Victory in War

Victory in War PDF Author: William C. Martel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 113949970X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 593

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Book Description
War demands that scholars and policy makers use victory in precise and coherent terms to communicate what the state seeks to achieve in war. The failure historically to define victory in consistent terms has contributed to confused debates when societies consider whether to wage war. This volume explores the development of a theoretical narrative or language of victory to help scholars and policy makers define carefully and precisely what they mean by victory in war in order to achieve a deeper understanding of victory as the foundation of strategy in the modern world.

Victory in War

Victory in War PDF Author: William C. Martel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 113949970X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 593

Get Book Here

Book Description
War demands that scholars and policy makers use victory in precise and coherent terms to communicate what the state seeks to achieve in war. The failure historically to define victory in consistent terms has contributed to confused debates when societies consider whether to wage war. This volume explores the development of a theoretical narrative or language of victory to help scholars and policy makers define carefully and precisely what they mean by victory in war in order to achieve a deeper understanding of victory as the foundation of strategy in the modern world.

Victory in War

Victory in War PDF Author: William C. Martel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139460412
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
For millennia, policymakers and statesmen have grappled with questions about the concept of victory in war. How long does it take to achieve victory and how do we know when victory is achieved? And, as highlighted by the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq, is it possible to win a war and yet lose the peace? The premise of this book is that we do not have a modern theory about victory and that, in order to answer these questions, we need one. This book explores historical definitions of victory, how victory has evolved, and how it has been implemented in war. It also subsequently develops the intellectual foundations of a modern pre-theory of victory, and discusses the military instruments necessary for victory in the twenty-first century using case studies that include US military intervention in Panama, Libya, Persian Gulf War, Bosnia/Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

V was for Victory

V was for Victory PDF Author: John Morton Blum
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780156936286
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
A noted historian examines the impact of culture and politics on the wartime attitudes and experiences of Americans and their expectations concerning the postwar world.

Nothing Less than Victory

Nothing Less than Victory PDF Author: John David Lewis
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691162026
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
How aggressive military strategies win wars, from ancient times to today The goal of war is to defeat the enemy's will to fight. But how this can be accomplished is a thorny issue. Nothing Less than Victory provocatively shows that aggressive, strategic military offenses can win wars and establish lasting peace, while defensive maneuvers have often led to prolonged carnage, indecision, and stalemate. Taking an ambitious and sweeping look at six major wars, from antiquity to World War II, John David Lewis shows how victorious military commanders have achieved long-term peace by identifying the core of the enemy's ideological, political, and social support for a war, fiercely striking at this objective, and demanding that the enemy acknowledges its defeat. Lewis examines the Greco-Persian and Theban wars, the Second Punic War, Aurelian's wars to reunify Rome, the American Civil War, and the Second World War. He considers successful examples of overwhelming force, such as the Greek mutilation of Xerxes' army and navy, the Theban-led invasion of the Spartan homeland, and Hannibal's attack against Italy—as well as failed tactics of defense, including Fabius's policy of delay, McClellan's retreat from Richmond, and Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler. Lewis shows that a war's endurance rests in each side's reasoning, moral purpose, and commitment to fight, and why an effectively aimed, well-planned, and quickly executed offense can end a conflict and create the conditions needed for long-term peace. Recognizing the human motivations behind military conflicts, Nothing Less than Victory makes a powerful case for offensive actions in pursuit of peace.

Margin of Victory

Margin of Victory PDF Author: Douglas MacGregor
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612519970
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
In Margin of Victory Douglas Macgregor tells the riveting stories of five military battles of the twentieth century, each one a turning point in history. Beginning with the British Expeditionary force holding the line at the Battle of Mons in 1914 and concluding with the Battle of Easting in 1991 during Desert Storm, Margin of Victory teases out a connection between these battles and teaches its readers an important lesson about how future battles can be won. Emphasizing military strategy, force design, and modernization, Macgregor links each of these seemingly isolated battles thematically. At the core of his analysis, the author reminds the reader that to be successful, military action must always be congruent with national culture, geography, and scientific-industrial capacity. He theorizes that strategy and geopolitics are ultimately more influential than ideology. Macgregor stresses that if nation-states want to be successful, they must accept the need for and the inevitability of change. The five warfighting dramas in this book, rendered in vivid detail by lively prose, offer many lessons on the tactical, operational, and strategic levels of war.

