Journal of Military History
Vol. 86, No. 1
January 2022
Articles
“Looking beyond the Military Revolution: Variations in Early Modern Warfare and the Mughal Case,” by
Pratyay Nath, Journal of Military History 86:1 (January 2022): 9–31
Pratyay Nath, Journal of Military History 86:1 (January 2022): 9–31
The Military Revolution debate has dominated histories of early modern warfare for over sixty years. This essay searches for new analytical avenues by charting the nature, causes, and implications of variations in Mughal warfare in early modern South Asia. It argues that a range of factors—including environmental conditions, military pragmatism, financial considerations, and distance from the imperial heartland—caused Mughal war-making to become heterogeneous over time and across space and produced variations in strategy, tactics, and deployment of technologies. These variations affected the broader processes of Mughal war-making and empire-building. This line of investigation bears potential to influence the writing of comparative military histories and the study of early modern warfare while looking beyond the Military Revolution framework.
“‘My Soldiers Above All’: Justifying Violence Against Noncombatants in French Algeria, 1830–1847,” by Jacob Hagstrom, Journal of Military History 86:1 (January 2022): 32–53
Military violence against noncombatants in the French conquest of Algeria (1830–1847) resulted as much from the actions of ordinary soldiers as from commanders and politicians. This article examines the justifications that officers used to explain their attacks on noncombatants in North Africa. Instead of using the well-known twentieth-century excuse for atrocity, that the participant was following orders from above, nineteenth-century officers tended to justify controversial acts as necessary to the preservation of the lives of their soldiers and indigenous allies. Reports from lieutenants and captains on French expeditions at Miliana (1840) and Dahra (1845) suggest that low-ranking soldiers had more agency in escalating violence against noncombatants than did their leaders. Eyewitness accounts reveal that soldiers’ emotions such as fear, anger, and greed drove violence against North African noncombatants.
‘‘‘Will the Germans Bombard New York?’: Hugo Gernsback and the Future War Tale,” by Frederic Krome, Journal of Military History 86:1 (January 2022): 54–76
During the first decades of the twentieth century the American public developed a fascination with the concept of the future war. Indeed, by the interwar years future war tales had become a staple of American popular culture, primarily via the mass circulation pulp magazines, where they played a pivotal role in promoting the growth of the science fiction genre. This study considers the role of the future war story in engaging the American public’s interest in military affairs during the first decades of the twentieth century, with a specific focus on the role of the author/editor/publisher Hugo Gernsback (1884–1967).
“Hitler’s ‘Intuition’, Luftwaffe Photoreconnaissance, and the Reinforcement of Normandy,” by R. J. Lahey, Journal of Military History 86:1 (January 2022): 77–109
In early 1944, the future Allied landing sites in Normandy were lightly defended by Germany. By D-Day, 6 June 1944, that had changed. Erwin Rommel’s beach obstacles and onshore “asparagus” intended to disrupt any landings are well known. But the defending forces had increased markedly: two airborne units protecting the Cotentin, a Panzer division at Caen, two others within reach, and all coastal sectors reinforced. What caused the sudden attention to Normandy? The impetus clearly came from Adolf Hitler, and a common explanation is his “intuition.” A far better one, this account argues, comes from examining the Kriegsmarine analysis of Luftwaffe photoreconnaissance efforts, which can directly explain Hitler’s actions.
“The Question of U.S. Involvement in Turkish Military Coups During the Cold War: An Analysis Via Available CIA Archives,” by Burak Kürkçü, Journal of Military History 86:1 (January 2022): 110–31
This article is an investigation of declassified archival documents of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that questions the direct involvement of several U.S. administrations in military coups in Turkey during the Cold War. Among the U.S. government institutions, it is argued that only the CIA could have had the competency for covert participation in a coup plot abroad. Other than the indirect role of the U.S. in military takeovers, due to its military and financial assistance in pre-coup periods, and the political recognition of coup regimes, available CIA documents do not present any tangible evidence for agency’s direct involvement in Turkish military coups, in contrast to its clandestine operations in other states.
