Journal of Military History
Vol. 72, No. 3
July 2008
Articles
Edward L. Dreyer, "Zhao Chongguo: A Professional Soldier of the Former Han Dynasty, " The Journal of Military History 72 #3 (July 2008): 665-725
Zhao Chongguo (137-52 BC), who rose to the rank of general in service to the emperors of China's Former Han Dynasty (206/202 BC-9 AD) and became one of the greatest soldiers in Chinese history, is best remembered for his "strategy of military farms (tuntian)," evolved during his famous victorious campaign of 61-60 BC against the Qianq people, presumed ancestors of the Tibetans, on the western frontier of China. Although future Chinese official historians would claim that this strategy of using infantrymen to grow crops on frontier lands was intended to solve the problem of supplying troops on distant campaigns with food and fodder, the article which follows, based on a careful reading of Zhao Chongguo's memorials to his emperor, demonstrates conclusively that the general's real reason for establishing the military farms was to deny crop and grazing land to China's frontier foes and thus "subdue the enemy without fighting," in the words of Sun Zi. A close examination of the career of this famous soldier also has much to tell us about civil-military relations in ancient China and the strategy and tactics evolved by China's soldiers in order to contain and ultimately defeat the formidable nomadic enemies on its frontiers.
Barry M. Stentiford, "The Meaning of a Name: The Rise of the National Guard and the End of a Town Militia," The Journal of Military History 72 #3 (July 2008): 727-754
Although inclusion into the National Guard brought uniformity, professionalism, and better equipment to state militia, it weakened the vital bonds of some militia companies with their communities. In the nineteenth century, the Richardson Light Guard of Wakefield, Massachusetts, thrived under generous patrons, a supportive town, and a relatively wealthy state government, but after it became part of the National Guard in 1916, the deep links with its home community steadily weakened, then broke. What had once been an institution of the town passed to the state, then to the federal government. Increased federal involvement helped an elite militia company become an average National Guard company.
Timothy S. Wolters, "Electric Torpedoes in the Confederacy: Reconciling Conflicting Histories," The Journal of Military History 72 #3 (July 2008): 755-783
This article investigates a long-standing historical debate over the development of electric torpedoes in the Confederate States of America. It analyzes the contributions of five individuals - Hunter Davidson, Beverley Kennon, Stephen Mallory, Matthew Maury, and Gabriel Rains - and concludes that Maury was the Confederacy's most persistent advocate of electric torpedoes. An examination of new archival material also clarifies Maury's relationship with fellow torpedo pioneers Davidson and Kennon. More broadly, the article explores linkages between memory, history, and technology. It argues that claims of technological priority matter, that memories are influenced by a multiplicity of factors (not all of which are easily discernible), and that technical source material can assist greatly in efforts to reconcile conflicting histories.
Galen Roger Perras and Katrina E. Kellner "'A perfectly logical and sensible thing': Billy Mitchell Advocates a Canadian-American Aerial Alliance Against Japan," The Journal of Military History 72 #3 (July 2008): 785-823
In 1923 Brigadier General Billy Mitchell made a short and hitherto-ignored trip to Canada to meet with prominent Canadian officials. Mitchell's report to his superiors made clear that Canada, as an air-minded Anglo-Saxon nation, was ideally suited to join with the United States in an aerial alliance, centered on Alaska, designed to bomb Japan into submission in any future war. Although Mitchell's plan, which was the logical culmination of his air power notions, appealed to neither American nor Canadian officials, he pushed the alliance notion until his death in the mid-1930s, as did his air power acolytes in the Army Air Corps.
Roger R. Reese "Lessons of the Winter War: A Study in the Military Effectiveness of the Red Army, 1939-1940," The Journal of Military History 72 #3 (July 2008): 825-852
The Soviet war against Finland (1939-40) is generally seen as a fiasco because the U.S.S.R. failed to conquer and absorb Finland, as Joseph Stalin had planned; and the Finns inflicted losses on the Red Army that were far out of proportion to the small size of their army and their own casualties. Access to fresh sources, archival and memoir, suggest that although the Soviets fell short of their political goals and performed dismally in combat, the Red Army was far more militarily effective than was appreciated by the Soviet military and political leadership, the German armed forces high command, and contemporary observers.
Fr. James Flint, O.S.B., "A Chaplain's Diary: Reverend Victor Laketek, O.S.B., 1942-1946," The Journal of Military History 72 #3 (July 2008): 853-867
As an Army Air Forces chaplain during the Second World War, Father Victor Laketek, O.S.B., experienced homesickness, boredom, and all the seeming futility of isolated military bases far from the front. What he saw little of, at the locations where he served in Maine, Florida, California, and Canton Island, was anything like the spiritual renaissance some supposed was being brought about by the conflict. The diary he kept during these years offers a corrective to the "no atheists in foxholes" phenomenon sometimes reported by the popular press.
