Military Effectiveness

Examines questions raised by the performance of the military institutions of France, Germany, Russia, the US, Great Britain, Japan and Italy between 1914 and 1945.

Allan R. Millett (Edited by), Williamson Murray (Edited by)

9780521737517, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 9 August 2010

408 pages, 6 b/w illus. 6 maps 8 tables
22.9 x 2.3 x 15.2 cm, 0.6 kg

'As one can quickly determine from the scope, [this] is a work of great magnitude and potential … Academics using these studies will benefit from the explicit inclusion of the political level, while military professionals will profit from incorporation of the operational level rather than the former strategic-tactical construct of military studies. It is not often that one work can appeal to both audiences, and the editors are to be congratulated for adopting this schema … Its main value is that it represents the only single source of comparative studies that examine both the conduct of and preparation for war across seven cultures and over three decades that profoundly influenced the twentieth century … For the serious student of military affairs who wishes to tackle the entire series, the rewards will be in the insights gained from the almost limitless combinations one can use to structure the data.' Harold R. Winton, The Journal of Military History

This three-volume study examines the questions raised by the performance of the military institutions of France, Germany, Russia, the United States, Great Britain, Japan, and Italy in the period from 1914 to 1945. Leading military historians deal with the different national approaches to war and military power at the tactical, operational, strategic, and political levels. They form the basis for a fundamental re-examination of how military organizations have performed in the first half of the twentieth century. Volume 3 covers World War II. Volumes 1 and 2 address address World War I and the interwar period, respectively. Now in a new edition, with a new introduction by the editors, these classic volumes will remain invaluable for military historians and social scientists in their examination of national security and military issues. They will also be essential reading for future military leaders at Staff and War Colleges.

Introduction: military effectiveness twenty years after Williamson Murray and Allan R. Millett
1. The effectiveness of the Japanese military establishment in the Second World War Alvin D. Coox
2. The United States armed forces in the Second World War Allan R. Millett
3. British military effectiveness in the Second World War Williamson Murray
4. The Italian armed forces, 1940–3 MacGregor Knox
5. The dynamics of volksgemeinschaft: the effectiveness of the German military establishment in the Second World War Jürgen E. Förster
6. Bitter victory: French military effectiveness during the Second World War Ronald Chalmers Hood III
7. The Soviet armed forces in the Great Patriotic War, 1941–5 John E. Jessup
8. Military effectiveness in the Second World War Earl F. Ziemke
9. Challenge and response at the operational and tactical levels, 1914–45 Lieutenant General John H. Cushman
10. The political and strategic dimensions of military effectiveness Russell F. Weigley.

Subject Areas: Military history [HBW], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW]