis in military history on the political and social contexts of military power. This volume by an eminent authority is an outstanding example of this new approach to history.
"This is a history not of battles and campaigns," writes the author, "but of the Army as an institution maintained by the nation to fight its battles and campaigns, or to deter the need for them." He points out that a history of the United States Army is actually a history of two armies: a Regular Army of professional soldiers, and a citizen army of various components, such as the militia, the National Guard, the Organized Reserves, and selectees.
Nevertheless, battles and campaigns must remain at the heart of any military history; the United States Army has existed to fight and to deter wars. Therefore, History of the United States Army does concern itself with the Army's methods of war making, from the seventeenth century, when the American colonies nourished England's shriveled popular militia into an American militia, to the twentieth century and the Age of Overkill.
The book concludes with a warning: "To use—and restrain—its immense social, economic, and political influence wisely and effectively, the Army must hold itself in close rapport with the people. To secure military success in so complex and difficult a war as the one in Vietnam, it must also depend upon its rapport with the people. Unless the people decide that the war in Vietnam is in truth their war, the Army must finally fail."
With an extensive appendix, and source notes on each chapter.
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| KATALÓGUS | TARTALOM |
