Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/December 2022/Review essay
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Military History Wikiproject coordinators' reading list - 2022 |
The study of military history involves reading books. Unlike some other fields, military history books are widely available and accessible to the general public. The purpose of this list, chosen by the Military history project coordinators, is to offer entry points into the study of military history that will sharpen and broaden the reader's knowledge of the field. Each coordinator has selected a few books or journal articles they consider are worthy of consideration, contemplation, and discussion.
This 2022 reading list follows on from the first such list published in The Bugle this time last year.
Selections by Gog the Mild
The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease and the End of an Empire - Kyle Harper |
A fascinating overview of the roles climate change and pandemics may have played in the long drawn-out decay and fall of the Roman Empire. Without necessarily challenging established narratives, Harper provides a wider background dealing with the repeated natural shocks which slowly sapped the resilience of the Empire and drained its ability to continue to survive its frequent internal and external challenges.
- Harper, Kyle (2019). The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease and the End of an Empire. Princetown; Oxford: Princetown University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-16683-4.
War Cruel and Sharp: English Strategy under Edward III, 1327–1360 - Clifford Rogers |
Another masterclass in how to overthrow an established historiographical orthodoxy. The proposition that Edward III was a lucky bungler seems to have been little heard of late.
- ISBN 978-0-85115-804-4. (Sample chapter.)
Numerical Analysis of English Bows used in Battle of Crécy - Mariusz Magier, Adrian Nowak, Meda Tomasz and Pawel Zochowski |
The Polish Military Institute of Armament Technology take a day off from HESH and Chobham to work on the penetrative effects of longbows on plate armour and chain mail. Digs into the detail of the details while somehow being fascinatingly readable. Left me thinking that I would rather be a Russian tank driver than a French knight at Crécy.
- Magier, Mariusz; Nowak, Adrian; et al. (2017). "Numerical Analysis of English Bows used in Battle of Crécy". Problemy Techniki Uzbrojenia. 142 (2): 69–85. ISSN 1230-3801.
Selections by Hawkeye7
The Audit of War - Correlli Barnett |
This fascinating book is actually the third in
- OCLC 17678079.
Britain's War Machine - David Edgerton |
An account of British war production. The author sets out to demolish a series of myths. The first one is that old one about Britain fighting the war alone. The second is one about the government being removed from scientists and experts; the opposite was the case. The third, and most interesting, is the peculiar British interpretation of the war being one between machines. In some ways this became a self-fulfilling prophecy. The vision of a (relatively) cheap victory powered by machines did indeed become a reality in the final campaigns of the war, aided by vast support from the United States.
- OCLC 689522201.
Operational Logistics - Moshe Kress |
When it comes to the study of military logistics, a good textbook has been lacking. This book fills that need. It covers the field well, with examples that make abstract concepts clear and accessible to the reader. This book should be required reading at the staff college. It covers the science as well as the art, so there's some mathematical formulae, but nothing that would tax a high school kid. Logistics is not rocket science, it is just too often not done well.
- Kress, Moshe (2016). Operational Logistics: The Art and Science of Sustaining Military Operations. Management for Professionals. London: Springer. OCLC 1005115855.
Selections by Ian Rose
Most of the works I use for referencing articles are pretty specialised, but the following might have broader appeal. I've also picked them as being highly readable, the sort I look at out of sheer interest.
How Not to Run an Air Force! - Norman Ashworth |
This cautionary tale focusses on the wartime rivalry between the RAAF's
- Ashworth, Norman (2000). How Not to Run an Air Force! The Higher Command of the Royal Australian Air Force During the Second World War (PDF). Canberra: RAAF Air Power Studies Centre. ISBN 978-0-642-26550-0.
The Most Dangerous Enemy - Stephen Bungay |
Of the plethora of books on the Battle of Britain, this one stands out for me and it inspired me to improve the article on
- ISBN 978-1-85410-801-2.
Kennedy & Nixon - Christopher Matthews |
Although I don't write on US politics, it's always been an interest of mine and given the part played by this pair in the
- ISBN 0-684-83246-1.
Selections by Nick-D
I found the following works to be particularly useful in my editing this year.
Fifty Years of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps - Paul Handel |
The literature on the Australian Army's armoured force is surprisingly thin - we get book after book on the SAS and to a lesser extent regular infantry, but there's not much on the other branches of the service. As a result, this book fills an important gap and does so well. It provides good detail on the RAAC's structure, equipment and deployments, and includes some useful analysis. It's also well illustrated. An updated book on this topic would be invaluable.
- Handel, Paul (1998). Fifty Years of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps, 1948 to 1998. Puckapunyal, Victoria: Royal Australian Armoured Corps Memorial and Army Tank Museum. OCLC 222940907.
Fighting and Writing - Luise White |
There's a fairly large literature on the Rhodesian military during the Rhodesian Bush War, but most of it is offensively bad (these works are commonly some or all of biased, racist, poorly researched and/or badly written). This book represents the culmination of the academic Luise White's years of research on the topic, and is excellent. While focused on post-war portrayals of the Rhodesian military, it covers an impressively varied range of topics and includes lots of details on the military's structure and culture (the chapter on how conscription was applied is particularly fascinating and is an excellent case study of why Rhodesia was always doomed). The book is well researched and written, and provides very sharp analysis of why Rhodesia lost its war. The discussion of why this mediocre military of a white supremacist state continues to be lionised by analysts who should know better and a range of political extremists is also useful.
- White, Luise (2021). Fighting and Writing: The Rhodesian Army at War and Postwar. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. ISBN 9781478021285.
Hitler's Gateway to the Atlantic - Lars Hellwinkel |
This book provides excellent analysis of the use of French ports by the German Navy during World War II. This is an important and under-researched topic, as these ports were the navy's main bases during the Battle of the Atlantic. Hellwinkel demonstrates that the huge efforts the navy put into developing the ports as bases for its capital ships were totally nuts: all that was achieved was bringing the warships within easy range of British bombers. The submarine bases were much more successful, but suffered from difficulties in sourcing workers, especially as the war continued. This is an essential work for articles on the Battle of the Atlantic and deserves to be better known.
- Hellwinkel, Lars (2014). Hitler's Gateway to the Atlantic: German Naval Bases in France 1940–1945. Translated by Brooks, Geoffrey. Barnsley, United Kingdom: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-199-1.
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