“High-Altitude Duel: The CIA’s U-2 Spy Plane Overflights and China’s Air Defense Force, 1961–1968,” by Xiaoming Zhang, Journal of Military History 86:1 (January 2022): 132–59
During the 1960s, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s U-2 spy planes, piloted by Chinese Nationalist airmen from Taiwan, flew routinely over the Chinese mainland monitoring the Chinese nuclear weapons program; the overflights also demonstrated Beijing’s military weakness and inability to control its airspace. In spite of having only a few Soviet-made surface-to-air missile systems, the People’s Liberation Army Air Force was convinced that human factors, especially agility in strategy, operations, and tactics, could overcome a superior enemy. Although much remains secret, sources now available shed new insights into this secret Cold War history. Moreover, as the Chinese claimed themselves, these experiences remain valuable for China’s military response to war.
Book Reviews:
Drunk on Genocide: Alcohol and Mass Murder in Nazi Germany, by Edward B. Westermann, reviewed by Grant T. Harward and by David K. Yelton, 160-63
Why War?, by Christopher Coker, reviewed by Michael S. Sherry, 163-64
The Persian War in Herodotus and Other Ancient Voices, by William Shephard, reviewed by Andre Wolfe, 165-66
Mediterranean Naval Battles that Changed the World, by Quentin Russell, reviewed by Bret C. Devereaux, 166-67
Chivalry and Violence in Late Medieval Castile, by Samuel A. Claussen, reviewed by Darcy Kern, 168-69
War on the Eve of Nations: Conflicts and Militaries in Eastern Europe, 1450–1500, by Vladimir Shirogorov, reviewed by Jeremy Black, 169-71
Inventing the English Massacre: Amboyna in History and Memory, by Alison Games, reviewed by Kankan Xie, 171-73
The British Army: 1714–1783, An Institutional History, by Stephen Conway, reviewed by Thomas P. Stephens, 173-74
Egypt 1801: The End of Napoleon’s Eastern Empire, by Stuart Reid, reviewed by Casey Baker, 175-76
Thoughts on War, by Phillip S. Meilinger, reviewed by Antulio J. Echevarria II, 176-77
Dead Men Telling Tales: Napoleonic War Veterans and the Military Memoir Industry, 1808–1914, by Matilda Greig, reviewed by Jeremy Black, 178-79
Britain at War with the Asante Nation, 1823–1900: “The White Man’s Grave,” by Stephen Manning, reviewed by Chelsea Davis, 179-80
The Fires of Philadelphia: Citizen-Soldiers, Nativists, and the 1844 Riots Over the Soul of a Nation, by Zachary M. Schrag, reviewed by Tony R. Mullis, 181-82
New Principles of War: Enduring Truths with Timeless Examples, by Marvin Pokrant, reviewed by Glenn H. Jones, 182-84
Unsung Hero of Gettysburg: The Story of Union General David McMurtrie Gregg, by Edward G. Longacre, reviewed by David Wachtveitl, 184-85
A Fire in the Wilderness: The First Battle Between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, by John Reeves, reviewed by Charles Bowery, 185-87
A Holy Baptism of Fire & Blood: The Bible and the American Civil War, by James P. Byrd, reviewed by Tony R. Mullis, 187-88
War Is All Hell: The Nature of Evil and the Civil War, by Edward J. Blum and John H. Matsui, reviewed by Gregory J. W. Urwin, 188-90
Military Anthropology: Soldiers, Scholars, and Subjects at the Margins of Empire, by Montgomery McFate, reviewed by Julia E. Liss, 190-92
The Road Less Traveled: The Secret Battle to End the Great War, 1916–1917, by Philip Zelikow, reviewed by Richard F. Welch, 192-93
A History of American Literature and Culture of the First World War, edited by Tim Dayton and Mark W. Van Wienen, reviewed by Richard Faulkner, 194-95
Shadows from the Trenches: Veterans of the Great War and the Irish Revolution (1918–1923), by Emmanuel Destenay, reviewed by Richard Faulkner, 195-96
