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First besieged in 305 BC, the island of Rhodes became part of the Roman Empire and was later fortified in the Byzantine style. Due to its strategic position in the Mediterranean, Rhodes was also attacked and besieged for over a century by Islamic forces. This title details the development of these fascinating fortifications, as well as the sieges that sought to reduce them.

Cities have evolved from small urban systems designed to withstand attack from without. The demands of the modern city have shifted the focus to the dangers of internal violence. War and the City analyses the role of cities in war and the effects of war on cities.

A fascinating study of the devastating new form of warfare that redrew the map of Europe in the opening year of World War II, bringing about the military collapse and capitulation of seven modern industrialized nations. On 1 September 1939, Nazi Germany launched the invasion of Poland, employing a new type of offensive warfare: Blitzkrieg. So named by Allied observers because of the shock and rapidity of its effects, this new approach was based on speed, manoeuvrability and concentration of fir...

What are the security requirements of the new Europe? The enormous changes that have come about in the past few years in East-West relations, together with US demands for greater burden-sharing, pressure on defence budgets and the desire to involve France more closely in the defence of Western Europe, have brought about the need for a total re-examination of West European defence cooperation. This study looks at the range of institutions involved, with particular emphasis on the future role of t...

This study is one of the rare contributions to the very small library of genuine strategic studies. (Strategy here covers all military activity.) The broad purpose is to show how strategy works, using air power and special operations as substantial case studies, but also addressing sea power, nuclear deterrence, and information warfare. Although this book has many interesting things to say about the future of air power, the reliability of non-nuclear deterrence, the true character of joint warfa...

This title provides a detailed examination of the defenses of the three largest fortified cities in Canada - Quebec, Montreal and Louisbourg - and also covers New Orleans in America. Quebec City is the best known and most impressive of the sites covered, and was the strongest of the fortresses of New France: besieged twice by the British (1690 and 1759) and once by the French (1760), it was captured in 1759 by General James Wolfe. Montreal was also strongly fortified and its strategic location e...

Hell To Pay: Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947 is a comprehensive and compelling examination of the myriad complex issues that comprised the strategic plans for the American invasion of Japan. U.S. planning for the invasion and military occupation of Imperial Japan was begun in 1943, two years before the dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In its final form, Operation Downfall called for a massive Allied invasion-on a scale dwarfing "D-Day"-to be carried out...

Nicholas Murray's The Rocky Road to the Great War examines the evolution of field fortification theory and practice between 1877 and 1914. During this period field fortifications became increasingly important, and their construction evolved from primarily above to below ground. The reasons for these changes are crucial to explaining the landscape of World War I, yet they have remained largely unstudied. The transformation in field fortifications reflected not only the ongoing technological adva...

Analyzing the war in Europe from D-Day to V-E Day, this text reconsiders the important military and political questions relating to the final year of World War II. The essays in the book attack these issues from strategic, operational, tactical and human perspectives, each section containing commentary from experts in the field. The volume opens with assessments of Roosevelt and Churchill's strategies, then goes on to offer analyses of aspects of the operational level of warfare. In one essay, D...

A combination memoir and combat photography book, 'Running Recon' reflects both the author's experiences in the top-secret Studies and Observation Group (SOG) from April 1969 to April 1970, and the collective experiences of SOG veterans in general. What sets it apart from other Vietnam books is its wealth of more than 700 photographs, many never before published, from the author's personal collection and those of his fellow SOG veterans.

Contains the anthology of publications formerly compiled by the History and Museums Division during the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Korean Conflict, 1950-1953. Focus of the articles is to remember those Marines who fought and died in the "forgotten war".