Journal of Military History
Vol. 78, No. 2
April 2014
Articles
Alex Kerner, “Espionage and Field Intelligence in the Conquest of México, 1519–1521,” The Journal of Military History, 78:2 (April 2014): 469-501.
Among the influential factors in the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire in the sixteenth century, intelligence played a significant role. Information from field and diplomatic sources proved to have a decisive role in planning combat tactical moves as well as in the diplomatic and political contacts accompanying the military campaign. Both sides realized the importance of intelligence and used it as part of their military and diplomatic policies. This paper explores the types of intelligence sources and information-gathering systems available to the two sides in the fateful events of 1519–1521, and analyses intelligence’s impact on the outcome of this momentous milestone in the New World’s history.
Holly A. Mayer, “Canada, Congress, and the Continental Army: Strategic Accommodations, 1774–1776,” The Journal of Military History, 78:2 (April 2014): 503-35.
Between 1774 and 1776 American rebels feared the British government would use French Catholic Canadians to contain their insurrection. As the empire advanced incorporation of its new subjects through the Quebec Act, the Continental Congress invited them to join its fellowship and invaded Canada to secure its cause. The invitations required that the rebels broaden definitions of civil, specifically religious, liberties, whereas enlistment of some Canadians challenged the Continental Army to practice what Congress proclaimed. Recruiting Catholic Francophone “others” by Protestant Anglophones as a strategy of war and nation building tested ideologies within the military sphere; the results reveal a precarious fit between developing public policy, military exigencies, and older biases.
J. C. A. Stagg, “Freedom and Subordination: Disciplinary Problems in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812,” The Journal of Military History, 78:2 (April 2014): 537-74.
This essay examines the general court martial case files for enlisted men in the War of 1812. The defendants were a reasonably representative cross section of the enlisted men, desertion was the most frequent offense, and mistreatment by officers was the most common motive for deserting. Most defendants proclaimed their innocence, but guilt and conviction were invariably the outcome in their trials. Officers struggled to find effective punishments. The abolition of corporal punishment by the lash in 1812 reduced the army’s disciplinary options, resulting in an increasing recourse to the death penalty. The army, however, shrank from executing all the condemned.
Jason W. Smith, “’Twixt the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Hydrography, Sea Power, and the Marine Environment, 1898–1901,” The Journal of Military History, 78:2 (April 2014): 575-604.
The article examines the role of the marine environment in naval operations during the Spanish-American War era. Off Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, naval commanders struggled with inaccurate charts in a complex marine environment. Long associated with the needs of maritime commerce, the Navy’s charts and sailing directions could not account for the new strategic importance of these waters. Knowledge of the marine environment was increasingly critical to command of the sea. This article reveals ways in which marine environmental history can deepen our understanding of war at sea.
Jeffery A. Gunsburg, “La Grande Illusion: Belgian and Dutch Strategy Facing Germany, 1919–May 1940 (Part II),” The Journal of Military History, 78:2 (April 2014): 605-71.
Following the defeat of Germany in 1918, the dissolution of the Allied coalition and the gradual liberation of Germany from restrictions on its armed might, placed the neighboring Benelux countries before the dilemma of how to defend themselves against resurgent German aggression. The Netherlands and Luxemburg chose to rely on neutrality; Belgium at first flirted with the idea of joint defense with France, but from 1936, influenced among other things by the growing mechanization of warfare, embraced la grande illusion: that it could deter its neighbors from using its territory in case of a new war. Pursuance of this illusion until Germany actually attacked, together with the failure of the Netherlands and Belgium to create a joint defense, played a decisive role in the catastrophic Allied defeat of May 1940.
David Stubbs, “A Blind Spot? The Royal Air Force (RAF) and Long-Range Fighters, 1936–1944,” The Journal of Military History, 78:2 (April 2014): 673-702.
This paper examines why the RAF maintained its view that it would be neither appropriate nor prudent to protect its bombers with long-range fighter escort until the time, late in the day, when the U.S. Army Air Forces’ trials to increase the Spitfire fighter’s range proved otherwise. The paper argues that some senior RAF officers, who believed that long-range fighters were unnecessary, lacked the conceptual dexterity needed after the RAF's bombers’ vulnerability to single-engined fighters became apparent, and that these failings were hidden by a culture of obedience to perceived wisdom that existed within the RAF.
