Journal of Military History
Vol. 73, No. 3
July 2009

Articles

F. S. Naiden, “Spartan Naval Performance in the Decelean War, 413-404 BCE,” The Journal of Military History 73 #3 (July 2009): 729-744
A truism of military history is the supremacy of the Athenian navy during the Classical Period of ancient Greek history. Yet during the final phase of the Peloponnesian War of 431 to 404 BCE, the Spartans surpassed the Athenians in naval performance. This paper argues that Spartan performance benefited from improvements in Sparta’s cadre of naval officers.
Sam Willis, “The Battle of Lagos, 1759,” The Journal of Military History 73 #3 (July 2009): 745-765
In August 1759 France needed to unite its Mediterranean and Atlantic fleets before invading England. A small British squadron at Gibraltar under Vice-Admiral Edward Boscawen was tasked with blockading the French at Toulon. When the French ran through the Straits of Gibraltar, Boscawen’s fleet rapidly got to sea and chased. Confusion among Boscawen’s captains and the French unwillingness to stand and fight ensured that the Battle of Lagos was not decisive, but three French ships were taken, two were driven ashore and burned, and the battle became an important precursor to the more famous Battle of Quiberon Bay of November 1759.
Christian Tripodi, “‘Good for one but not the other’; The ‘Sandeman System’ of Pacification as Applied to Baluchistan and the North-West Frontier, 1877-1947,” The Journal of Military History 73 #3 (July 2009): 767-802
This article examines the long-running debate over the application of the "Sandeman System" of pacification to the North-West Frontier of British India in 1877-1947. Colonel Sir Robert Sandeman’s innovative doctrine of tribal administration had enabled the peaceful spread of British influence across Baluchistan during the late nineteenth century, yet the Government of India subsequently declared his methods inapplicable to the neighboring and perennially turbulent North-West Frontier. This essay seeks to provide a fuller understanding of the reasoning behind the policymakers’ opposition to Sandeman’s techniques and thus provide clarification of a debate that bedeviled British Frontier policy for over six decades.
Yigal Sheffy, “Chemical Warfare and the Palestine Campaign, 1916-1918” The Journal of Military History 73 #3 (July 2009): 803-844
World War I historiography focuses on the introduction of chemical weapons to European battlefields, mainly the Western Front, but ignores their use during the Palestine Campaign. In 1917 the (British) Egyptian Expeditionary Force fired chemical-filled artillery shells against Ottoman forces. During the Second Battle of Gaza (April 1917), the chemical bombardment was unsuccessful in supporting the infantry assault. In the Third Battle of Gaza (October–November 1917), it was much more effective in its diversionary role of drawing Ottoman attention away from the main thrust toward Beersheba. This article examines the chemical operations and the Ottoman response, analyses the outcome, and suggests explanations for the historiographical disregard of these events.
Jonathan Reed Winkler, “Information Warfare in World War I,” The Journal of Military History 73 #3 (July 2009): 845-867
Traditional narratives of World War I generally overlook a misunderstood but important part of the conflict: information warfare. Both Great Britain and Germany understood the significance of information as a force multiplier and as a valuable financial and diplomatic tool in the larger geostrategic environment. Britain’s systematic wartime destruction of Germany’s prewar network occurred on a much larger level than historians have recognized. Germany’s simultaneous but hidden campaign against Allied communications has escaped historical notice. Greater understanding of this missing element, both in World War I and beyond, will deepen our understanding of the larger economic, political, intelligence, and military dimensions of modern conflict.
Brian Holden Reid, “Michael Howard and the Evolution of Modern War Studies,” The Journal of Military History 73 #3 (July 2009): 869-904
Sir Michael Howard has made an enormous contribution to writing about war since 1950. This essay offers a considered assessment of his work and devotes due attention to the context in which he wrote and the influences that shaped his outlook. Three essential themes have permeated his work: the German problem (and thus the British problem that complicated its resolution), the Soviet problem, and the relationship between war and society. The essay charts his efforts to impart a framework to the study of war and the degree to which it has been shaped by societal, but especially organizational and moral forces. The essay offers a slice of British historiography and intellectual life in the postwar years.
Toh Boon Kwan, “‘It was a thrill to see rows of B-29s going through the sky’: The American Strategic Bombing of Singapore, 1944-45,” The Journal of Military History 73 #3 (July 2009): 905-924
B-29 sorties during the American strategic bombing campaign against Singapore in 1944–45 were the longest daylight bombing missions mounted to that point during the Second World War. Despite the campaign’s historical significance, a comprehensive account incorporating the perspectives of American aircrew, Japanese occupiers, local civilians, and internees who lived through the bombings remains to be written. This lacuna is reflective of the scant scholarship on the impact of Allied bombing on friendly civilians in enemy-occupied territories in the Far East. Although the combat results were mixed, Allied bombing raised the morale of civilians and internees in Japanese-occupied Singapore.
Notes and Comments:
“The Air War Over Germany: Claims and Counter-claims,” 925-932

