Download or read book War and the Engineers written by Keir A. Lieber and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-05 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do some technologies provoke war? Do others promote peace? Offense-defense theory contends that technological change is an important cause of conflict: leaders will be tempted to launch wars when they believe innovation favors attackers over defenders. Offense-defense theory is perhaps best known from the passionate and intricate debates about first-strike capability and deterrence stability during the cold war, but it has deeper historical roots, remains a staple in international relations theorizing, and drives modern arms control policymaking. In War and the Engineers, the first book systematically to test the logical and empirical validity of offense-defense theory, Keir A. Lieber examines the relationships among politics, technology, and the causes of war. Lieber's cases explore the military and political implications of the spread of railroads, the emergence of rifled small arms and artillery, the introduction of battle tanks, and the nuclear revolution. Lieber incorporates the new historiography of World War I, which draws on archival materials that only recently became available, to challenge many common beliefs about the conflict. The author's central conclusion is that technology is neither a cause of international conflict nor a panacea; instead, power politics remains paramount.
Download or read book Engineers of Victory written by Paul Kennedy and published by Random House. This book was released on 2013-01-29 with total page 531 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Paul Kennedy, award-winning author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers and one of today’s most renowned historians, now provides a new and unique look at how World War II was won. Engineers of Victory is a fascinating nuts-and-bolts account of the strategic factors that led to Allied victory. Kennedy reveals how the leaders’ grand strategy was carried out by the ordinary soldiers, scientists, engineers, and businessmen responsible for realizing their commanders’ visions of success. In January 1943, FDR and Churchill convened in Casablanca and established the Allied objectives for the war: to defeat the Nazi blitzkrieg; to control the Atlantic sea lanes and the air over western and central Europe; to take the fight to the European mainland; and to end Japan’s imperialism. Astonishingly, a little over a year later, these ambitious goals had nearly all been accomplished. With riveting, tactical detail, Engineers of Victory reveals how. Kennedy recounts the inside stories of the invention of the cavity magnetron, a miniature radar “as small as a soup plate,” and the Hedgehog, a multi-headed grenade launcher that allowed the Allies to overcome the threat to their convoys crossing the Atlantic; the critical decision by engineers to install a super-charged Rolls-Royce engine in the P-51 Mustang, creating a fighter plane more powerful than the Luftwaffe’s; and the innovative use of pontoon bridges (made from rafts strung together) to help Russian troops cross rivers and elude the Nazi blitzkrieg. He takes readers behind the scenes, unveiling exactly how thousands of individual Allied planes and fighting ships were choreographed to collectively pull off the invasion of Normandy, and illuminating how crew chiefs perfected the high-flying and inaccessible B-29 Superfortress that would drop the atomic bombs on Japan. The story of World War II is often told as a grand narrative, as if it were fought by supermen or decided by fate. Here Kennedy uncovers the real heroes of the war, highlighting for the first time the creative strategies, tactics, and organizational decisions that made the lofty Allied objectives into a successful reality. In an even more significant way, Engineers of Victory has another claim to our attention, for it restores “the middle level of war” to its rightful place in history. Praise for Engineers of Victory “Superbly written and carefully documented . . . indispensable reading for anyone who seeks to understand how and why the Allies won.”—The Christian Science Monitor “An important contribution to our understanding of World War II . . . Like an engineer who pries open a pocket watch to reveal its inner mechanics, [Paul] Kennedy tells how little-known men and women at lower levels helped win the war.”—Michael Beschloss, The New York Times Book Review “Histories of World War II tend to concentrate on the leaders and generals at the top who make the big strategic decisions and on the lowly grunts at the bottom. . . . [Engineers of Victory] seeks to fill this gap in the historiography of World War II and does so triumphantly. . . . This book is a fine tribute.”—The Wall Street Journal “[Kennedy] colorfully and convincingly illustrates the ingenuity and persistence of a few men who made all the difference.”—The Washington Post “This superb book is Kennedy’s best.”—Foreign Affairs