Nir Arielli, “When are Foreign Volunteers Useful? Israel’s Transnational Soldiers in the War of 1948 Re-examined,” The Journal of Military History, 78:2 (April 2014): 703-24.
The literature on foreign, or “transnational,” war volunteering has focused overwhelmingly on the motivations and experiences of the volunteers. This approach has largely overlooked other aspects of the phenomenon such as the military and political use that host states can derive from foreign fighters. This article focuses on the enlistment of international volunteers by the Israeli armed forces in the war of 1948–49. Drawing on a combination of archival material, interviews with veterans, and secondary literature, the article assesses the relative importance of “Machal” (Israel’s overseas volunteers) by comparing the role played by these foreigners with that of transnational volunteers who fought in other twentieth-century conflicts.
Donald R. Hickey, “‘War Hawks’: Using Newspapers to Trace a Phrase, 1792–1812,” The Journal of Military History, 78:2 (April 2014): 725-40.
When Readex put its huge newspaper archive online between 2004 and 2006, it created a powerful tool for scholars to better understand the past. A case in point is the genesis of the term “War Hawk.” Historians have always assumed that this term originated on the eve of the War of 1812, but a search of the Readex digital newspaper archive reveals that by then it already had been in use for at least twenty years. Like other derogatory terms—such as “Tory” and “aristocrat” or “Jacobin” and “mobocrat”—it was an established phrase in the American political lexicon. But unlike those terms, it was used by both parties whenever the opposition party talked of going to war.
Blair P. Turner, “Capturing the Many Faces of War,” The Journal of Military History, 78:2 (April 2014): 741-46.
Review Essay:
William S. Dudley, “War of 1812 Trilogy,” The Journal of Military History, 78:2 (April 2014): 747-51.
William S. Dudley, “War of 1812 Trilogy,” The Journal of Military History, 78:2 (April 2014): 747-51.
Review Essay:
Roger Dingman, “American Bases in Japan,” The Journal of Military History, 78:2 (April 2014): 753-55.
Roger Dingman, “American Bases in Japan,” The Journal of Military History, 78:2 (April 2014): 753-55.
Reviews:
The Embattled Past: Reflections on Military History, by Edward M. Coffman, reviewed by Richard Swain, 757-58
Hinduism and the Ethics of Warfare in South Asia from Antiquity to the Present, by Kaushik Roy, reviewed by Chandar S. Sundaram, 758-59
Siege Warfare and Military Organization in the Successor States (400-800): Byzantium, the West and Islam, by Leif Inge Ree Petersen, reviewed by Roger Collins, 760-61
Debating War in Chinese History, edited by Peter A. Lorge, reviewed by David A. Graff, 761-62
The Military Collapse of China’s Ming Dynasty, 1618-44, by Kenneth M. Swope, reviewed by Nicola Di Cosmo, 763-64
Ireland and the War at Sea 1641-1653, by Elaine Murphy, reviewed by Bernard Capp, 764-65
Peter Hagendorf—Tagebuch eines Söldners aus dem Dreisigjährigen Krieg, edited by Jan Peters, reviewed by Geoffrey Parker, 765-67
The Iron Princess: Amalia Elisabeth and the Thirty Years War, by Tryntje Helfferich, reviewed by Nadine Akkerman, 767-68
Britain and Colonial Maritime War in the Early Eighteenth Century: Silver, Seapower and the Atlantic, by Shinsuke Satsuma, reviewed by Jeremy Black, 768-69
The Archaeology of French and Indian War Frontier Forts, edited by Lawrence E. Babits and Stephanie Gandulla, reviewed by Thomas M. Barker, 769-70
The Battle for the Fourteenth Colony: America’s War of Liberation in Canada, 1774-1776, by Mark R. Anderson, reviewed by Holly A. Mayer, 771-72
Liberty’s Fallen Generals: Leadership and Sacrifice in the American War of Independence, by Steven E. Siry, reviewed by Craig Bruce Smith, 772-73
