Journal of Military History
Vol. 72, No. 1
January 2008
In Memorium: Dr. Larry I. Bland (1940-2007): 9.
Articles
Peter H. Wilson, "Defining Military Culture," The Journal of Military History 72 #1 (January 2008): 11-41.
This article outlines a conceptual framework to analyse the norms and values influencing the behaviour of soldiers in the past. It will argue that military culture is a specific form of institutional culture and that viewing armies from this perspective offers new insight into how they functioned and the nature of their interaction with state and society. It also addresses definitions of militarism, arguing that these generally blur distinctions between cultural and material factors. By disassociating military culture from particular forms of rule or modes of production, it can be studied in societies where it has been forgotten or hidden in the historical memory.
Ronald F. Kingsley and Harvey J. Alexander, "The Failure of Abercromby's Attack on Fort Carillon, July 1758, and the Scapegoating of Matthew Clerk," The Journal of Military History 72 #1 (January 2008): 43-70.
The unsuccessful attack by a massive British army against the French position at Fort Carillon (Fort Ticonderoga) on July 8, 1758 came as a shock to the British Empire. The failure of the attack has been attributed to a range of causes. The most prominent among them has been the accusation that an over-optimistic report on the French defenses made by a young engineer, Matthew Clerk, was the reason for an unsuccessful frontal attack. While many historians place the blame for the defeat on general mismanagement of the British army by the expedition's commander, General James Abercromby, few have disputed the general's claim that Clerk deserves a large share of the blame. Evidence from letters and other documents associated with the engineer serves to clarify a complex and confusing episode in the history of the French and Indian War.
Mark van de Logt, "'The Powers of the Heavens Shall Eat of My Smoke:' The Significance of Scalping in Pawnee Warfare," The Journal of Military History 72 #1 (January 2008): 71-104.
This study examines the cultural significance of scalping among the Pawnee Indians. Pawnee warriors took scalps to obtain spiritual power. When sacrificed in a special ceremony, scalps ensured the vitality and well-being of the Pawnee people. Sacrificing scalps also raised the status of men in Pawnee society and improved their prospects for marriage. Scalps were also taken to avenge the killing of tribal members by enemies, to strengthen diplomatic ties, or to end the mourning period of people who had lost a friend or relative. The quest for scalps could be a reason to launch military expeditions.
Xu Guoqi, "The Great War and China's Military Expedition Plan," The Journal of Military History 72 #1 (January 2008): 105-140.
This article examines the long-ignored issue of China's plan to send military expeditionary forces to Europe during the First World War. Based on sources from Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and China, the article uses an international history approach to address the following questions: why China was interested in the war, why China tried so hard to join the war, why its military expedition plan did not materialize, and what kind of role China played in the so-called Great War. The article argues that the First World War is an important chapter in history of Modern China and China's internationalization.
Mary Glantz, "An Officer and a Diplomat? The Ambiguous Position of Philip R. Faymonville and United States-Soviet Relations, 1941-1943," The Journal of Military History 72 #1 (January 2008): 141-177.
Colonel Philip Faymonville (U.S. Army) played a significant and controversial role in United States-Soviet relations in the 1930s and 1940s. The first U.S. military attaché to the Soviet Union, Faymonville provided dispassionate, accurate assessments of the Red Army=s military worth. Yet he earned the enduring hostility of his military and diplomatic colleagues. During World War II, Faymonville returned to Moscow as lend-lease expediter. He reported directly to the White House, and worked independently from the military attaché and the Embassy, solidifying his position as outsider and raising questions about the role of military officers in the conduct of diplomacy.
Bradley Lynn Coleman, "Recovering the Korean War Dead, 1950-1958: Graves Registration, Forensic Anthropology, and Wartime Memorialization," The Journal of Military History 72 #1 (January 2008): 179-222.
During the Korean War, the American Graves Registration Service, U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, developed an innovative system to recover, identify, and repatriate deceased U.S. Servicemen. In doing so, the U.S. armed forces returned their dead to the United States during major combat operations for the first time in military history. This article describes and analyzes the handling of the Korean War dead. It concludes that the wartime program exemplified the country's adaptation to limited war during a time of prosperous insecurity.