Download or read book Engineers at War Hardcover written by Adrian G Traas and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2011-02-25 with total page 680 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NOTE: NO FURTHER DISCOUNT FOR THIS PRINTED PRODUCT- OVERSTOCK SALE -- Significantly reduced list price Engineers at War describes the role of military engineers, especially the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in the Vietnam War. It is a story of the engineers' battle against an elusive and determined enemy in one of the harshest underdeveloped regions of the world. Despite these challenges, engineer soldiers successfully carried out their combat and construction missions. The building effort in South Vietnam allowed the United States to deploy and operate a modern 500,000-man force in a far-off region. Although the engineers faced huge construction tasks, they were always ready to support the combat troops. They built ports and depots, carved airfields and airstrips out of jungle and mountain plateaus, repaired roads and bridges, and constructed bases. Because of these efforts, ground combat troops with their supporting engineers were able to fight the enemy from well-established bases. Although most of the construction was temporary, more durable facilities, such as airfields, port and depot complexes, headquarters buildings, communications facilities, and an improved highway system, were intended to serve as economic assets for South Vietnam. This volume covers how the engineers grew from a few advisory detachments to a force of more than 10 percent of the Army troops serving in South Vietnam. The 35th Engineer Group began arriving in large numbers in June 1965 to begin transforming Cam Ranh Bay into a major port, airfield, and depot complex. Within a few years, the Army engineers had expanded to a command, two brigades, six groups, twenty-eight construction and combat battalions, and many smaller units. Other products produced by the U.S. Army, Center of Military History can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/agency/1061
Download or read book The U S Army Corps of Engineers written by and published by Department of Defense. This book was released on 2008 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Product Description: This illustrated book highlights the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' history from the battle of Bunker Hill to the war on terrorism; an introduction to aspects and events in engineer history. The Corps has a wealth of visual information--drawings, artwork, photographs, maps, plans, models--and this book contains a montage of historical images from the Revolutionary War to the present, in addition to many newly written articles. This new history also features an extensive index to aid in finding a specific subject, and researchers and interested individuals can be sure that they will find a solid historical perspective.
Download or read book Engineers of Independence written by Paul K. Walker and published by The Minerva Group, Inc.. This book was released on 2002-08 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of documents, including many previously unpublished, details the role of the Army engineers in the American Revolution. Lacking trained military engineers, the Americans relied heavily on foreign officers, mostly from France, for sorely needed technical assistance. Native Americans joined the foreign engineer officers to plan and carry out offensive and defensive operations, direct the erection of fortifications, map vital terrain, and lay out encampments. During the war Congress created the Corps of Engineers with three companies of engineer troops as well as a separate geographer's department to assist the engineers with mapping. Both General George Washington and Major General Louis Lebéque Duportail, his third and longest serving Chief Engineer, recognized the disadvantages of relying on foreign powers to fill the Army's crucial need for engineers. America, they contended, must train its own engineers for the future. Accordingly, at the war's end, they suggested maintaining a peacetime engineering establishment and creating a military academy. However, Congress rejected the proposals, and the Corps of Engineers and its companies of sappers and miners mustered out of service. Eleven years passed before Congress authorized a new establishment, the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers.
Download or read book Builders and Fighters written by Barry W. Fowle and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-09-26 with total page 554 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Corps of Engineers played an important role in winning World War II. Its work included building and repairing roads, bridges, and airfields; laying and clearing minefields; establishing and destroying obstacles; constructing training camps and other support facilities; building the Pentagon; and providing facilities for the development of the atomic bomb. In addition to their construction work, engineers engaged in combat with the enemy in the Battle of the Bulge, on the Ledo Road in Burma, in the mountains of Italy, and at numerous other locations. Certainly one of the highlights of Corps activity during World War II was the construction of the 1,685-mile Alaska Highway, cared out of the Canadian and Alaskan wilderness. "Builders and Fighters" is a series of essays on some of the hectic engineer activity during World War II. Veterans of that war should read this book and point with pride to their accomplishments. In it, today's engineers will find further reasons to be proud of their heritage.