Allies in Air Power: A History of Multinational Air Operations, edited by Steven Paget, reviewed by Jorden Pitt, 197-98
War in the Mountains: Peasant Society and Counterinsurgency in Algeria, 1918–1958, by Neil MacMaster, reviewed by M. T. Howard, 198-200
Prelude to Pearl Harbor: Ideology and Culture in US-Japan Relations, 1919–1941, by John Gripentrog, reviewed by Paul J. Welch Behringer, 200-2
Stalin’s Niños: Educating Spanish Civil War Refugee Children in the Soviet Union, 1937–1951, by Karl D. Qualls, reviewed by Nicholas Sambaluk, 202-4
The Fall and Rise of French Sea Power: France’s Quest for an Independent Naval Policy, 1940–1963, by Hugues Canuel, reviewed by Sarandis Papadopoulos, 204-5
Hitler’s Fatal Miscalculation: Why Germany Declared War on the United States, by Klaus H. Schmider, reviewed by Russell A. Hart, 206-7
U.S. Naval Gunfire Support in the Pacific War: A Study of the Development and Application of Doctrine, by Donald K. Mitchener, reviewed by Hal Friedman, 207-9
“An Honorable Place in American Air Power”: Civil Air Patrol Coastal Patrol Operations, 1942–1943, by Frank A. Blazich, Jr., reviewed by Robert F. Williams, 209-11
Civilians at the Sharp End: First Canadian Army Civil Affairs in Northwest Europe, by David A. Borys, reviewed by Karl L. Rubis, 211-12
Pioneers of Irregular Warfare: Secrets of the Military Intelligence Research Department in the Second World War, by Malcolm Atkin, reviewed by Brandon Bernick, 213-14
Fallen Tigers: The Fate of America’s Missing Airmen in China During World War II, by Daniel Jackson, reviewed by James F. Slaughter III, 215-16
Why We Fight: New Approaches to the Human Dimension of Warfare, edited by Robert C. Engen, H. Christian Breede, and Allan English, reviewed by Darren Johnson, 216-18
Hitler Redux: The Incredible History of Hitler’s So-called Table Talks, by Mikael Nilsson, reviewed by Klaus Schmider, 218-19
The New Monuments and the End of Man: U.S. Sculpture between War and Peace, 1945–1975, by Robert Slifkin, reviewed by Robert Clemm, 220-21
Armies of Sand: The Past, Present, and Future of Arab Military Effectiveness, by Kenneth Pollack, reviewed by Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, 221-22
Flights from Fassberg: How a German Town Built for War Became a Beacon of Peace, by Wolfgang W. E. Samuel, reviewed by Meghan Ashley Vance, 223-24
Constructing Allied Cooperation: Diplomacy, Payments, and Power in Multilateral Military Coalitions, by Marina E. Henke, reviewed by Steven Paget, 224-25
Lyndon Johnson and the Postwar Order in the Middle East, 1962–1967, by Alexander M. Shelby, reviewed by Mohammad Ebad Athar, 225-27
Drawn Swords in a Distant Land: South Vietnam’s Shattered Dreams, by George J. Veith, reviewed by Marcel Berni, 227-28
Death in the Highlands: The Siege of Special Forces Camp Plei Me, by J. Keith Saliba, reviewed by Martin G. Clemis, 229-30
Unforgotten in the Gulf of Tonkin: A Story of the U.S. Military’s Commitment to Leave No One Behind, by Eileen A. Bjorkman, reviewed by John J. Deeney IV, 230-32
Battle Green Vietnam: The 1971 March on Concord, Lexington, and Boston, by Elise Lemire, reviewed by Rebecca McGee, 232-33
Counterinsurgency: Theory and Reality, by Daniel Whittingham and Stuart Mitchell, reviewed by Matthew J. Flynn, 234-35
Divided by Terror: American Patriotism after 9/11, by John Bodnar, reviewed by Tomas I. Moore, 235-37
La nouvelle armée russe, by Isabelle Facon, reviewed by Michael Rouland, 237-39
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb: Shadow of Terror over the Sahel, from 2007, by J. Venter, reviewed by Oliver Coates, 239-41
The Other Face of Battle: America’s Forgotten Wars and the Experience of Combat, by Wayne E. Lee, Anthony E. Carlson, David L. Preston, and David Silbey, reviewed by Nathan K. Finney, 241-43