Reviews:
Victory of the West: The Story of the Battle of Lepanto, by Niccolò Capponi, reviewed by Gábor Ágoston and by John F. Guilmartin, Jr., 223-225
When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise and Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty, by Hugh Kennedy, reviewed by Russ Rodgers, 226-227
The Knights of Islam: The Wars of the Mamluks, by James Waterson, reviewed by John Dunn, 227-228
The Artillery of the Dukes of Burgundy, 1363-1477, by Robert Douglas Smith and Kelly DeVries, reviewed by Albert D. McJoynt, 228-230
Three Armies in Britain: The Irish Campaign of Richard II and the Usurpation of Henry IV, 1397-1399, by Douglas Biggs, reviewed by Gwilym Dodd, 230-231
The English Revolution and the Wars in the Three Kingdoms, 1638-1652, by Ian Gentles, reviewed by Charles Carlton, 232
The Diary of a Manchu Soldier in Seventeenth-Century China: "My Service in the Army," by Dzengseo, introduction, translation, and notes by Nicola de Cosmo, reviewed by Kenneth M. Swope, 233-234
John Stark: Maverick General, by Ben Z. Rose, reviewed by John Buchanan, 234-236
Militarium: Fonti archivisti e bibliografia per la storia militare della Repubblica di Genova (1528-1797), della Repubblica Ligure (1797-1805) e della Liguria napoleonica (1805-1814), by Paolo Giacomone Piana and Riccardo Dellepiane, reviewed by Frederick C. Schneid, 236-237
Once There Were Titans: Napoleon's Generals and Their Battles, 1800-1815, by Kevin F. Kiley, reviewed by Owen Connelly, 237-238
Architects of Empire: The Duke of Wellington and His Brothers, by John Severn, reviewed by Neville Thompson, 238-239
Fix Bayonets! A Royal Welch Fusilier at War, 1796-1815, by Donald E. Graves, reviewed by Huw Davies, 240-241
Through Water, Ice & Fire: Schooner Nancy of the War of 1812, by Barry Gough, reviewed by David Curtis Skaggs, 241-242
Andrew Jackson and the Politics of Martial Law: Nationalism, Civil Liberties, and Partisanship, by Matthew Warshauer, reviewed by Jeanne T. Heidler, 242-243
A Gallant Little Army: The Mexico City Campaign, by Timothy D. Johnson, reviewed by Samuel Watson, 243-244
Civil War to the Bloody End: The Life and Times of Major General Samuel P. Heintzelman, by Jerry Thompson, reviewed by Harry S. Laver, 245-246
Blue and Gray Navies: The Civil War Afloat, by Spencer C. Tucker, reviewed by William H. Roberts, 246-247
Mr. Lincoln's Brown Water Navy: The Mississippi Squadron, by Gary D. Joiner, reviewed by Spencer C. Tucker. 247-248
Civil War Weather in Virginia, by Robert K. Krick, reviewed by James I. Robertson, Jr., 248-249
A People at War: Civilians and Soldiers in America's Civil War, by Scott Nelson and Carol Sheriff, reviewed by Jennifer R. Green, 249-250
Germans in the Civil War: The Letters They Wrote Home, edited by Walter D. Kamphoefner and Wolfgang Helbich, reviewed by Stephen D. Engle, 251-252
Invisible Southerners: Ethnicity in the Civil War, by Anne J. Bailey, reviewed by Walter D. Kamphoefner, 252-253
The Jeune École: The Strategy of the Weak, by Arne Røksund, reviewed by Chalmers Hood, 253-254
The Great Naval Game: Britain and Germany in the Age of Empire, by Jan Rüger, reviewed by Eric C. Rust, 255-256
Spying for Empire: The Great Game in Central and South Asia, 1757-1947, by Robert Johnson, reviewed by John Brobst, 256-257
The Admirals: Canada's Senior Naval Leadership in the Twentieth Century, by Michael Whitby, Richard H. Gimblett, and Peter Haydon, reviewed by John B. Hattendorf, 257-258
World War I, by Jennifer D. Keene, reviewed by Brian Neumann, 258-259
French Strategic and Tactical Bombardment Forces of World War I, by René Martel, edited by Steven Suddaby, reviewed by François Le Roy, 259-260
Dangerous Liaisons: Collaboration and World War Two, by Peter Davies, reviewed by Judith Keene, 261-262
Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in Wartime, by Kenneth I. Helphand; Natural Enemy, Natural Ally: Toward An Environmental History of War, edited by Richard P. Tucker and Edmund Russell, reviewed by Bruce Vandervort, 262-265
MacArthur: A Biography, by Richard B. Frank, reviewed by Thomas A. Bruscino, Jr., 265-266
