Bøker av Jeffrey LaMonica

English-language historiography traditionally disregards Italian military history with sweeping generalizations about ineptitude, cowardice, and an ethnic/cultural aversion to warfare. This dismissive and demeaning approach obscures thoughtful analysis and discourse on the strengths, weaknesses, and ways in which Italy's military history is not dissimilar from other nations. Italy experienced two anti-insurgent operations, two conventional wars against European powers, a civil war, and two colonial campaigns during its first fifty years as a nation. These encounters forced versatility. Italy entered World War One as a young nation with a fledgling industry and limited raw materials. Nevertheless, it progressed along the tactical learning curve of modern industrial warfare like other belligerents. The country's strategic aspirations in World War Two, like those of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, exceeded its war-making capabilities. The Italian Way of War synthesizes previous scholarship with original research to provide a balanced narrative and assessment of Italian military history from 1866 to 1943.

This book presents a new perspective on the Cold War from British Ambassador to the US, Sir Roger Makins, during the pivotal year of 1953. The book's primary focus is on the historical origins of US diplomacy, a consideration often neglected by those who analyze global events and develop foreign policy in the 21st century.

The U.S. Army evolved into a truly modern fighting force during World War I. When the U.S. entered the war in 1917, the infantry was its primary offensive arm. Training focused mainly on target practice, bayonet charges and marching drills. Antiquated tactics emphasized massive attack waves relying on ferocity to achieve battlefield objectives. Heavy casualties resulted when inexperienced American troops encountered entrenched German veterans trained in the use of modern artillery and machine guns. By war's end the American Expeditionary Force had progressed along a bloody learning curve, developing sophisticated techniques--small flexible formations, fire-and-maneuver and infiltration--for breaking the trench warfare stalemate. Eventually, the AEF integrated new weapons like poison gas, tanks and aircraft into its offensive tactics and pioneered the mechanized combined arms warfare still practiced by the U.S. Army. The exploits of the Fifth "Red Diamond" Division exemplify this critical period of development.