 
Reviews:
Strategic Studies: A Reader, edited by Thomas G. Mahnken and Joseph A. Maiolo, reviewed by J. Boone Bartholomees, 933-934

In Words and Deeds: Battle Speeches in History, by Richard F. Miller and Battle Exhortation: The Rhetoric of Combat Leadership, by Keith Yellin, reviewed by Gary P. Cox, 934-936

Medieval Ships and Warfare, edited by Susan Rose, reviewed by Louis Sicking, 936-938

Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe, 1500-1700, by Brian L. Davies, reviewed by John P. LeDonne, 938-939

The Complete Soldier: Military Books and Military Culture in Early Stuart England, 1603-1645, by David R. Lawrence, reviewed by Gervase Phillips, 939-941

Mazarin’s Quest: The Congress of Westphalia and the Coming of the Fronde, by Paul Sonnino, reviewed by Frederic J. Baumgartner, 941-942

Wars of the Age of Louis XIV, 1650-1715: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization, by Cathal J. Nolan, reviewed by Jamel Ostwald, 942-944

Marlborough: England’s Fragile Genius, by Richard Holmes, reviewed by Charles Carlton, 944-945

Educating the Royal Navy: Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-century Education for Officers, by H. W. Dickinson, reviewed by John B. Hattendorf, 945-946

Die preußische Armee zwischen Ancien Régime und Reichsgründung, edited by Peter Baumgart, Bernhard R. Kroener and Heinz Stübig, reviewed by Peter H. Wilson, 946-948

Defying Empire: Trading with the Enemy in Colonial New York, by Thomas M. Truxes, reviewed by James Pritchard, 948-949

With Zeal and With Bayonets Only: The British Army on Campaign in North America, 1775-1783, by Matthew H. Spring, reviewed by Armstrong Starkey, 949-950

Saratoga: A Military History of the Decisive Campaign of the American Revolution, by John F. Luzader, reviewed by Mark Kwasny, 950-952

War of a Thousand Deserts: Indian Raids and the U.S.-Mexican War, by Brian Delay, reviewed by Ned Blackhawk, 952-953

The First and Second Sikh Wars: An Official British Army History, by Reginald George Burton, reviewed by Douglas M. Peers, 954-955

Awaiting the Heavenly Country: The Civil War and America’s Culture of Death, by Mark S. Schantz, reviewed by Frances M. Clarke, 955-957

Gender and the Sectional Conflict, by Nina Silber, edited by William A. Blair, reviewed by Lyde Cullen Sizer, 957-958

The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat: Reality and Myth, by Earl J. Hess, reviewed by Mark Barloon, 958-959

Guide to the Atlanta Campaign: Rocky Face Ridge to Kennesaw Mountain, edited by Jay Luvaas and Harold W. Nelson, reviewed by Richard M. McMurry, 960