China’s Strategic Arsenal: Worldview, Doctrine, and Systems, edited by James M. Smith and Paul J. Bolt, reviewed by Sara B. Castro, 243-44
War at the Speed of Light: Directed-Energy Weapons and the Future of Twenty-First-Century Warfare, by Louis A. Del Monte, reviewed by Michael W. Hankins, 245-46
BOOKS RECEIVED: 247-49
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: 250
RECENT JOURNAL ARTICLES: 251-68
Drunk on Genocide: Alcohol and Mass Murder in Nazi Germany, by Edward B. Westermann, reviewed by Grant T. Harward and by David K. Yelton, 160-63
Why War?, by Christopher Coker, reviewed by Michael S. Sherry, 163-64
The Persian War in Herodotus and Other Ancient Voices, by William Shephard, reviewed by Andre Wolfe, 165-66
Mediterranean Naval Battles that Changed the World, by Quentin Russell, reviewed by Bret C. Devereaux, 166-67
Chivalry and Violence in Late Medieval Castile, by Samuel A. Claussen, reviewed by Darcy Kern, 168-69
War on the Eve of Nations: Conflicts and Militaries in Eastern Europe, 1450–1500, by Vladimir Shirogorov, reviewed by Jeremy Black, 169-71
Inventing the English Massacre: Amboyna in History and Memory, by Alison Games, reviewed by Kankan Xie, 171-73
The British Army: 1714–1783, An Institutional History, by Stephen Conway, reviewed by Thomas P. Stephens, 173-74
Egypt 1801: The End of Napoleon’s Eastern Empire, by Stuart Reid, reviewed by Casey Baker, 175-76
Thoughts on War, by Phillip S. Meilinger, reviewed by Antulio J. Echevarria II, 176-77
Dead Men Telling Tales: Napoleonic War Veterans and the Military Memoir Industry, 1808–1914, by Matilda Greig, reviewed by Jeremy Black, 178-79
Britain at War with the Asante Nation, 1823–1900: “The White Man’s Grave,” by Stephen Manning, reviewed by Chelsea Davis, 179-80
The Fires of Philadelphia: Citizen-Soldiers, Nativists, and the 1844 Riots Over the Soul of a Nation, by Zachary M. Schrag, reviewed by Tony R. Mullis, 181-82
New Principles of War: Enduring Truths with Timeless Examples, by Marvin Pokrant, reviewed by Glenn H. Jones, 182-84
Unsung Hero of Gettysburg: The Story of Union General David McMurtrie Gregg, by Edward G. Longacre, reviewed by David Wachtveitl, 184-85
A Fire in the Wilderness: The First Battle Between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, by John Reeves, reviewed by Charles Bowery, 185-87
A Holy Baptism of Fire & Blood: The Bible and the American Civil War, by James P. Byrd, reviewed by Tony R. Mullis, 187-88
War Is All Hell: The Nature of Evil and the Civil War, by Edward J. Blum and John H. Matsui, reviewed by Gregory J. W. Urwin, 188-90
Military Anthropology: Soldiers, Scholars, and Subjects at the Margins of Empire, by Montgomery McFate, reviewed by Julia E. Liss, 190-92
The Road Less Traveled: The Secret Battle to End the Great War, 1916–1917, by Philip Zelikow, reviewed by Richard F. Welch, 192-93
A History of American Literature and Culture of the First World War, edited by Tim Dayton and Mark W. Van Wienen, reviewed by Richard Faulkner, 194-95
Shadows from the Trenches: Veterans of the Great War and the Irish Revolution (1918–1923), by Emmanuel Destenay, reviewed by Richard Faulkner, 195-96
Allies in Air Power: A History of Multinational Air Operations, edited by Steven Paget, reviewed by Jorden Pitt, 197-98
War in the Mountains: Peasant Society and Counterinsurgency in Algeria, 1918–1958, by Neil MacMaster, reviewed by M. T. Howard, 198-200
Prelude to Pearl Harbor: Ideology and Culture in US-Japan Relations, 1919–1941, by John Gripentrog, reviewed by Paul J. Welch Behringer, 200-2
Stalin’s Niños: Educating Spanish Civil War Refugee Children in the Soviet Union, 1937–1951, by Karl D. Qualls, reviewed by Nicholas Sambaluk, 202-4