Download or read book Engineering Victory written by Thomas F. Army Jr. and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2016-06-01 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Superior engineering skills among Union soldiers helped ensure victory in the Civil War. Engineering Victory brings a fresh approach to the question of why the North prevailed in the Civil War. Historian Thomas F. Army, Jr., identifies strength in engineering—not superior military strategy or industrial advantage—as the critical determining factor in the war’s outcome. Army finds that Union soldiers were able to apply scientific ingenuity and innovation to complex problems in a way that Confederate soldiers simply could not match. Skilled Free State engineers who were trained during the antebellum period benefited from basic educational reforms, the spread of informal educational practices, and a culture that encouraged learning and innovation. During the war, their rapid construction and repair of roads, railways, and bridges allowed Northern troops to pass quickly through the forbidding terrain of the South as retreating and maneuvering Confederates struggled to cut supply lines and stop the Yankees from pressing any advantage. By presenting detailed case studies from both theaters of the war, Army clearly demonstrates how the soldiers’ education, training, and talents spelled the difference between success and failure, victory and defeat. He also reveals massive logistical operations as critical in determining the war’s outcome.
Download or read book My Brave Mechanics written by Mark Hoffman and published by Wayne State University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An important and little-known chapter of Michigan's Civil War history, drawn from the letters, diaries, and regimental records of the First Michigan Engineers and Mechanics regiment.
Download or read book Love War and the 96th Engineers Colored written by Gwendolyn Hall and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2000-11 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "These candid diaries and letters present with striking immediacy the experiences of Captain Hyman Samuelson, a young, white, Jewish officer in command of African-American troops in New Guinea during World War II. His detailed, on-site account of issues rarely touched on in wartime literature--especially the dynamics between black troops and white officers and the unsung work of military engineers--unfolds side by side with the poignant, ultimately tragic, love story of Samuelson's wartime marriage and his wife Dora's fight against cancer. Expertly edited by Samuelson's niece, the award-winning historian Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, these diaries tell a moving story of personal sacrifice under difficult circumstances that included not only enemy attack but also a segregated and unequal military structure. "
Download or read book US Combat Engineer 1941 45 written by Gordon L. Rottman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-06-20 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At its peak in World War II, the United States Army contained over 700 engineer battalions, along with numerous independent brigades and regiments. The specialized soldiers of the Engineers were tasked with a wide variety of crucially important tasks including river bridging, camouflage, airfield construction, and water and petroleum supply. However, despite their important support roles, the engineers were often employed on the front lines fighting beside the general infantry in the desperate battles of the European theatre. This book covers the role of these soldiers, from their recruitment and training, through their various support missions and combat experiences, forming an account of what it was truly like to be a combat engineer in World War II.
Download or read book German Combat Engineers in World War II 1939 1945 written by Horst Riebenstahl and published by Schiffer Military History. This book was released on 1998 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The German engineer troops developed out of a branch that only developed into a fighting service arm by World War II. Thus, along with the special engineers, there were also names like Assault Engineers, Armored Engineers. Out of this wide field, this new volume of photo documentation shows some 300 photos, mostly never before published, including rare pictures of bridgelaying tanks in action, mine operations, and the construction of makeshift bridges.
Download or read book Down Ramp written by William Francis Heavey and published by . This book was released on 1947 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Da amerikanske hær trådte ind i krigen var det blandt andet med dens enorme landgangsoperationer. Bogen fortæller om amfibie-begrebets historie, om de mænd der udviklede fartøjet, og om arbejdet for de mænd der skulle bruge det i praksis: amfibie-ingeniørerne. Der fortælles om strabadserne på steder som Sicilien, Normandiet, Okinawa og på andre lokaliteter i Stillehavsområdet.
Download or read book Making Art Work written by W. Patrick Mccray and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2020-10-20 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The creative collaborations of engineers, artists, scientists, and curators over the past fifty years. Artwork as opposed to experiment? Engineer versus artist? We often see two different cultural realms separated by impervious walls. But some fifty years ago, the borders between technology and art began to be breached. In this book, W. Patrick McCray shows how in this era, artists eagerly collaborated with engineers and scientists to explore new technologies and create visually and sonically compelling multimedia works. This art emerged from corporate laboratories, artists' studios, publishing houses, art galleries, and university campuses. Many of the biggest stars of the art world--Robert Rauschenberg, Yvonne Rainer, Andy Warhol, Carolee Schneemann, and John Cage--participated, but the technologists who contributed essential expertise and aesthetic input often went unrecognized.