Seymour J. Deitchman, "The 'Electronic Battlefield' in the Vietnam War," The Journal of Military History 72 #3 (July 2008): 869-887
By mid-1966 the North Vietnamese army had built an elaborate system of truck roads and personnel trails through Laos to support and reinforce some 435,000 communist troops and guerrillas attacking South Vietnam. Interdicting movement on that system was a high priority for U.S. forces helping to defend the South. By arrangement with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, the Jason group of scientists proposed a networked system of sensors and aircraft for the purpose. That system, although not totally successful, significantly affected the course of the war and presaged key aspects of the equipment and operation of America's armed forces today.
Andrew J. Birtle, "PROVN, Westmoreland, and the Historians: A Reappraisal," The Journal of Military History 72 #4 (October 2008): 1213-1247
Historians have often used a 1966 Army report nicknamed PROVN either to cast aspersions on the commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam between 1964 and 1968, General William C. Westmoreland, or to praise his successor, General Creighton Abrams. This interpretation is simplistic and inaccurate. Although the report criticized aspects of the war under Westmoreland, its target was really the U.S. and Vietnamese governments. Moreover, PROVN's conclusions were less radical and its remedies less novel than observers have tended to admit. A fresh look at PROVN reveals significant continuities in thought between Westmoreland, the report, and Abrams.
Notes and Comment
Ian Macpherson McCulloch, "'A blanket of inconsistencies': The Battle of Ticonderoga, 2008," The Journal of Military History 72 #3 (July 2008): 889-900
Larrie D. Ferreiro, "Mahan and the "English Club" of Lima, Peru: The Genesis of The Influence of Sea Power upon History," The Journal of Military History 72 #3 (July 2008): 901-906
Alfred Thayer Mahan formulated his concept of sea power while reading a history book in an English gentleman's club in Lima, Peru. This concept became the foundation for his celebrated The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1680-1783. However, Mahan never properly identified the "English Club" in his autobiographical writings. This note briefly describes the Phoenix Club (its proper name) and portrays the situation in Peru when Mahan first envisioned his concept of sea power.
Review Essays
David M. Glantz, "Stalingrad Revisited," The Journal of Military History 72 #3 (July 2008): 907-910.
Stanley Weintraub, "The Conscript: George Catlett Marshall," The Journal of Military History 72 #3 (July 2008): 911-919.
Reviews:
Unintended Consequences: The United States at War, by Kenneth J. Hagan and Ian J. Bickerton. Reviewed by Willard C. Frank, Jr. and by Ralph Hitchens, 921-924
George Thomas: Virginian for the Union, by Christopher J. Einolf, reviewed by John Cimprich and by Mark W. Johnson, 924-926
The Cambridge History of Warfare, edited by Geoffrey Parker, reviewed by D. George Boyce, 926-927
The Art of War: Sun Zi's Military Methods, translated by Victor H. Mair, reviewed by Peter Lorge, 927-928
Alexander the Great Failure: The Collapse of the Macedonian Empire, by John D. Grainger, reviewed by James Doyne Dawson, 928-929
Muhammad: Islam's First Great General, by Richard A. Gabriel, reviewed by John P. Dunn, 929-930
The Wars of the Balkan Peninsula: Their Medieval Origins, by Alexandru Madgearu, reviewed by Mark C. Bartusis, 930-932
A Military History of Italy, by Ciro Paoletti, reviewed by Chris Storrs, 932-933
Italy and the European Powers: The Impact of War, 1500-1530, edited by Christine Shaw, reviewed by Niccolò Capponi, 933-934
Indian Conquistadors: Indigenous Allies in the Conquest of Mesoamerica, edited by Laura E. Matthew and Michel R. Oudijk, reviewed by Patricia Seed, 934-935
Invading Colombia: Spanish Accounts of the Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada Expedition of Conquest, by J. Michael Francis, reviewed by Ida Altman, 935-936
Kandy Fights the Portuguese: A Military History of Kandyan Resistance, by C. Gaston Perera, reviewed by Chandra R. de Silva, 936-937
The Buccaneer's Realm: Pirate Life on the Spanish Main, 1674-1688, by Benerson Little, reviewed by Robert H. Berlin, 937-938
Peter the Great and the Russian Military Campaigns During the Final Years of the Great Northern War, 1719-1721, by James R. Moulton, reviewed by Alexander Mikaberidze, 938-939
Mehr Angst vor dem Offizier als vor dem Feind? Eine mentalitätsgeschichtliche Studie zur preußischen Taktik im Siebenjährigen Krieg, by Sascha Möbius, reviewed by Jörg W. Muth, 939-940
America, War and Power: Defining the State, 1775-2005, edited by Lawrence Sondhaus and A. James Fuller, reviewed by Ethan S. Rafuse, 941
The Politics of War: Race, Class, and Conflict in Revolutionary Virginia, by Michael A. McDonnell, reviewed by Jason N. "Dutch" Palmer, 942
