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When I have time in the winter, I can often be found at
the hockey rink, more often terrifying my teammates rather than
my opponents. I also have a great interest in political and military
history. Hence, the list below.
My Favorite Military History Books
These are in roughly the chronological order of the topic
covered.
- John Keegan. A History of Warfare. From
the dawn of civilization to the present, war has always been
there, but its form has changed considerably.
- Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War. On
the other hand, some things have not changed that much.
Athens here is much like France during the Revolutionary and
Napoleonic Period. There is much to admire in the culture,
but much to dislike about their drive towards hegemony.
- Michael Howard, War in European History.
From 1600 to the present in 165 pages.
- Ian
Beckett.
Modern Insurgencies and
Counter-Insurgencies: Guerrillas and Their Opponents Since
1750 (Warfare and History).
An exhaustive history and theory of insurgencies, which
Beckett defines as guerilla warfare mated to a
revolutionary cause. This is important reading for anyone
who wants to understand Iraq, Afghanistan, or any number of
other flashpoints around the world which are troubled by
what has become arguably the dominant mode of warfare since
the Second World War.
-
John Ferling.
Almost a Miracle: The American Victory
in the War of Independence. This is,
in my humble opinion, first decent, comprehensive history of
the Revolution. In particular, Ferling does a nice job
covering the mixed conventional/guerilla war in the
Carolinas, which is often left out. Ferling is a bit
more critical of Washington as a general than I would be
(Washington did make a lot of amateur mistakes, but he was
an amateur, and he did learn from them), but that is a
minor, interpretive issue. Ferling could just have easily
titled his book, "How to Win a War with no Money and Less
Political Support." In short, it's a well-written,
informative read and steads head-and-shoulders above any
similar treatment with which I am familiar. An
honorable mention should also go to David Hackett Fischer's
Washington's Crossing, which treats the
1776-1777 winter campaign and describes the first evidence
of an "American way of warfare."
- Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs. The
best war memoirs in the English language written by the
first modern general of the first modern war. Also includes
some interesting insights into the Mexican War, in which
Grant also participated. He was also quite an interesting
character. As Col. Theodore Lyman described him, "He
habitually wears an expression as if he had determined to
drive his head through a brick wall, and was about to do it.
I have much confidence in him."
- James M. McPherson. Battle Cry of Freedom: The
Civil War Era. This is simply the best omnibus
political and military history of the Civil War. For a
purely military history, read Bruce Catton's The Civil War. Shelby Foote
gets more press, but Catton writes better. He is a bit more
sympathetic to the Union than the Confederacy.
- Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels. No
apologies here for this being a novel. This is the
American Iliad. Robert E. Lee takes the role of Achilles
when for once he let his pride overcome his judgment.
- John Keegan, The First World War. Keegan
has managed to take a history of what I thought was the
saddest, most depressingly monotonous war in modern times
and made it into a page-turner. Nothing else compares.
- John Keegan, The Second World War. Not
nearly as interesting as his book on the First World War
from a literary viewpoint. However, interest in World War
II has recently peaked, and Keegan is authoritative and
comprehensive without being dull or shallow.
- Martin van Creveld, The Sword and the Olive: A
Critical History of the Israeli Defense Forces. A
must-read for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of
modern conventional military conflict or its best practitioners in recent
history. It is light on the diplomacy and politics behind
the Israeli Conflict. If this is your interest, please
consider Michael B. Oren's Six Days of War: June 1967
and the Making of the Modern Middle East..
- David Hackworth, About Face. Okay, so
he's Col. Kurtz, but it reveals a lot about the US
experience in Vietnam. (Thanks to
Geoff Parker for this one!) Other great ground level
histories include Harold Moore's We Were Soldiers Once
and Young, also about Vietnam, and Stephen Ambrose's
Band of Brothers, about World War II.
The Six Big Books on Military Theory
for the Layman
These are listed in the chronological order of when they were
written.
- Sun Tsu, The Art of War. It's good to be
stronger than your opponent, but it's even better to be
sneakier.
- Carl von Clausewitz, On War. The
guide to modern land warfare. All modern armies are its
intellectual descendents. (Of course, we may currently be
shifting into another phase of history.)
- Alfred Thayer Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power
upon History, 1660-1783. This book is why we have
more aircraft carriers than the rest of the world's navies
combined.
- Archer Jones. The Art of War in the Western World.
Keegan tells you what happened in his History of
Warfare. Jones explains in his own magnum opus how
people went about it, both at the strategic and tactical
level. Be warned, however. It is a substantial book, big
enough to be used to kill snakes if necessary. (Hey, I live
in Texas!)
- Martin van Creveld, Command in Warfare.
This document explains the methods and doctrine behind
what the U.S. Marines call Maneuver Warfare.
- John Nagl. Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife:
Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam.
This book explains why the superpowers are 5 and 0 in
dealing with insurgencies while the British Army has a much
better record. It is the intellectual background to
the famous U.S. Army Manual FM 3-24 on
counterinsurgency. Be warned: reading this book will
make you wonder about U.S. chances in Iraq.
Military History Links of Interest
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