Download or read book A Combat Engineer With Pattons Army written by Lois Lembo and published by . This book was released on 2018-06-19 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: George Patton is renowned for his daring tank thrusts and rapid movement, but the many rivers and obstacles his Third Army encountered crossing Europe required engineers spearheading his advance. A Combat Engineer with Patton's Army is the untold story of Frank Lembo, one of Patton's men who helped move the American command in the battle of Argentan in the Normandy Campaign, in the high-speed pursuit of the German Wehrmacht eastward across France, and in the brutal battles waged during the Battle of the Bulge and during the final combats along the borders of the collapsing Reich.Throughout his time in Europe Lembo maintained a running commentary of his experiences with Betty Craig, his fianc� and future wife. This extensive correspondence provides a unique eyewitness view of the life and work of a combat engineer under wartime conditions. As a squad (and later platoon) leader, Frank and his comrades cleared mines, conducted reconnaissance behind enemy lines, built bridges, and performed other tasks necessary to support the movement of the 317th, 318th, and 319th Infantry Regiments of the Blue Ridge Division--Patton's workhorses, if not his glamour boys.Frank wrote about the deadly river crossings at the Moselle, Seille, and Sauer, all under enemy fire, and of the frustrating pauses when supplies were diverted. He participated in the mid-December sprint to Luxembourg and the relief provided at Bastogne during the Bulge, the liberation of concentration camps once Third Army had charged into Germany, and of their occupation duty in Bavaria. Frank's letters go beyond his direct combat experiences to include the camaraderie among the GIs, living conditions, weather, and the hijinks that helped keep the constant threat of death at bay. His letters also worked to reassure Betty with hopeful dreams for their future together.Including dozens of previously unpublished photographs, A Combat Engineer with Patton's Army: The Fight Across Europe with the 80th "Blue Ridge" Division in World War II offers the rare perspective of what day-to-day warfare at the ground-level looked like in the European Theater through the eyes of one of the men spearheading the advance.
Download or read book Essayons written by and published by . This book was released on 2020-11 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Management of the Hanford Engineer Works in World War II written by Harry Thayer and published by Amer Society of Civil Engineers. This book was released on 1996 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combining in-depth research with first-hand interviews of key participants in the project, Thayer engagingly recounts an important aspect of America's race to develop atomic weapons. He describes the organization and management methods behind one of the major engineering achievements of the 20th century--the design and construction of the original plutonium-production plant at Hanford, Washington. Hanford's extraordinarily short and successful development is described and placed in the context of the contemporaneous crisis conditions: fear, urgency, and daunting uncertainties in science, engineering, procurement, and construction. The efforts of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DuPont, and the Metallurgical Laboratory are described in depth, in addition to detailed discussions of the desperate nature of the crisis, labor conditions, technologies, and intangibles of those wartime years. Thayer pinpoints 38 principal reasons for Hanford's success; describes what the engineers, builders, and operators actually did; and presents figures and tables to illustrate the severely time-constrained problems of parallel development. About the Author Harry Thayer has participated in the design of more than 70 industrial plants over a career of more than 40 years.
Download or read book Leading the Way written by Ronald B. Hartzer and published by U.S. Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2014 with total page 846 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Leading the way describes how the men and women of Air Force civil engineering have provided the basing that enabled the Air Force to fly, fight, and win. This book depicts how engineers built hundreds of bases during World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, and Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. At the same time, these engineers operated and maintained a global network of enduring, peacetime bases. It describes the engineers' role in special projects such as the ballistic missile program, the Arctic early warning sites, and construction of the U.S. Air Force Academy. Using hundreds of sources, this detailed narrative tells the story of how civil engineers have been organized, trained, equipped, and employed for more than 100 years. From the beaches of Normandy to the mountains of Afghanistan, civil engineers have forged an unmatched record of success and built a solid foundation for today's Air Force."--Back cover.