Citizens More Than Soldiers: The Kentucky Militia and Society in the Early Republic, by Harry S. Laver, reviewed by George N. Vourlojianis, 943
Advancing with the Army: Medicine, the Professions, and Social Mobility in the British Isles, 1790-1850, by Marcus Ackroyd, et al, reviewed by Scott Hughes Myerly, 944-945
A Military History of Modern Spain: From the Napoleonic Era to the International War on Terror, edited by Wayne H. Bowen and José E. Alvarez, reviewed by Charles J. Esdaile, 945-946
Wellington: The Iron Duke, by Philip Haythornthwaite, reviewed by Mike Timonin, 946-947
Napoleon's Conquest of Europe: The War of the Third Coalition, by Frederick C. Schneid, reviewed by Dale Lothrop Clifford, 947-948
Men Without Hats: Dialogue, Discipline and Discontent in the Madras Army, 1806-1807, by James W. Hoover, reviewed by Kaushik Roy, 948-949
Mr. Jefferson's Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy, by Robert M. Owens, reviewed by David Curtis Skaggs, 949-950
Commodore John Rodgers: Paragon of the Early American Navy, by John H. Schroeder, reviewed by Robert Malcomson, 950-951
The Fall of Napoleon: The Allied Invasion of France, 1813-1814, by Michael V. Leggiere, reviewed by James R. Arnold, 951-952
Garibaldi: Citizen of the World. A Biography, by Alfonso Scirocco, translated by Allan Cameron, reviewed by Spencer M. Di Scala, 953
Santa Anna of Mexico, by Will Fowler, reviewed by Pedro Santoni, 954
The Pasha: How Mehemet Ali Defied the West, 1839-1841, by Letitia W. Ufford, reviewed by Jonathan Grant, 955
Mark Twain's Civil War, edited by David Rachels, reviewed by Vernon Burton, 955-957
A Soldier to the Last: Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler in Blue and Gray, by Edward G. Longacre, reviewed by Derek W. Frisby, 957-958
Earthen Walls, Iron Men: Fort DeRussy, Louisiana, and the Defense of Red River, by Steven M. Mayeux, reviewed by Cyril M. Lagvanec, 958-959
Clad in Iron: The American Civil War and the Challenge of British Naval Power, by Howard J. Fuller, reviewed by Andrew Lambert, 959-960
Why Confederates Fought: Family and Nation in Civil War Virginia, by Aaron Sheehan-Dean, reviewed by Daniel E. Sutherland, 961
Grant and Lee: Victorious American and Vanquished Virginian, by Edward H. Bonekemper III, reviewed by Bradford A. Wineman, 962
Victorio: Apache Warrior and Chief, by Kathleen P. Chamberlain, reviewed by Robert Wooster, 963
Volunteers on the Veld: Britain's Citizen-Soldiers and the South African War, 1899-1902, by Stephen M. Miller, reviewed by Fransjohan Pretorius, 963-964
The Battle of the Frontiers: Ardennes 1914, by Terence Zuber, reviewed by Robert A. Doughty, 965-966
The Big Red One: America's Legendary 1st Infantry Division from World War I to Desert Storm, by James Scott Wheeler, reviewed by A. Harding Ganz, 966-967
The Embattled Self: French Soldiers' Testimony of the Great War, by Leonard V. Smith, reviewed by Eugenia C. Kiesling, 967-968
The Lion and the Poppy: British Veterans, Politics, and Society, 1921-1939, by Niall Barr, reviewed by Michael K. Heaney, 969-970
Lessons of the War in Spain, by Maurice Duval, translated by John Eoghan Kelly, edited by Michael E. Chapman, reviewed by Geoffrey Jensen, 970-971
Comrades and Commissars: The Lincoln Battalion in the Spanish Civil War, by Cecil D. Eby, reviewed by Scott E. Belliveau, 971-972
World War II, by G. Kurt Piehler, reviewed by David G. Thompson, 972-973
The U.S. Navy Against the Axis: Surface Combat 1941-1945, by Vincent P. O'Hara, reviewed by Benjamin Armstrong, 973-974
Thailand and World War II, by Direk Jayanama, edited and translated by Jane Keyes, reviewed by Barry M. Stentiford, 974-975
Kurt Meyer on Trial: A Documentary Record, edited by P. Whitney Lackenbauer and Chris M.V. Madsen, reviewed by Michael F. Noone, 975-976
Tales from Spandau: Nazi Criminals and the Cold War, by Norman J. W. Goda, reviewed by David Stafford, 977
1948: The First Arab-Israeli War, by Benny Morris, reviewed by Matthew Hughes, 978-979
Carrier Battles: Command Decision in Harm's Way, by Douglas V. Smith; Aircraft Carriers at War: A Personal Retrospective of Korea, Vietnam, and the Soviet Confrontation, by James L. Holloway III, reviewed by William F. Trimble, 980-981
A Question of Balance: How France and the United States Created Cold War Europe, by Michael Creswell, reviewed by Michael Doidge, 981-982
Native Sons: West African Veterans and France in the Twentieth Century, by Gregory Mann, reviewed by Ruth Ginio, 982-983
A Time for Peace: The Legacy of the Vietnam War, by Robert D. Schulzinger, reviewed by Albert I. Berger, 983-984
Hezbollah: A Short History, by Augustus Richard Norton, reviewed by Joel Gordon, 984-985
Other:
Books received: 987-993
Recent Journal Articles: 995-998
Doctoral Dissertations in Military History: 999-1009
Letters to the Editor: 1011-1015