Where a Hundred Soldiers Were Killed: The Struggle for the Powder River Country in 1866 and the Making of the Fetterman Myth, by John H. Monnett, reviewed by Sherry L. Smith, 961-962

The March to Kandahar: Roberts in Afghanistan, by Rodney Atwood, reviewed by Chris Tripodi, 962-963

British Military Operations in Egypt and the Sudan: A Selected Bibliography, by Harold E. Raugh, Jr., reviewed by Edward M. Spiers, 963-964

Sitting Bull, by Bill Yenne, reviewed by John H. Monnett, 964-965

Die deutsche Heeresrüstungspolitik 1890-1914: Das Militär und der Primat der Politik, by Oliver Stein and Preußische Heeresreformen 1807-1870: Militärische Innovation und der Mythos der ‘Roonschen Reform’, by Dierk Walter, reviewed by James Stone, 965-967

U.S. Marines and Irregular Warfare, 1898-2007: Anthology and Selected Bibliography, by Stephen S. Evans, reviewed by Aaron B. O’Connell, 968-969

Who Owns the Sky? The Struggle to Control Airspace from the Wright Brothers On, by Stuart Banner, reviewed by Donald R. Baucom, 969-970

Tirpitz: Architect of the German High Seas Fleet, by Michael Epkenhans, reviewed by Keith W. Bird, 970-971

If Germany Attacks: The Battle in Depth in the West, by G. C. Wynne, edited by Robert T. Foley, reviewed by Ian F.W. Beckett, 972-973

Shoestring Soldiers: The 1st Canadian Division at War, 1914-1915, by Andrew Iarocci, reviewed by Ian M. Brown, 973-974

The Yankee Division in the First World War: In the Highest Tradition, by Michael E. Shay, reviewed by Daniel R. Beaver, 974-975

Through the Wheat: The U.S. Marines in World War I, by Edwin H. Simmons and Joseph H. Alexander, reviewed by Lon Strauss, 975-976

Mobilizing Minerva: American Women in the First World War, by Kimberly Jensen, reviewed by Susan L. Zeiger, 977-978

The Question of MacArthur’s Reputation: Côte de Châtillon, October 14-16, 1918, by Robert H. Ferrell, reviewed by John F. Votaw, Sr., 978-979

The Gun and the Pen: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner and the Fiction of Mobilization, by Keith Gandal, reviewed by Peter S. Kindsvatter, 979-981

Wuhan, 1938: War, Refugees, and the Making of Modern China, by Stephen R. MacKinnon, reviewed by Gary J. Bjorge, 981-982

Memories of an S.O.E. Historian, by M.R.D. Foot, reviewed by Rita Kramer, 982-983

Empire Lost: Britain, the Dominions and the Second World War, by Andrew Stewart, reviewed by Peter Dennis, 984-985

A Thoroughly Canadian General: A Biography of General H.D.G. Crerar, by Paul Douglas Dickson, reviewed by Angus Brown, 985-987

Normandy to Victory: The War Diary of General Courtney H. Hodges and the First U.S. Army. Diary maintained for Hodges by his aides Major William C. Sylvan and Captain Francis G. Smith, Jr., edited by John T. Greenwood, reviewed by Harold R. Winton, 987-988

Anthropological Intelligence: The Deployment and Neglect of American Anthropology in the Second World War, by David H. Price, reviewed by Pamela Frese, 988-989

Europe at War 1939-1945: No Simple Victory, by Norman Davies, reviewed by Thomas S. Wilkins, 990-991

Rock of Contention: Free French and Americans at War in New Caledonia, 1940-1945, by Kim Munholland, reviewed by Adrian Muckle, 991-993

Montgomery and the Battle of Normandy: A Selection from the Diaries, Correspondence and other Papers of Field Marshal The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, January to August, 1944, edited by Stephen Brooks, reviewed by Colin F. Baxter, 993-996

