Robin Higham

Donald J. Mrozek

Supplement IV

A Guide to the Sources of United States Military History

Reina Pennington

With entries overviewing groups such as the Amazons, women in the Spanish Civil War, and Native American women and entries profiling over 300 women, tells their stories, focusing particularly on women who fought. With a focus on those who fought, this two-volume reference for scholars and general readers contains alphabetically arranged entries on some 300 military women from antiquity to the present. The entries are also listed by geographic region, time period, branch of service, prisoner status, and by group or organization. Pennington (affiliation not cited) presents a historical overview of women in the military and in war in the introduction, while an extensive timeline traces the accomplishments of women in military history reaching back to 9000 BCE. Bibliographic surveys of women as prisoners of war and women's participation in military medicine are found in the appendix.

Amazons to Fighter Pilots: A-Q

Amazons to Fighter Pilots: R-Z

Beskriver en periode i flyvningens historie i England nemlig konstruktionen og anvendelsen af luftskibe og her bl.a. inden for flåden

A Study in Weapons Policy

The British Rigid Airship, 1908-1931

Provides the reasons and ways in which official military history has been written.

The Writing of Official Military History

Jacob W Kipp

This book is the story of Russian aviation and Soviet Russia's progress in preparing its strength as an air power. It discusses the Russia-Germany connect post 1919, how Russians gained expertise from German know-how, and post World War II progress from Stalin to Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.

A Historical View

Soviet Aviation And Air Power

Von Hardesty

John T. Greenwood

In the light of new archival material the editors take a fresh look at Russian aviation in the twentieth century. Presenting a comprehensive view of Russian aviation, from its genesis in the late czarist period to the present era, the approach is essentially chronological with a major emphasis on the evolution of military aviation. The contributions are diverse, with appropriate attention to civilian and institutional themes.

Russian Aviation and Air Power in the Twentieth Century

David Andrew Graff

Gaining an understanding of China's long and sometimes bloody history can help to shed light on China's ascent to global power. Many of China's imperial dynasties were established as the result of battle, from the chariot warfare of ancient times to the battles of the Guomindang (KMT) and Communist regimes of the twentieth century. China's ability to sustain complex warfare on a very large scale was not emulated in other parts of the world until the Industrial Age, despite the fact that the country is only now rising to economic dominance. In A Military History of China, Updated Edition, David A. Graff and Robin Higham bring together leading scholars to offer a basic introduction to the military history of China from the first millennium B.C.E. to the present. Focusing on recurring patterns of conflict rather than traditional campaign narratives, this volume reaches farther back into China's military history than similar studies. It also offers insightful comparisons between Chinese and Western approaches to war. This edition brings the volume up to date, including discussions of the Chinese military's latest developments and the country's most recent foreign conflicts.

A Military History of China

Lester H. Brune

Comprehensive assessment by experts of the significant literature and research about the Korean War for broad interdisciplinary library use.

Handbook of the Literature and Research

The Korean War

Noted aviation historian Robin Higham examines the evolution of the Armée de l’Air and RAF during the interwar period. Although France and England shared a mutual enemy in Germany, the development of the air forces of in each nation shared few commonalities. Higham demonstrates that the Armée de l’Terre dominated strategic and doctrinal planning in France. The resulting emphasis on traditional land warfare, combined with the volatility of French politics in 1920s, blunted the development of French air forces. By 1940, they were ill prepared, technologically inferior, and out manned when the Luftwaffe aircraft darkened the skies over the French countryside. Although the causes of the defeat of France in 1940 have been debated by historians, none have focused on the role and place of the Armée de l’Air in that defeat. Historians of France have been much more comfortable arguing about politics and the Armée de Terre. As Higham illustrates, however, it is important understand the impact of the development of the Armée de l’Air, its doctrine, equipment, personnel, and budgets. Comparatively, the success of the Royal Air Force in the skies over Britain was due largely to the fact that the independent RAF evolved into a sophisticated, scientifically based force, supported by consistent government practices. Higham’s thorough examination, however, finds the British not without error in the two decades that followed the Treaty of Versailles. But strong government support and technological innovation during this period paved the way for success once the war began.

The Air Battles Over France and Britain, MayÐOctober 1940

Unflinching Zeal

In this precise, interpretive and informative volume, Higham looks at everything from the roots of strategic bombing and tactical air power to the lessons learned and unlearned during the invasion of Ethiopia, the war in China and the Spanish Civil War. He also considers the problems posed by jet aircraft in Korea and the use of Patriot missiles in the Persian Gulf. He covers anti-guerrilla operations, doctrine, industrial activities and equipment, as well as the development of commercial airlines.

One Hundred Years of Air Power and Aviation

Stephen J. Harris

According to Robin Higham and Stephen J. Harris, "Flight has been part of the human dream for aeons, and its military application has likely been the dark side of that dream for almost as long." In the twentieth century, this dream and its dark side unfolded as the air forces of the world went to war, bringing destruction and reassessment with each failure. Why Air Forces Fail examines the complex, often deep-seated, reasons for the catastrophic failures of the air forces of various nations. Higham and Harris divide the air forces into three categories of defeat: forces that never had a chance to win, such as Poland and France; forces that started out victorious but were ultimately defeated, such as Germany and Japan; and finally, those that were defeated in their early efforts yet rose to victory, such as the air forces of Britain and the United States. The contributing authors examine the complex causes of defeats of the Russian, Polish, French, British, Italian, German, Argentine, and American air services. In all cases, the failures stemmed from deep, usually prewar factors that were shaped by the political, economic, military, and social circumstances in the countries. Defeat also stemmed from the anticipation of future wars, early wartime actions, and the precarious relationship between the doctrine of the military leadership and its execution in the field. Anthony Christopher Cain's chapter on France's air force, l'Armée de l'Air, attributes France's loss to Germany in June 1940 to a lack of preparation and investment in the air force. One major problem was the failure to centralize planning or coordinate a strategy between land and air forces, which was compounded by aborted alliances between France and countries in eastern Europe, especially Poland and Czechoslovakia. In addition, the lack of incentives for design innovation in air technologies led to clashes between airplane manufacturers, laborers, and the government, a struggle that resulted in France's airplanes' being outnumbered by Germany's more than three to one by 1940. Complemented by reading lists and suggestions for further research, Why Air Forces Fail provides groundbreaking studies of the causes of air force defeats.

Robin Higham

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