Journal of Military History
Vol. 78, No. 3
July 2014
Articles
Idan Sherer, “‘All of Us, In One Voice, Demand What's Owed Us’: Mutiny in the Spanish Infantry during the Italian Wars, 1525–1538,” The Journal of Military History, 78:3 (July 2014): 893-926.
This article examines the main characteristics of mutinies in the Spanish tercios at the height of the Italian Wars (1494-1559), a surprisingly under-researched subject considering the high frequency of such upheavals in these core infantry units. Contrary to the severe legal and moral implications of modern military mutinies the dynamics of the mutinies in the tercios resembled more closely those of a modern workers’ strike, in that the soldiers were allowed room to organize, make representations, negotiate and reach relatively amicable conclusions. Generals and soldiers alike accepted the recurring mutinies as a way of maintaining the organizational status quo in a context of infrequent paydays and persistent supply problems.
Andrew de la Garza, “The Mughal Battlefield: Personnel, Technology, and Tactics in the Early Empire, 1500–1605,” The Journal of Military History, 78:3 (July 2014): 927-60.
Although the Mughal Empire was one of the great powers of the Early Modern world, surprisingly few studies of the Empire address its military history. Those that do tend to treat Mughal military practice, and that of the Muslim world in general, as an “inferior control sample” for the successful experiments of the European Military Revolution. As this essay on the practical aspects of Mughal warfare will demonstrate, however, South Asia during this era was far from deficient in military technology and organization. It was, rather, a nexus of innovation and achievement.
John W. Hall, “An Irregular Reconsideration of George Washington and the American Military Tradition,” The Journal of Military History, 78:3 (July 2014): 961-93.
By synthesizing recent works on early American warfare and biographies of George Washington with his own writings, this essay attempts to reconcile divergent interpretations of Washington as a paragon of frontier martial virtue, a pedant for European orthodoxy, a genius, and a stumblebum. The officer who emerges is a martial cosmopolitan; the forces he constructed and the strategy by which he employed them were the hybrid products of his own experience on the American frontier and European precedents for both grande and petite guerre. Ultimately, they served his nation’s dearest interests: independence and territorial expansion at the expense of American Indians.
Peter Worthing, “Continuity and Change: Chinese Nationalist Army Tactics, 1925–1938,” The Journal of Military History, 78:3 (July 2014): 995-1016.
This article analyzes the Chinese Nationalist Army at the tactical level, examining how the Nationalists deployed and employed forces to achieve victory from the earliest battles in 1925 to the first stage of the war against the Japanese in 1937–1938. It argues that certain “core characteristics” of the Nationalist Army shaped its tactics in a way that maximized its strengths and minimized its weaknesses, producing a number of important victories from 1925 to 1930. Importantly, the year 1930 marked a key turning point as new enemies and conditions led the Nationalists away from the successful tactics of the 1920s, contributing to the weaker record of the 1930s.
Christina J. M. Goulter, “The Greek Civil War: A National Army’s Counter-insurgency Triumph,” The Journal of Military History, 78:3 (July 2014): 1017-55.
One of the accepted orthodoxies about the Greek Civil War (1946–49) is that the Greek government’s eventual victory was achieved only because of Anglo-American training and equipment. This article argues that the Greek National Army developed its own military strategy, and that advice from British or American advisory teams was often disregarded, especially during the final years of the conflict. The Greek National Army learned while fighting, and devised what would be recognised today as a “clear, hold, build” strategy. The learning curve was steep, against a Communist opponent who was ruthless and well equipped.
Tim Rives, “Like Footprints in the Sand: Searching for Eisenhower’s Climactic D-Day Words,” The Journal of Military History, 78:3 (July 2014): 1057-67.
Given the importance of General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s decision to launch the invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944, both to the outcome of the war and to him personally, it is mysterious that neither he nor the commanders who witnessed his supreme moment could agree on what he said when he set the Allied force in motion. While the fog of war explains some of the discrepancies in the eyewitness accounts, Eisenhower’s modest character also plays a role in the mystery. Seventy years later, we still do not know what words unleashed the Allied assault on the Atlantic Wall.
Guy Chet, “Teaching in the Shadow of the Military Revolution,” The Journal of Military History, 78:3 (July 2014): 1069-75.
Peter Paret, “Translation, Literal or Accurate,” The Journal of Military History, 78:3 (July 2014): 1077-80.
The analysis of a difference of opinion on the proper translation of five words in Clausewitz’s On War leads to general observations on the task of translating complex texts.
