Journal of Military History
Vol. 72, No. 4
October 2008
Articles
The 2008 George C. Marshall Lecture in Military History
John Shy, "History, and the History of War," The Journal of Military History 72 #4 (October 2008): 1033-1046
John Shy, "History, and the History of War," The Journal of Military History 72 #4 (October 2008): 1033-1046
Studies of war published in the last twenty years by distinguished historians who are not military specialists represent a call to military historians to engage these studies on the common ground of war itself, in effect working to bridge the gulf that has kept military historians on the margins of the historical profession. None of these studies is flawless, but at the same time their great value calls for constructive help from military historians who study the same wars, and who can build on these works to achieve more satisfactory syntheses.
Keynote Address, 2008 SMH Conference, Ogden, Utah
Jeremy Black, "Frontiers and Military History," The Journal of Military History 72 #4 (October 2008): 1047-1059
Jeremy Black, "Frontiers and Military History," The Journal of Military History 72 #4 (October 2008): 1047-1059
Frontiers provide a way to approach not only the narrative of military histories, but also key concepts in military history. This essay investigates each of these perspectives, indicating as it does key dynamics of change.
David S. Bachrach, "The Military Organization of Ottonian Germany, c. 900-1018: The Views of Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg, " The Journal of Military History 72 #4 (October 2008): 1061-1088
Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg provides one of the most informed assessments of the military organization of the Ottonian kingdom of Germany during the tenth and early eleventh centuries. He describes a tripartite, Carolingian-type military system that consists of the professional soldiers serving in the military households of the king and major magnates, and of two types of militia forces. The first of these consists of the select levy, which served on military campaigns. The second militia force is the general levy that served the needs of local defense. Throughout his discussion of Ottonian military affairs, Thietmar places his heaviest emphasis on siege warfare.
Kenneth W. Noe, "'Damned North Carolinians' and 'Brave Virginians': The Lane-Mahone Controversy, Honor, and Civil War Memory, " The Journal of Military History 72 #4 (October 2008): 1089-1115
A dispute arose during the 1864 Battle of Spotsylvania Court House over who had captured three flags from Union forces, Virginians of William Mahone's division or North Carolinians under the command of James Henry Lane. Over the next four decades, Lane defended his men's claims with increasingly personal attacks on Mahone. His efforts succeeded only after U.S. Senator Mahone made common cause with Republicans. This article maintains that Lane's actions can only be understood fully within the context of postwar politics and especially the culture of honor, considerations that must be applied to all post-Civil War sources.
Jason Hines, "Sins of Omission and Commission: A Reassessment of the Role of Intelligence in the Battle of Jutland," The Journal of Military History 72 #4 (October 2008): 1117-1153
The role that Admiralty communications intelligence played in the Battle of Jutland has been given mixed reviews in histories of the battle. Historians acknowledge the superb performance of the Admiralty's cryptographic organization in efficiently decrypting German naval communications before and during the battle, yet the fact that communications intelligence did not reach Admiral Jellicoe in usable or recognizable form had led historians to judge this a failure. This article argues that contrary to the accepted history, the dissemination system performed as planned, since the Admiralty placed a higher premium on the security of the intelligence source over its operational use by the fleet at sea.
Neville Parton, "The Development of Early RAF Doctrine," The Journal of Military History 72 #4 (October 2008): 1155-1177
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is generally considered to have had a monolithic approach to its early doctrine, driven by the beliefs of its first leader, Lord Trenchard, with regard to the strategic use of air power. However, a careful examination of the actual content of initial RAF doctrine reveals a far more complicated picture, with a nuanced approach that balanced the need to justify the maintenance of an independent air force with the more prosaic requirement to instruct its officers in the "bread and butter" activity of air policing. This essay explores the complexity of RAF doctrine during the first five years of its existence, 1918-1923.
Mark C. Jones, "Experiment at Dundee: The Royal Navy's 9th Submarine Flotilla and Multinational Naval Cooperation during World War II," The Journal of Military History 72 #4 (October 2008): 1179-1212
Multinational naval operations have become almost routine for western navies, but little is known about how navies came to work together cohesively. This article suggests that the naval cooperation formalized by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after World War II had its roots in the wartime experience of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN), which incorporated the remnants of European navies driven from the continent by Germany. In particular, the article analyzes the RN's 9th Submarine Flotilla based at Dundee, Scotland (194045), which comprised British, Polish, Free French, Norwegian, and Dutch submarines, for lessons concerning successful multinational naval operations.
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.
Feature
Niccolò Capponi, "Clio, Mars, and Wine: Tracking Down Military Documents in Italy," The Journal of Military History 72 #4 (October 2008): 1249-1256
As historians opt ever more for the easy path of abstract theorization, Niccolò Capponi remains an unrepentant advocate of factual reconstruction. In this short piece he gives some tongue-in-cheek (akin to when one has a toothache) advice to those bona fide historians brave enough to try their hand with Italian archives and libraries, also believing it to be his duty to save as many as possible from committing suicide or living a life of permanent mental derangement.
