Failure In High Command

Author : Christopher L. Elliott
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190233052
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.51/5 ( download)

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Download or read book High Command written by Christopher L. Elliott and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the circumstances that led to Britain's support of the United States in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how the Ministry of Defence coped with challenges including rivalry and diffuse responsibility among the Service Chiefs, lack of clear strategy, and weak domestic political support.

Author : John A. English
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780919614604
Total Pages : 347 pages
Book Rating : 4.04/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Failure in High Command written by John A. English and published by . This book was released on 2000-08-01 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work endeavours to explain Canadian Army operations in Normandy during World War II against a backdrop of organization, training and fighting style developed before actual battle. It explores the Great War experience, the British connection, the interwar period, force development, equipment, staff structure and doctrine. More specifically, it traces the development of the Canadian overseas army, describes the workings of this roughcast, yet complex fighting force, and critically appraises the performance of Canadian formations in Normandy. John A. English is the series adviser to the Praeger Series in War Studies.

Author : Geoffrey P. Megargee
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
ISBN 13 : 0700611878
Total Pages : 349 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Inside Hitler's High Command written by Geoffrey P. Megargee and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2000-06-08 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Challenging previous accounts, Geoffrey Megargee shatters the myth that German generals would have prevailed in World War II if only Hitler had not meddled in their affairs. Indeed, Megargee argues, the German high command was much more flawed than many have suspected or acknowledged. Inside Hitler's High Command reveals that while Hitler was the central figure in many military decisions, his generals were equal partners in Germany's catastrophic defeat. Megargee exposes the structure, processes, and personalities that governed the Third Reich's military decision making and shows how Germany's presumed battlefield superiority was undermined by poor strategic and operational planning at the highest levels. His study tracks the evolution of German military leadership under the Nazis from 1933 to 1945 and expands our understanding of the balance of power within the high command, the role of personalities in its organizational development, and the influence of German military intellectuals on its structure and function. He also shows how the organization of the high command was plagued by ambition, stubbornness, political intrigue, and overworked staff officers. And his "a week in the life" chapter puts the high command under a magnifying glass to reveal its inner workings during the fierce fighting on the Russian Front in December 1941. Megargee also offers new insights into the high command crises of 1938 and shows how German general staff made fatal mistakes in their planning for Operation Barbarossa in 1941. Their arrogant dismissal of the Soviet military's ability to defend its homeland and virtual disregard for the extensive intelligence and sound logistics that undergird successful large-scale military campaigns ultimately came back to haunt them. In the final assessment, observes Megargee, the generals' strategic ideas were no better than Hitler's and often worse. Heinz Guderian, Franz Halder, and the rest were as guilty of self-deception as their Fuhrer, believing that innate German superiority and strength of will were enough to overcome nearly any obstacle. Inside Hitler's High Command exposes these surprising flaws and illuminates the process of strategy and decision making in the Third Reich.

Author : John A. English
Publisher : Stackpole Books
ISBN 13 : 1461751853
Total Pages : 365 pages
Book Rating : 4.54/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Canadian Army & Normandy Campaign written by John A. English and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2009-08-18 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Honest reappraisal of the Canadian experience in Normandy Special focus on the struggle to close the Falaise Gap Relies on archival records, including Bernard Montgomery's personal correspondence John A. English presents a detailed examination of the role of the Canadian Army in Normandy from the D-Day landings in June 1944 through the closing of the Falaise Gap in August.

Author : Steven E. Woodworth
Publisher : University of Missouri Press
ISBN 13 : 0826262120
Total Pages : 204 pages
Book Rating : 4.27/5 ( download)

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Download or read book No Band of Brothers written by Steven E. Woodworth and published by University of Missouri Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Civil War was barely over before Southerners and other students of the war began to examine the Confederate high command in search of an explanation for the South's failure. Although years of research failed to show that the South's defeat was due to a single, overriding cause, the actions of the Southern leaders during the war were certainly among the reasons the South lost the war. In No Band of Brothers, Steven Woodworth explores, through a series of essays, various facets of the way the Confederacy waged its unsuccessful war for secession. He examines Jefferson Davis and some of his more important generals, including Pierre G. T. Beauregard, Leonidas Polk, Joseph E. Johnston, Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson; the Confederacy's strategic plans; and the South's success in making competent officers out of men with very little military preparation. Woodworth particularly looks at the personalities and personal relationships that affected the course and outcome of the war. What made a good general? What could make an otherwise able man a failure as a general? What role did personal friendships or animosities play in the Confederacy's top command assignments and decisions? How successful was the Confederacy in making competent generals out of its civilian leaders? In what ways did Jefferson Davis succeed or fail in maximizing the chances for the success of his cause? In analyzing the Confederate leadership, Woodworth reveals some weaknesses, many strengths, and much new information. No Band of Brothers will be an important addition to Civil War scholarship and will be welcomed by professional historians, amateur historians, students, and the general reader alike.

Author : Steven E. Woodworth
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 408 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Jefferson Davis and His Generals written by Steven E. Woodworth and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jefferson Davis is a historical figure who provokes strong passions among scholars. Through the years historians have place him at both ends of the spectrum: some have portrayed him as a hero, others have judged him incompetent.