Everett L. Wheeler, “The Archaeology of War in Late Antiquity,” The Journal of Military History, 78:3 (July 2014): 1081-93.
Reviews:
Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century, by Geoffrey Parker, reviewed by Michael Baillie and by David Christian, 1095-1100
Conquest and Domination in Early China: Rise and Demise of the Western Chou, by Ralph D. Sawyer, reviewed by Edward L. Shaughnessy, 1100-1
Zhuge Liang: Strategy, Achievements, and Writings, by Ralph D. Sawyer and Mei-chün Sawyer, reviewed by Keith N. Knapp, 1101-2
Cohortes Alpinorum. Truppe ausiliarie dell’antica Roma. Analisi storica e catalogo delle fonti epigrafiche, archeologiche e numismatiche, by Roberto Guerra, reviewed by Rose Mary Sheldon, 1102-3
Beyond the Burghal Hidage. Anglo-Saxon Civil Defence in the Viking Age, by John Baker and Stuart Brookes, reviewed by Bernard Bachrach, 1103-6
The Historia Ierosolimitana of Baldric of Bourgueil, edited by Steven Biddlecombe, reviewed by David S. Bachrach, 1106-7
The Emergence of British Power in India 1600-1784: A Grand Strategic Interpretation, by G. J. Bryant, reviewed by Kaushik Roy, 1108-9
A Cultural History of Firearms in the Age of Empire, edited by Karen Jones, Giacomo Macola, and David Welch, reviewed by Olaf van Nimwegen, 1109-10
A Warring Nation: Honor, Race, and Humiliation in America and Abroad, by Bertram Wyatt-Brown, reviewed by Craig Bruce Smith, 1100-11
Citizen Explorer: The Life of Zebulon Pike, by Jered Orsi, reviewed by Michael L. Tate, 1112-13
William Henry Harrison and the Conquest of the Ohio Country: Frontier Fighting in the War of 1812, by David Curtis Skaggs, reviewed by Allan R. Millett, 1113-14
When Washington Burned: An Illustrated History of the War of 1812, by Arnold Blumberg, reviewed by Russell D. James, 1114-15
Coffins of the Brave: Lake Shipwrecks of the War of 1812, edited by Kevin J. Crisman, reviewed by David Curtis Skaggs, 1116-17
Blücher: Scourge of Napoleon, by Michael V. Leggiere, reviewed by Jasper Heinzen, 1117-18
Controlling Paris: Armed Forces and Counter-Revolution, 1789-1848, by Jonathan M. House, reviewed by John Merriman, 1118-20
Whips to Walls: Naval Discipline from Flogging to Progressive-Era Reform at Portsmouth Prison, by Rodney K. Watterson, reviewed by Christopher McKee, 1120-21
The Age of Lincoln and the Art of American Power, 1848-1876, by William Nester, reviewed by Ian Delahanty, 1122-23
Lincoln and Leadership: Military, Political, and Religious Decision Making, edited by Randall M. Miller, reviewed by Orville Vernon Burton, 1123-24
The Scorpion’s Sting: Antislavery and the Coming of the Civil War, by James Oakes, reviewed by John H. Matsui, 1125-26
USS Constellation on the Dismal Coast: Willie Leonard’s Journal, 1859-1861, edited by C. Herbert Gilliland, reviewed by Spencer C. Tucker, 1126-27
Rethinking Shiloh: Myth and Memory, by Timothy B. Smith, reviewed by Steven D. Fratt, 1127-28
Grant at Vicksburg: The General and the Siege, by Michael B. Ballard, reviewed by William B. Feis, 1129-30
Living Hell: The Dark Side of the Civil War, by Michael C. C. Adams, reviewed by Kenneth W. Noe, 1130-31
Learning from the Wounded: The Civil War and the Rise of American Medical Science, by Shauna Devine, reviewed by Theodore J. Commons, 1131-32
The Civil War in Popular Culture: Memory and Meaning, edited by Lawrence A. Kreiser, Jr. and Randal Allred, reviewed by Eric D. Duchess, 1132-34
Uncommonly Savage: Civil War and Remembrance in Spain and the United States, by Paul D. Escott, reviewed by David A. Messenger, 1134-35
Three German Invasions of France: The Summer Campaigns of 1870-1914-1940, by Douglas Fermer, reviewed by Jonathan M. House, 1135-36
Authoritarian El Salvador: Politics and the Origins of the Military Regimes, 1880-1940, by Erik Ching, reviewed by Michael D. Gambone, 1137-38