Jews and the Military: A History, by Derek J. Penslar, reviewed by Nir Arielli, 773-75
Wellington: The Path to Victory, 1769-1814, by Rory Muir, reviewed by John Severn, 775-76
Britain against Napoleon: The Organization of Victory 1793-1815, by Roger Knight, reviewed by Frank Garosi, 776-78
Diaries of the 1812-1814 Campaigns, by Pavel Pushin. “Russian Voices of the Napoleonic Wars,” vol. I; Campaign Memoirs of the Artilleryman. Part I: 1812, by Ilya Radozhitskii. “Russian Voices of the Napoleonic Wars,” vol. II; and Russian Prisoner of War among the French, by Moritz von Kotzebue, edited by Alexander Mikaberidze, “Russian Voices of the Napoleonic Wars,” vol. IV, translated by Alexander Mikaberidze, reviewed by Frederick C. Schneid, 778-79
Massacre at Cavett’s Station: Frontier Tennessee during the Cherokee Wars, by Charles H. Faulkner, reviewed by Vicki Rozema, 779-81
The Slaves’ Gamble: Choosing Sides in the War of 1812, by Gene Allen Smith, reviewed by David S. Heidler, 781-82
Defender of Canada: Sir George Prevost and the War of 1812, by John R. Grodzinski, reviewed by Richard V. Barbuto, 782-83
The Shining Sea: David Porter and the Epic Voyage of the U.S.S. Essex during the War of 1812, by George C. Daughan, reviewed by Caleb S. Greinke, 783-85
The Canadian Theatre 1813, by Richard V. Barbuto, reviewed by John R. Grodzinski, 785-86
Crimean Cavalry Letters, edited by Glenn Fisher, reviewed by Bob Henson, 786-87
Nature's Civil War: Common Soldiers and the Environment in 1862 Virginia, by Kathryn Shively Meier, reviewed by Kenneth W. Noe, 787-88
Disabled Veterans in History, edited by David A. Gerber, reviewed by David J. Ulbrich, 789-90
Custer and the Yellowstone Survey: A Documentary History, edited by M. John Lubetkin, reviewed by Thomas Dowling, 790-91
Information at Sea: Shipboard Command and Control in the U.S. Navy from Mobile Bay to Okinawa, by Timothy S. Wolters, reviewed by Kathleen Broome Williams, 791-92
Remembering the South African War: Britain and the Memory of the Anglo-Boer War from 1899 to the Present, by Peter Donaldson, reviewed by Stephen M. Miller, 793-94
My Life before the World War, 1860-1917: A Memoir, by General of the Armies John J. Pershing, edited by John T. Greenwood, reviewed by Thomas Bruscino, 794-95
The Rocky Road to the Great War: The Evolution of Trench Warfare to 1914, by Nicholas Murray, reviewed by Gary P. Cox, 795-97
The War that Ended Peace: The Road to 1914, by Margaret MacMillan, reviewed by Len Shurtleff, 797-98
Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War, by Max Hastings, reviewed by Jonathan Grant, 799
The French Army’s Tank Force in the Great War: The Artillerie Spéciale, by Tim Gale, reviewed by Patrick Osborn, 800-1
To Win the Battle: The 1st Australian Division in the Great War, 1914-1918, by Robert Stevenson, reviewed by Douglas E. Delaney, 801-2
Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania, by Michael B. Barrett, reviewed by Richard L. DiNardo, 803-4
Wounded: A New History of the Western Front in World War I, by Emily Mayhew, reviewed by Gavin Harris, 804-5
Sculpting Doughboys: Memory, Gender, and Taste in America’s World War I Memorials, by Jennifer Wingate, reviewed by Steven Trout, 805-7
The Battle for Syria, 1918-1920, by John D. Grainger, reviewed by Nikolas Gardner, 807-8
Empire of the Air: Aviation and the American Ascendancy, by Jenifer Van Vleck, reviewed by M. Houston Johnson V, 808-9
Alexander P. de Seversky and the Quest for Air Power, by James K. Libby, reviewed by Phillip S. Meilinger, 810-11
Art and War in Japan and Its Empire 1931-1960, edited by Asato Ikeda, Aya Louisa McDonald, and Ming Tiampo, reviewed by Hal Elliott Wert, 811-12
