★★★ "Our armies might advance a mile a day and slay the Hun in thousands, but the real crux lies in whether we blockade the enemy to his knees, or whether he does the same to us." Admiral David Beatty - January 27, 1917 Imagine this country's sufferings after four years of blockade. The stock of... Continua a leggere →
Patterns of War: A Re-interpretation of the Chronology of the German-Soviet War 1941–1945
★★★★ IntroductionThe Soviet-German War 1941–1945 was unprecedented in the scope of its size and scale, covering a vast geographic area and utilizing millions of people, horses, and machines, as well as a huge scale of destruction of population and property.[1] This has posed a challenge to historians to both understand the war and then portray... Continua a leggere →
The Muslim Easy Invasion of Iberia
★★ After a short foray in July of 710 AD, Muslim forces from North Africa invaded the Christian Iberian Peninsula (modern day Spain and Portugal) in the spring of 711, and within two years, with the exception of the extreme northwestern portion of the peninsula, had successfully overpowered and conquered the Visigothic Christian realms of... Continua a leggere →
Il fenomeno delle “perdite” nella storia militare
★★ L'origine delle perdite Il mondo militare ha un linguaggio che lo caratterizza. A seconda dell'epoca, della cultura e delle sottigliezze linguistiche, termini e persino concetti precisi finiscono per emergere e radicarsi nella letteratura specifica di questo universo. A volte alcuni di questi concetti e termini, che preferisco semplicemente chiamare "espressioni", vengono utilizzati indiscriminatamente, perdendo... Continua a leggere →
Fundamentals of carrier tactics
★★ TORPEDO BOMBERS TACTICS If we were forced to fight a World War II carrier battle again, what key concepts, tactics, techniques, procedures, and technologies would give us a marked advantage over the adversary? As already stated in the introduction, seeking an answer to such questions goes beyond historical curiosity. Because all forms of warfare... Continua a leggere →
Land Warfare in the 21 st Century (II) – [ed.1993]
★★★★ TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGES IN THE CONDUCT OF LAND WARFARE Technological innovations, many of which were dramatically demonstrated in the Gulf War, are giving rise to what is being called a "military-technical revolution." This "revolution" will have a dramatic effect on the Army and land warfare through five dominant trends: lethality and dispersion; volume and precision... Continua a leggere →
Land Warfare in the 21 st Century (I) – [ed.1993]
★★★★ This paper was originally presented at the U.S. Army War College Fourth Annual Strategy Conference held February 24-25, 1993, with the assistance of the Office of Net Assessment. The Strategic Studies Institute is pleased to publish the paper as part of its Conference Series. Preface Land warfare in the 21st century will be shaped... Continua a leggere →
The Fortress of Broken Dreams: Strategic Lessons of Dien Bien Phu
★★★ 17 minutes Introduction The word “catastrophe” has an interesting history. When it was first introduced into the English language, it carried the meaning of sudden dramatic change; something like a plot twist. Over the centuries, it developed a darker significance as “a sudden disaster, widespread and very fatal.”[1] For six months in 1953-54, the... Continua a leggere →
Analyzing a Country’s Strategic Posture: Suggestions for Practitioners
★★★ 33 minutes Diplomats and defense attachés when posted to a country are expected to give a fresh assessment of that country’s strategic posture. The term strategic posture is used here to encompass not only the country’s military—personnel, equipment, bases, and other infrastructure—but also its political-strategic alignment (friendly? neutral? potential rival/adversary?), its overall attitude to war, and... Continua a leggere →