A Civilian in Lawton’s 1899 Philippine Campaign: The Letters of Robert D. Carter, edited by Michael E. Shay, reviewed by Candice Shy Hooper, 1138-39
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 Mitchell Yockelson, 1139-40
Crisis in the Mediterranean: Naval Competition and Great Power Politics, 1904-1914, by Jon K. Hendrickson, reviewed by Alan M. Anderson, 1141-42
A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire, by Geoffrey Wawro, reviewed by Samuel R. Williamson, Jr., 1142-44
British Army Uniform and the First World War: Men in Khaki, by Jane Tynan, reviewed by Jennifer Daley, 1144-45
Climax at Gallipoli: The Failure of the August Offensive, by Rhys Crawley, reviewed by Russell Parkin, 1145-46
Death or Deliverance: Canadian Courts Martial in the Great War, by Teresa Iacobelli, reviewed by Chris Madsen, 1147-48
Hundred Days: The Campaign that Ended World War I, by Nick Lloyd, reviewed by Ralph M. Hitchens, 1148-49
Broken Sword: The Tumultuous Life of General Frank Crozier 1879-1937, by Charles Messenger, reviewed by Chris Kempshall, 1149-50
The Testimonies of Indian Soldiers and the Two World Wars: Between Self and Sepoy, by Gajendra Singh, reviewed by Chandar S. Sundaram, 1151-53
Billy Mitchell’s War with the Navy: The Interwar Rivalry over Air Power, by Thomas Wildenberg, reviewed by Phillip S. Meilinger, 1153-54
Collision of Empires: Italy’s Invasion of Ethiopia and its International Impact, edited by G. Bruce Strang, reviewed by Brian R. Sullivan, 1154-56
No End Save Victory: How FDR Led the Nation into War, by David Kaiser, reviewed by David Hein, 1156-57
Uncle Bill: The Authorised Biography of Field Marshal Viscount Slim, by Russell Miller, reviewed by Raymond Callahan, 1157-58
A Battle for Neutral Europe: British Cultural Propaganda during the Second World War, by Edward Corse, reviewed by Neville Wylie, 1158-59
The Bombers and the Bombed: Allied Air War over Europe, 1940-1945, by Richard Overy, reviewed by Kenneth P. Werrell, 1160-62
The Administration of Guam, 1941-1944: A Study of Occupation and Integration Policies, with Japanese Oral Histories, by Wakako Higuchi, reviewed by Fred L. Borch III, 1162-63
Ireland during the Second World War: Farewell to Plato’s Cave, by Bryce Evans, reviewed by Mark M. Hull, 1164-65
Smolensk under the Nazis: Everyday Life in Occupied Russia, by Laurie R. Cohen, reviewed by Richard Bidlack, 1165-66
How I Discovered World War II’s Greatest Spy and Other Stories of Intelligence and Code, by David Kahn, reviewed by Alan MacLeod, 1166-67
Hitler's Generals in America; Nazi POWs and Allied Military Intelligence, by Derek R. Mallett, reviewed by Barbara Schmitter Heisler, 1168-69
Spying for the People: Mao’s Secret Agents, 1949-1967, by Michael Schoenhals, reviewed by Katherine K. Reist, 1169-70
Bringing God to Men: American Military Chaplains and the Vietnam War, by Jacqueline E. Whitt, reviewed by Brad Carter, 1171-72
A Raid Too Far: Operation Lam Son 719 and Vietnamization in Laos, by James H. Willbanks, reviewed by William Thomas Allison, 1172-74
American Protestants and the Debate over the Vietnam War: Evil Was Loose in the World, by George Bogaski, reviewed by Jacqueline E. Whitt, 1174-75
Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria, and the Struggle for Southern Africa, 1976-1991, by Piero Gleijeses, reviewed by John Prados, 1175-77
Armies and State Building in the Modern Middle East: Politics, Nationalism and Military Reform, by Stephanie Cronin, reviewed by Oren Barak, 1177-78
Military Adaptation in Afghanistan, edited by Theo Farrell, Frans Osinga, and James A. Russell, reviewed by Harold R. Winton, 1178-79
BOOKS RECEIVED: 1180-83
RECENT JOURNAL ARTICLES: 1184-92
DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS IN MILITARY HISTORY: 1193-1207
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: 1208-13
SMH 2014 AWARDS: 1216