Crossing the Rhine: Breaking into Nazi Germany 1944 and 1945 – The Greatest Airborne Battles in History, by Lloyd Clark, reviewed by Martijn Lak, 996-998

Patton: Legendary World War II Commander, by Martin Blumenson and Kevin M. Hymel, reviewed by Brian F. Neumann, 998-999

Fire and Fury: The Allied Bombing of Germany 1942-45, by Randall Hansen, reviewed by Randall T. Wakelam, 999-1000

The Pacific War: The Strategy, Politics and Players that Won the War, by William B. Hopkins, reviewed by John A. Adams, 1000-1002

Iwo Jima: World War II Veterans Remember the Greatest Battle of the Pacific, by Larry Smith, reviewed by David J. Ulbrich, 1002-1003

Air Commandos Against Japan: Allied Special Operations in World War II Burma, by William T. Y’Blood, reviewed by Benjamin Armstrong, 1003-1004

Victory was Beyond Their Grasp: With the 272nd Volks-Grenadier Division from the Hürtgen Forest to the Heart of the Reich, by Douglas E. Nash, reviewed by Steven R. Parker, 1004-1005

L'Espagne Républicaine: French Policy and Spanish Republicanism in Liberated France, by David A. Messenger, reviewed by Robert S. Coale, 1006-1007

Normandy: The Landings to the Liberation of Paris, by Olivier Wieviorka, translated by M.B. DeBevoise, reviewed by John A. English, 1007-1010

Cinderella Army: The Canadians in Northwest Europe, 1944-1945, by Terry Copp, reviewed by Russell A. Hart, 1010-1011

Apocalypse Management: Eisenhower and the Discourse of National Insecurity, by Ira Chernus, reviewed by Campbell Craig, 1011-1013

Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA, by John Prados, reviewed by Albert I. Berger, 1013-1015

India’s Nuclear Policy, by Bharat Karnad, reviewed by Benjamin P. Greene, 1015-1016

The Line: Combat in Korea, January-February 1951, edited by William T. Bowers, reviewed by James I. Matray, 1016-1018

Societal Impact of Spaceflight, edited by Steven J. Dick and Roger D. Launius, reviewed by Andrew Baird, 1018-1019

Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within, by Shuja Nawaz, reviewed by Rob Johnson, 1019-1020

Steel and Blood: South Vietnamese Armor and the War for Southeast Asia, by Ha Mai Viet, reviewed by Jay Veith, 1020-1021

On Their Own: Women Journalists and the American Experience in Vietnam, by Joyce Hoffman, reviewed by Robert L. Bateman, 1022-1023

Why War? Why an Army?, by John M. House and Understanding Modern Warfare, by David Jordan et al., reviewed by Jeremy Black, 1023-1024

The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World, by Rupert Smith, reviewed by Carter Malkasian, 1024-1026

War Since 1990, by Jeremy Black, reviewed by Lester W. Grau, 1026-1027

United Nations Interventionism 1991-2004, edited by Mats Berdal and Spyros Economides, reviewed by Enrico Magnani, 1027-1028

Arms and Innovation: Entrepreneurship and Alliances in the Twenty-First Century Defense Industry, by James Hasik, reviewed by Byron K. Callan, 1028-1029

Bad Strategies: How Major Powers Fail in Counterinsurgency, by James S. Corum, reviewed by Andrew J. Birtle , 1030-1032

Kosovo Liberation Army: The Inside Story of an Insurgency, by Henry H. Perritt, Jr., reviewed by Charles R. Shrader, 1032-1033

Pentagon 9/11, by Alfred Goldberg, et al., reviewed by Steve Vogel, 1033-1034

Other:
BOOKS RECEIVED: 1035-1042
RECENT JOURNAL ARTICLES: 1043-1046
DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS IN MILITARY HISTORY: 1049-1059
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: 1060-1061