Exposing the Third Reich: Colonel Truman Smith in Hitler’s Germany, by Henry G. Gole, reviewed by Michael Holm, 812-14
Special Operations in World War II: British and American Irregular Warfare, by Andrew L. Hargreaves, reviewed by Douglas Porch, 815-16
The Spy Who Loved: The Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville, by Clare Mulley, reviewed by Rita Kramer, 817-18
Arsenal of Democracy: The American Automobile Industry in World War II, by Charles K. Hyde, reviewed by George F. Hofmann, 818-19
Northern Ireland in the Second World War: Politics, Economic Mobilization and Society, 1939-45, by Phillip Ollerenshaw, reviewed by Mark M. Hull, 819-21
The Roar of the Lion: The Untold Story of Churchill's World War II Speeches, by Richard Toye, reviewed by Raymond Callahan, 821-22
Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy, by Eri Hotta, reviewed by David T. Furhrmann, 822-23
Operation Barbarossa: Nazi Germany’s War in the East, 1941-1945, by Christian Hartmann, reviewed by Stephen G. Fritz, 823-25
Pacific Blitzkrieg: World War II in the Central Pacific, by Sharon Tosi Lacey; Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942, by Ian W. Toll, reviewed by Harold J. Goldberg, 825-28
The Measure of a Man: My Father, the Marine Corps, and Saipan, by Kathleen Broome Williams, reviewed by Colin M. Colbourn, 828-29
The Fifth Field: The Story of the 96 American Soldiers Sentenced to Death and Executed in Europe and North Africa in World War II, by French L. MacLean, reviewed by Fred L. Borch III, 829-31
The Bosnian Muslims and the Second World War, by Marko Attila Hoare, reviewed by James Pettifer, 832-33
Monty’s Men: The British Army and the Liberation of Europe, by John Buckley, reviewed by Charles Forrester, 833-34
Hitler's Wave-Breaker Concept: An Analysis of the German End Game in the Baltic, by Henrik O. Lunde, reviewed by Henry G. Gole, 834-35
Samuel Stouffer and the GI Survey: Sociologists and Soldiers during the Second World War, by Joseph W. Ryan, reviewed by David Paul Haney, 835-37
GIs in Germany: The Social, Economic, Cultural, and Political History of the American Military Presence, edited by Thomas W. Maulucci, Jr. and Detlef Junker, reviewed by Adam R. Seipp, 837-38
Strangers in the Wild Place: Refugees, Americans, and a German Town, 1945-1952, by Adam R. Seipp, reviewed by Dean Nowowiejski, 838-39
Air Mobility: A Brief History of the American Experience, by Robert C. Owen, reviewed by Kenneth P. Werrell, 840-41
Churchill’s Bomb: How the United States Overtook Britain in the First Nuclear Arms Race, by Graham Farmelo, reviewed by Robert S. Norris, 841-42
Confronting the Colonies: British Intelligence and Counterinsurgency, by Rory Cormac, reviewed by Benjamin Grob-Fitzgibbon, 842-43
The Military Effectiveness of Post-Colonial States, by Pradeep Barua, reviewed by Vipul Dutta, 844-45
An Unsung Soldier: The Life of Gen. Andrew Goodpaster, by Robert S. Jordan, reviewed by Charles F. Brower IV, 846-47
Hanoi’s Road to the Vietnam War 1954-1965, by Pierre Asselin, reviewed by Mark Philip Bradley, 847-49
Learning to Forget: US Army Counterinsurgency Doctrine and Practice from Vietnam to Iraq, by David Fitzgerald, reviewed by Kevin Boylan, 849-50
1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh, by Srinath Raghavan, reviewed by John H. Gill, 850-52
The October War: Politics, Diplomacy, Legacy, edited by Asaf Siniver, reviewed by Matthew Hughes, 852-54
The Oxford Handbook of War, edited by Julian Lindley-French and Yves Boyer, reviewed by Martijn Lak, 854-55
British Generals in Blair’s Wars, edited by Jonathan Bailey, Richard Iron and Hew Strachan, reviewed by Paul Winter, 855-58
BOOKS RECEIVED: 859-62
RECENT JOURNAL ARTICLES: 863-71
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: 872-75