Winning at War

Winning at War PDF Author: Christian P. Potholm
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9781442201309
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
What are the independent variables that determine success in war? Drawing on 40 years of studying and teaching war, political scientist Christian P. Potholm presents a 'template of Mars, ' seven variables that have served as predictors of military success over time and across cultures. In Winning at War, Potholm explains these variables--technology, sustained ruthlessness, discipline, receptivity to innovation, protection of military capital from civilians and rulers, will, and the belief that there will always be another war--and provides case studies of their implementation, from ancient battles to today.

Zero-Sum Victory

Zero-Sum Victory PDF Author: Christopher D. Kolenda
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813152836
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
2021 Foreword INDIES Gold Winner for War & History Why have the major post-9/11 US military interventions turned into quagmires? Despite huge power imbalances in the United States' favor, significant capacity-building efforts, and repeated tactical victories by what many observers call the world's best military, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq turned intractable. The US government's fixation on zero-sum, decisive victory in these conflicts is a key reason why military operations to overthrow two developing-world regimes failed to successfully achieve favorable and durable outcomes. In Zero-Sum Victory, retired US Army colonel Christopher D. Kolenda identifies three interrelated problems that have emerged from the government's insistence on zero-sum victory. First, the US government has no organized way to measure successful outcomes other than a decisive military victory, and thus, selects strategies that overestimate the possibility of such an outcome. Second, the United States is slow to recognize and modify or abandon losing strategies; in both cases, US officials believe their strategies are working, even as the situation deteriorates. Third, once the United States decides to withdraw, bargaining asymmetries and disconnects in strategy undermine the prospects for a successful transition or negotiated outcome. Relying on historic examples and personal experience, Kolenda draws thought-provoking and actionable conclusions about the utility of American military power in the contemporary world—insights that serve as a starting point for future scholarship as well as for important national security reforms.

Victory

Victory PDF Author: Associated Press
Publisher: Sterling
ISBN: 9781454941163
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
A commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the WWII victory, Victory covers the war through "breaking news" stories and photographs from the Associated Press--the main US chronicler of the conflict. Victory commemorates the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII: May 8, 1945, VE Day; August 14, VJ Day; and September 2, the formal signing of the instrument of surrender. This stunning book covers the war through contemporary Associated Press coverage of 40-45 key events, plus human-interest accounts. The stories and photographs are presented chronologically so that readers of today can experience the scope of the war in the same way people of that era learned of the events. From Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, to Japan's ceremonial signing of surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, each event is vividly brought to life through images and text from the original articles; historian Alan Axelrod provides insightful introductory text for each chapter.

Certain Victory

Certain Victory PDF Author: Robert H. Scales
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
ISBN: 1612340776
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
The official U.S. Army account of Army performance in the Gulf War, Certain Victory was originally published by the Office of the Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, in 1993. Brig. Gen. Scales, who headed the Army's Desert Storm Study Project, offers a highly readable and abundantly illustrated chronicle.

The Victory Season

The Victory Season PDF Author: Robert Weintraub
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0316205907
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 494

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Book Description
The triumphant story of baseball and America after World War II. In 1945 Major League Baseball had become a ghost of itself. Parks were half empty, the balls were made with fake rubber, and mediocre replacements roamed the fields, as hundreds of players, including the game's biggest stars, were serving abroad, devoted to unconditional Allied victory in World War II. But by the spring of 1946, the country was ready to heal. The war was finally over, and as America's fathers and brothers were coming home, so too were the sport's greats. Ted Williams, Stan Musial, and Joe DiMaggio returned with bats blazing, making the season a true classic that ended in a thrilling seven-game World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals. America also witnessed the beginning of a new era in baseball: it was a year of attendance records, the first year Yankee Stadium held night games, the last year the Green Monster wasn't green, and, most significant, Jackie Robinson's first year playing in the Brooklyn Dodgers' system. The Victory Season brings to vivid life these years of baseball and war, including the littleknown "World Series" that servicemen played in a captured Hitler Youth stadium in the fall of 1945. Robert Weintraub's extensive research and vibrant storytelling enliven the legendary season that embodies what we now think of as the game's golden era.