The Fall and Rise of French Sea Power: France’s Quest for an Independent Naval Policy, 1940–1963, by Hugues Canuel, reviewed by Sarandis Papadopoulos, 204-5
Hitler’s Fatal Miscalculation: Why Germany Declared War on the United States, by Klaus H. Schmider, reviewed by Russell A. Hart, 206-7
U.S. Naval Gunfire Support in the Pacific War: A Study of the Development and Application of Doctrine, by Donald K. Mitchener, reviewed by Hal Friedman, 207-9
“An Honorable Place in American Air Power”: Civil Air Patrol Coastal Patrol Operations, 1942–1943, by Frank A. Blazich, Jr., reviewed by Robert F. Williams, 209-11
Civilians at the Sharp End: First Canadian Army Civil Affairs in Northwest Europe, by David A. Borys, reviewed by Karl L. Rubis, 211-12
Pioneers of Irregular Warfare: Secrets of the Military Intelligence Research Department in the Second World War, by Malcolm Atkin, reviewed by Brandon Bernick, 213-14
Fallen Tigers: The Fate of America’s Missing Airmen in China During World War II, by Daniel Jackson, reviewed by James F. Slaughter III, 215-16
Why We Fight: New Approaches to the Human Dimension of Warfare, edited by Robert C. Engen, H. Christian Breede, and Allan English, reviewed by Darren Johnson, 216-18
Hitler Redux: The Incredible History of Hitler’s So-called Table Talks, by Mikael Nilsson, reviewed by Klaus Schmider, 218-19
The New Monuments and the End of Man: U.S. Sculpture between War and Peace, 1945–1975, by Robert Slifkin, reviewed by Robert Clemm, 220-21
Armies of Sand: The Past, Present, and Future of Arab Military Effectiveness, by Kenneth Pollack, reviewed by Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, 221-22
Flights from Fassberg: How a German Town Built for War Became a Beacon of Peace, by Wolfgang W. E. Samuel, reviewed by Meghan Ashley Vance, 223-24
Constructing Allied Cooperation: Diplomacy, Payments, and Power in Multilateral Military Coalitions, by Marina E. Henke, reviewed by Steven Paget, 224-25
Lyndon Johnson and the Postwar Order in the Middle East, 1962–1967, by Alexander M. Shelby, reviewed by Mohammad Ebad Athar, 225-27
Drawn Swords in a Distant Land: South Vietnam’s Shattered Dreams, by George J. Veith, reviewed by Marcel Berni, 227-28
Death in the Highlands: The Siege of Special Forces Camp Plei Me, by J. Keith Saliba, reviewed by Martin G. Clemis, 229-30
Unforgotten in the Gulf of Tonkin: A Story of the U.S. Military’s Commitment to Leave No One Behind, by Eileen A. Bjorkman, reviewed by John J. Deeney IV, 230-32
Battle Green Vietnam: The 1971 March on Concord, Lexington, and Boston, by Elise Lemire, reviewed by Rebecca McGee, 232-33
Counterinsurgency: Theory and Reality, by Daniel Whittingham and Stuart Mitchell, reviewed by Matthew J. Flynn, 234-35
Divided by Terror: American Patriotism after 9/11, by John Bodnar, reviewed by Tomas I. Moore, 235-37
La nouvelle armée russe, by Isabelle Facon, reviewed by Michael Rouland, 237-39
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb: Shadow of Terror over the Sahel, from 2007, by J. Venter, reviewed by Oliver Coates, 239-41
The Other Face of Battle: America’s Forgotten Wars and the Experience of Combat, by Wayne E. Lee, Anthony E. Carlson, David L. Preston, and David Silbey, reviewed by Nathan K. Finney, 241-43
China’s Strategic Arsenal: Worldview, Doctrine, and Systems, edited by James M. Smith and Paul J. Bolt, reviewed by Sara B. Castro, 243-44
War at the Speed of Light: Directed-Energy Weapons and the Future of Twenty-First-Century Warfare, by Louis A. Del Monte, reviewed by Michael W. Hankins, 245-46
BOOKS RECEIVED: 247-49
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: 250
RECENT JOURNAL ARTICLES: 251-68