Author : Richard W. Harrison
Publisher : Casemate Academic
ISBN 13 : 1952715113
Total Pages : 475 pages
Book Rating : 4.12/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Soviet Army's High Commands in War and Peace, 1941–1992 written by Richard W. Harrison and published by Casemate Academic. This book was released on 2022-07-28 with total page 475 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first full treatment of the unique phenomenon of High Commands in the Soviet Army during World War II and the Cold War. The war on the Eastern Front during 1941–45 was an immense struggle, running from the Barents Sea to the Caucasus Mountains. The vast distances involved forced the Soviet political-military leadership to resort to new organizational expedients in order to control operations along the extended front. These were the high commands of the directions, which were responsible for two or more fronts (army groups) and, along maritime axes, one or more fleets. In all, five high commands were created along the northwestern, western, southwestern, and North Caucasus strategic directions during 1941–42. However, the highly unfavorable strategic situation during the first year of the war, as well as interference in day-to-day operations by Stalin, severely limited the high commands' effectiveness. As a consequence, the high commands were abolished in mid-1942 and replaced by the more flexible system of supreme command representatives at the front. A High Command of Soviet Forces in the Far East was established in 1945 and oversaw the Red Army's highly effective campaign against Japanese forces in Manchuria. The Far Eastern High Command was briefly resurrected in 1947 as a response to the tense situation along the Korean peninsula and the ongoing civil war in China, but was abolished in 1953, soon after Stalin's death. Growing tensions with China brought about the recreation of the Far Eastern High Command in 1979, followed a few years later by the appearance of new high commands in Europe and South Asia. However, these new high commands did not long survive the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and were abolished a year later. The book relies almost exclusively on Soviet and post-communist archival and other sources and is the first unclassified treatment of this subject in any country, East or West.

Author : Philip Langer
Publisher : Indiana University Press
ISBN 13 : 0253110939
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.30/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Command Failure in War written by Philip Langer and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2004-05-12 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do military commanders, most of them usually quite capable, fail at crucial moments of their careers? Robert Pois and Philip Langer -- one a historian, the other an educational psychologist -- study seven cases of military command failures, from Frederick the Great at Kunersdorf to Hitler's invasion of Russia. While the authors recognize the value of psychological theorizing, they do not believe that one method can cover all the individuals, battles, or campaigns under examination. Instead, they judiciously take a number of psycho-historical approaches in hope of shedding light on the behaviors of commanders during war. The other battles and commanders studied here are Napoleon in Russia, George B. McClellan's Peninsular Campaign, Robert E. Lee and Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, John Bell Hood at the Battle of Franklin, Douglas Haig and the British command during World War I, "Bomber" Harris and the Strategic Bombing of Germany, and Stalingrad.

Author : Dale R. Herspring
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
ISBN 13 : 0700614672
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Kremlin and the High Command written by Dale R. Herspring and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2006-10-11 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout its existence, the Red Army was viewed as a formidable threat. By the end of the Cold War, however, it had become the weakest link in the Soviet Union's power structure. Always subordinate to the Communist Party, the military in 1991 suddenly found itself answering instead to the president of a democratic state. Dale Herspring closely examines how that relationship influenced the military's viability in the new Russian Federation. Herspring's book is the first to assess the relationship between the Russian military and the political leadership under Presidents Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, and Vladimir Putin. He depicts an outmoded and demoralized military force still struggling to free itself from Cold War paradigms, while failing to confront not only debacles in Afghanistan and Chechnya but also a rise in crime and corruption within the ranks. He reveals how Gorbachev neglected the military to save Russia from internal collapse and Yeltsin reneged on continuing promises of support. And, while Putin claims a better understanding of the armed forces, he has severely tightened his control over the military while monitoring its struggle toward modernization. Herspring argues that presidential leadership-or a significant lack thereof-has been the key variable determining the kind of military Russia puts in the field. It has been up to the president to ensure that the high command makes a successful transition to the new polity-otherwise combat readiness will decline and generals and admirals could become politicized. By focusing on how the high command has reacted to each president's decisions and leadership style, Herspring shows that, in spite of the continued importance of the military's bureaucratic structure, personality factors have assumed a much more important role than in the past. The Kremlin and the High Command provides the most complete analysis to date of the Russian president's influence on the Russian officer corps, the soldiers they lead, and their army's combat readiness. Shedding light on the chaos that has plagued the USSR and Russia over the past 25 years, it also suggests how the often fraught relationship between the president and the high command must evolve if the Russian Federation is to evolve into a truly democratic nation.

Author : David Horner
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000339270
Total Pages : 685 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book High Command written by David Horner and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2021-03-30 with total page 685 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since it was first published in 1982, High Command had become the standard reference for anyone interested in Australia’s participation in the Second World War, this edition was originally published in 1992. The 50th anniversary of battles such as Singapore, Coral Sea and Kokoda in 1942 re-awakened interest in these milestones in Australia’s struggle for independence. Despite the well-known exploits of Australian servicemen in a score of famous battles, Australia’s contribution to the war was ultimately determined by the strategic policy-makers in Canberra, Washington and London. How competent were our politicians, military leaders and advisers in formulating our own war strategy? How much did the performance of Australian troops on the battlefield affect our ability to influence allied strategy? The author describes the clash between Generals Rowell and Blamey in Greece. He reveals the impact of the secretary of the Department of Defence, Sir Frederick Shedden, on strategic policy-making. He analyses the role of intelligence, especially signals intelligence, in allied strategy. He shows how Blamey’s miscalculation in 1944 removed any chance of Australian troops joining the Americans in the Philippines. And he reveals how a British admiral challenged the authority of the Australian government. High Command presents the remarkable, full story of the political battles behind the military battles.