Document of Note
John M. Carland, "War, Politics, Diplomacy, and the Presidency: Off the Record Comments by Lyndon B. Johnson in Retirement," The Journal of Military History 72 #4 (October 2008): 1257-1263
Notes and Comment
Toby Terrar, "First Landing on Guam: The Difficulties of a Naval Aviator during the Invasion," The Journal of Military History 72 #4 (October 2008): 1265-1270
This note describes the rivalry, including unfriendly "friendly fire" between the Navy and Marine Corps, that manifested itself during the landing of the first American airplane on Guam after the recapture of the island from the Japanese in World War II. Ed Terrar, a naval pilot, was the first to land his plane on Guam on 30 July 1944, an honor the Marines had planned to claim. The article also relates the amiable resolution of the Navy-Marine conflict years later.
Reviews:
Castles, Battles, and Bombs: How Economics Explains Military History, by Jurgen Brauer and Hubert van Tuyll, reviewed by Jon Sumida, 1271-1272
Cavalry From Hoof to Track, by Roman J. Jarymowycz, reviewed by Alexander M. Bielakowski, 1272-1273
Intelligence, Statecraft and International Power: Irish Conferences of Historians, edited by Eunan O'Halpin, Robert Armstrong, and Jane Ohlmeyer, reviewed by Benjamin Grob-Fitzgibbon, 1273-1274
The Anabasis of Cyrus/Xenophon, translated and annotated by Wayne Ambler, reviewed by Seán Easton, 1274-1275
Alexander the Great: Lessons in Strategy, By David J. Lonsdale, reviewed by Fred S. Naiden, 1275-1276
Ethics, Nationalism, and Just War: Medieval and Contemporary Perspectives, edited by Henrik Syse and Gregory M. Reichberg, reviewed by William Kautt, 1276-1277
George Goring (1608-1657): Caroline Courtier and Royalist General, by Florene S. Memegalos, reviewed by Mark Charles Fissel, 1277-1278
The Thirty Years War and German Memory in the Nineteenth Century, by Kevin Cramer, reviewed by Peter H. Wilson, 1278-1279
The Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia, 1710-1760, by John Grenier, reviewed by Joshua M. Smith, 1279-1280
Endgame 1758: The Promise, the Glory, and the Despair of Louisbourg's Last Decade, by A.J.B. Johnston, reviewed by William Nester, 1280-1282
American Leviathan: Empire, Nation, and Revolutionary Frontier, by Patrick Griffin, reviewed by Thomas Agostini, 1282-1283
The Organizational History of Field Artillery, 1775-2003, by Janice E. McKenney, reviewed by David T. Zabecki, 1283-1284
Chasing Ghosts: Unconventional Warfare in American History, by John J. Tierney, Jr., reviewed by Jonathan M. House, 1284-1285
This Glorious Struggle: George Washington's Revolutionary War Letters, by Edward G. Lengel, reviewed by John Buchanan, 1285-1286
Benedict Arnold's Army: The 1775 American Invasion of Canada During the Revolutionary War, by Arthur S. Lefkowitz, reviewed by Holly A. Mayer, 1287
"The Artillery never gained more Honour". The British Artillery in the 1776 Valcour Island and 1777 Saratoga Campaigns, by Douglas R. Cubbison, reviewed by Thomas M. Barker, 1288-1289
Rebellion in the Ranks: Mutinies of the American Revolution, by John A. Nagy, reviewed by Caroline Cox, 1290
The Royal Army Chaplain's Department 1796-1953: Clergy under Fire, by Michael Snape, reviewed by Paul Kopperman, 1291-1292
Napoleon: The Path to Power, by Philip Dwyer, reviewed by Llewellyn Cook, 1292-1293
Napoleon's Enfant Terrible: General Dominique Vandamme, by John G. Gallaher, reviewed by Scott Hileman, 1293-1294
Crisis in the Snows: Russia Confronts Napoleon, The Eylau Campaign, 1806-1807, by James R. Arnold and Ralph R. Reinertsen, reviewed by Wayne Hanley, 1294-1295
The Battle of Borodino: Napoleon Against Kutuzov, by Alexander Mikaberidze, reviewed by John T. Kuehn, 1295-1296
In the Midst of Alarms: The Untold Story of Women and the War of 1812, by Dianne Graves, reviewed by Katherine M.J. McKenna, 1296-1297
Military Advising and Assistance: From Mercenaries to Privatization, 1815-2007, edited by Donald Stoker, reviewed by Walter E. Kretchik, 1297-1298
The First Pacific War: Britain and Russia, 1854-1856, by John D. Grainger, reviewed by A. Hamish Ion, 1298-1299
The Civil War and the Limits of Destruction, by Mark E. Neely, Jr., reviewed by Brian Holden Reid, 1299-1300
Decision in the Heartland: The Civil War in the West, by Steven E. Woodworth, reviewed by Richard M. McMurry, 1300-1301
Diehard Rebels: The Confederate Culture of Invincibility, by Jason Phillips, reviewed by Christopher J. Olsen, 1301-1302