Odyssey of a Philippine Scout: Fighting, Escaping, and Evading the Japanese, 1941-1944, by Arthur Kendal Whitehead, reviewed by Richard Meixsel, 266-267
Confronting Captivity: Britain and the United States and their POWs in Nazi Germany, by Arieh J. Kochavi, reviewed by Hal Elliott Wert, 267-269
Cracking the Luftwaffe Codes: The Secrets of Bletchley Park, by Gwen Watkins, reviewed by David Alvarez, 269-270
Anzio: Italy and the Battle for Rome - 1944, by Lloyd Clark; They Fought at Anzio, by John S. D. Eisenhower, reviewed by Mannie Liscum, 271-272
The Interpreter, by Alice Kaplan, reviewed by Alan M. Osur, 272-273
Patton's Fighting Bridge Builders: Company B, 1303rd Engineer General Service Regiment, edited by Joseph C. Fitzharris, reviewed by Ron G. Prichard, 273-275
Red Partisan: The Memoir of a Soviet Resistance Fighter on the Eastern Front, by Nikolai I. Obryn'ba, reviewed by Walter S. Dunn, 275-276
Hitler, Dönitz, and the Baltic Sea: The Third Reich's Last Hope, 1944-45, by Howard D. Grier, reviewed by Aarni Lehti, 277-278
The Battle for the Ruhr: The German Army's Final Defeat in the West, by Derek S. Zumbro, reviewed by Jeff Demers, 278-279
Field of Spears: The Last Mission of the Jordan Crew, by Gregory Hadley, reviewed by Stanley L. Falk, 279-280
The Jet Race and the Second World War, by Sterling Michael Pavelec, reviewed by Kenneth P. Werrell, 280-281
The OSS and Ho Chi Minh: Unexpected Allies in the War Against Japan, by Dixee R. Bartholemew-Feis, reviewed by Glenn E. Helm, 281-282
Five Days in August: How World War II Became a Nuclear War, by Michael D. Gordin, reviewed by Greg Herken, 282-284
After the Reich: The Brutal History of the Allied Occupation, by Giles MacDonogh, reviewed by Bianka J. Adams, 284-285
GIs and Fräuleins: The German-American Encounter in the 1950s West Germany, by Maria Höhn, reviewed by Erika Kuhlman, 285-286
Advising Indigenous Forces: American Advisors in Korea, Vietnam, and El Salvador, by Robert B. Ramsey III, reviewed by Donald Stoker, 287
Replacing France: The Origins of American Intervention in Vietnam, by Kathryn C. Statler, reviewed by Marianna P. Sullivan, 288-289
Operation Passage to Freedom: The United States Navy in Vietnam, 1954-1955, by Ronald B. Frankum, Jr., reviewed by Dean C. Allard, 289-290
A Clash of Cultures: Civil-Military Relations During the Vietnam War, by Orrin Schwab, reviewed by Erik Riker-Coleman, 290-291
Perfect Spy: The Incredible Double Life of Pham Xuan An, Time Magazine Reporter & Vietnamese Communist Agent, by Larry Berman, reviewed by Steven S. Minniear, 291-292
Legitimizing Military Rule: Indonesian Armed Forces Ideology, 1958-2000, by Salim Said; Suharto's Armed Forces: Problems of Civil Military Relations in Indonesia, by Salim Said, reviewed by Patrick M. Mayerchak, 293-294
Australian Military Operations in Vietnam, by Albert Palazzo; The Western Desert Campaign 1940-41, by Glen Wahlert, reviewed by Allan Converse, 294-296
The Cambodian Campaign: The 1970 Offensive and America's Vietnam War, by John M. Shaw, reviewed by Jeffrey J. Clarke, 296-297
Chinese Military Strategy in the Third Indochina War: The Last Maoist War, by Edward C. O'Dowd, reviewed by Xiaoming Zhang, 297-299
John Warden and the Renaissance of American Air Power, by John Andreas Olsen, reviewed by Daniel L. Haulman, 299-300
Chechnya: From Nationalism to Jihad, by James Hughes, reviewed by Lester W. Grau, 300
Transforming European Militaries: Coalition Operations and the Technology Gap, by Gordon Adams and Guy Ben-Ari, reviewed by Theo Farrell, 300-302
Historical Dictionary of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare, by Benjamin C. Garrett and John Hart, reviewed by John E. van Courtland Moon, 302-303
Beating Goliath: Why Insurgencies Win, by Jeffrey Record, reviewed by Joseph R. Fischer, 303-304
The Warrior Ethos: Military Culture and the War on Terror, by Christopher Coker, reviewed by Christopher Hamner, 304-305
Fighting Talk: Forty Maxims on War, Peace, and Strategy, by Colin S. Gray, reviewed by Dennis Showalter, 305-307
Other:
BOOKS RECEIVED, 309-317.
RECENT JOURNAL ARTICLES, 319-323.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, 325.
