PDF Dr. Livingstone; I Presume?: Missionaries; Journalists; Explorers; and Empire (Profiles in History) by Clare Pettitt in History

Description

From Lexington and Gettysburg to Normandy and Iraq; the wars of the United States have defined the nation. But after the guns fall silent; the army searches the lessons of past conflicts in order to prepare for the next clash of arms. In the echo of battle; the army develops the strategies; weapons; doctrine; and commanders that it hopes will guarantee a future victory.In the face of radically new ways of waging war; Brian Linn surveys the past assumptions--and errors--that underlie the army's many visions of warfare up to the present day. He explores the army's forgotten heritage of deterrence; its long experience with counter-guerrilla operations; and its successive efforts to transform itself. Distinguishing three martial traditions--each with its own concept of warfare; its own strategic views; and its own excuses for failure--he locates the visionaries who prepared the army for its battlefield triumphs and the reactionaries whose mistakes contributed to its defeats.Discussing commanders as diverse as Dwight D. Eisenhower; George S. Patton; and Colin Powell; and technologies from coastal artillery to the Abrams tank; he shows how leadership and weaponry have continually altered the army's approach to conflict. And he demonstrates the army's habit of preparing for wars that seldom occur; while ignoring those it must actually fight. Based on exhaustive research and interviews; The Echo of Battle provides an unprecedented reinterpretation of how the U.S. Army has waged war in the past and how it is meeting the new challenges of tomorrow.