On Alexander Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War, by Anthony W. Lee and Elizabeth Young, reviewed by Mark E. Neely, Jr., 1303
Long Road to Liberty: The Odyssey of a German Regiment in the Yankee Army. The 15th Missouri Volunteer Infantry, by Donald Allendorf, reviewed by Charles H. Bogart, 1304
American Military Technology: The Life Story of a Technology, by Barton C. Hacker with assistance of Margaret Vining, reviewed by Robert G. Angevine, 1305
The Great War and Medieval Memory: War, Remembrance and Medievalism in Britain and Germany, 1914-1940, by Stefan Goebel, reviewed by Laurence W. Marvin, 1306
The Great War and America: Civil-Military Relations During World War I, by Nancy Gentile Ford, reviewed by Daniel R. Beaver, 1307
Woodrow Wilson and the Great War: Reconsidering America's Neutrality, 1914-1917, by Robert W. Tucker, reviewed by Ross Kennedy, 1307-1308
The Netherlands Indies and the Great War, 1914-1918, by Kees van Dijk, reviewed by Wim Klinkert. 1308-1309
War or Revolution: Russian Jews and Conscription in Britain, 1917, by Harold Shukman, reviewed by Michael P. Kihntopf, 1309-1310
Operation Albion: The German Conquest of the Baltic Islands, by Michael B. Barrett, reviewed by Mark D. Karau,1310-1311
Life and Death in the Third Reich, by Peter Fritzsche, reviewed by Joseph W. Bendersky, 1312-1313
Britain's Secret War Against Japan, 1937-1945, by Douglas Ford, reviewed by Raymond Callahan, 1313-1314
Village China at War: The Impact of Resistance to Japan, 1937-1945, by Dagfinn Gatu, reviewed by Parks M. Coble, 1314-1315
Hitler and His Allies in World War II, edited by Jonathan R. Adelman, reviewed by Richard L. DiNardo, 1315-1316
Captives of Empire: The Japanese Internment of Allied Civilians in China, 1941-1945, by Greg Leck, reviewed by Mark Wilkinson, 1316-1317
The USS Flier: Death and Survival on a World War II Submarine, by Michael Sturma, reviewed by Gregory F. Michno, 1317-1318
Black Shoe Carrier Admiral: Frank Jack Fletcher at Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal, by John B. Lundstrom, reviewed by William M. McBride, 1318-1319
St. Georgen Gusen Mauthausen: Concentration Camp Mauthausen Reconsidered, by Rudolf A. Haunschmied, Jan-Ruth Mills, and Siegi Witzany-Durda, reviewed by Joachim Neander, 1319-1320
Franco and Hitler: Spain, Germany, and World War II, by Stanley G. Payne, reviewed by Paul Preston, 1320-1322
And Their Mothers Wept: The Great Fatherland War in Soviet and Post Soviet Russian Literature, by Frank Ellis, reviewed by David M. Glantz, 1323
Taken by Force: Rape and American GIs in Europe during World War II, by J. Robert Lilly, reviewed by John H. Morrow, Jr., 1324
Recasting Race after World War II: Germans and African Americans in American-Occupied Germany, by Timothy L. Schroer, reviewed by Annette F. Timm, 1325-1326
Crisis of Memory and the Second World War, by Susan Rubin Suleiman, reviewed by Charles Messenger, 1326-1327
Truman and MacArthur: Policy, Politics, and the Hunger for Honor and Renown, by Michael D. Pearlman, reviewed by Thomas W. Zeiler, 1327-1328
The Warrior Image: Soldiers in American Culture from the Second World War to the Vietnam Era, by Andrew J. Huebner, reviewed by Robert A. Nye, 1328-1329
World Turned Upside Down: U.S. Naval Intelligence and the Early Cold War Struggle for Germany, by Marvin B. Durning, reviewed by James Marchio, 1329-1330
NATO and the Warsaw Pact: Intrabloc Conflicts, edited by Mary Ann Heiss and S. Victor Papacosma, reviewed by Ingo Trauschweizer, 1330-1331
The Vietnam War, by James E. Westheider, reviewed by William Thomas Allison, 1331-1332
Vietnam's Forgotten Army: Heroism and Betrayal in the ARVN, by Andrew Wiest, reviewed by Merle Pribbenow, 1332-1333
Black Sailor, White Navy: Racial Unrest in the Fleet During the Vietnam Era, by John Darrell Sherwood, reviewed by Frank Kalesnik, 1334
The African American Experience in Vietnam: Brothers in Arms, by James E. Westheider, reviewed by Marcus Cox, 1335
Post-Cold War, by Stephen A. Bourque, reviewed by Frank N. Schubert, 1336
Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point, by Elizabeth D. Samet, reviewed by Janet Sharistanian, 1337
Architect of Global Jihad: The Life of Al-Qaida Strategist Abu Mus'ab al-Suri, by Brynjar Lia, reviewed by Lester W. Grau, 1338
Other:
BOOKS RECEIVED: 1339-1344
RECENT JOURNAL ARTICLES: 1345-1348
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: 1349-1359
INDEX TO VOLUME 72: 1360-1383
