America S Military Adversaries

Chronicles the lives and dubious accomplishments of over 200 leading and lesser-known enemies--those who have fought, plotted, spied on, and in some instances defeated U.S. forces.

This work chronicles the lives and accomplishments of over 200 enemies who have fought, plotted, spied on, and in some instances defeated U.S. forces over the past three centuries. Books on American military heroes abound. But this book is the first to focus on America's talented enemies—the generals, admirals, Indian chiefs and warriors, submarine captains, fighter pilots, and spies who opposed the United States with military force or other means. Often these military leaders were among the best minds of their times. For more than two centuries, the new nation's most constant military opponents were the Native Americans, led by such capable chiefs as American Horse and Little Wolf. Under D'Iberville, Canada's French colonialists became formidable foes, but they were soon surpassed by the rigorously disciplined redcoats of Great Britain under Howe and Cornwallis. Ironically, the most effective enemies in the history of the United States were not the leaders of foreign military forces—like Mexico's Santa Anna, Japan's Yamamoto, or Vietnam's Vo Nguyen Giap. They arose from among its own citizens during the Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in American history.

During World War II the uniformed heads of the U.S. armed services assumed a pivotal and unprecedented role in the formulation of the nation's foreign policies. Organized soon after Pearl Harbor as the Joint Chiefs of Staff, these individuals were officially responsible only for the nation's military forces. During the war their functions came to encompass a host of foreign policy concerns, however, and so powerful did the military voice become on those issues that only the president exercised a more decisive role in their outcome. Drawing on sources that include the unpublished records of the Joint Chiefs as well as the War, Navy, and State Departments, Mark Stoler analyzes the wartime rise of military influence in U.S. foreign policy. He focuses on the evolution of and debates over U.S. and Allied global strategy. In the process, he examines military fears regarding America's major allies--Great Britain and the Soviet Union--and how those fears affected President Franklin D. Roosevelt's policies, interservice and civil-military relations, military-academic relations, and postwar national security policy as well as wartime strategy.

The Adversaries (1981) examines the post-war world that both the US and the Soviet Union tried to mould in their own images. Their faith in their respective systems came at the cost of a political, economic and military clashing in various parts of the world, an antagonism that rendered the United Nations ineffective as an organ of world government. This book analyses these clashes, as the foreign policy decisions of both superpowers had wide-ranging effects over large portions of the globe.

It is in the Middle East that the U.S. has been made to confront its attitudes on the use of force, the role of allies, and international law. The history of the U.S. in the Middle East, then, becomes an especially revealing mirror on America's view of its role in the wider world. In this wise, objective, and illuminating history, Lawrence Freedman shows how three key events in 1978-1979 helped establish the foundations for U.S. involvement in the Middle East that would last for thirty years, without offering any straightforward or bloodless exit options: the Camp David summit leading to the Israel-Egypt Treaty; the Iranian Islamic revolution leading to the Shah's departure followed by the hostage crisis; and the socialist revolution in Afghanistan, resulting in the doomed Soviet intervention. Drawing on his considerable expertise, Freedman makes clear how America's strategic choices in those and subsequent crises led us to where we are today.

Three distinguished experts and policy practitioners declare: "Despite the wrongs committed against China in the past, the People's Republic of China must not represent the future, for it is corrupt. Harking back to what Ronald Reagan did to spur the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United States must enunciate that its objective is the peaceful end of the Communist Party of China. China existed for four thousand years before the formation of a communist junta within its borders; China can only achieve greatness combined with liberty and wealth if it frees itself from one-party rule and the despotism this type of government always brings." America is doomed to collapse under a multi-pronged attack led by the PRC and by statists in our midst. We must return in great haste to the Judeo-Christian principles upon which we were founded, which made us the most prosperous, secure, and generous nation in human history.

“Some historians are great because they write great books, others because they write books that need to be written. Mark A. Stoler... has done both. Allies in War offers an accessible and gracefully written synthesis of the wealth of new and important scholarship... addressing American and British grand strategy during World War II. Allies in War presents a global overview of Anglo-American cooperation against the Axis powers with a chronological account of the major diplomatic and military events. It begins with a brief summary of World War I and the interwar years, continues through the capitulation of Japan in September 1945, and concludes with a short discussion of the origins of the Cold War... Stoler’s story also covers the world war like a world war... Each chapter covers major developments in every theater... [Stoler] makes particular effort to recognize the critical role of the Soviet Union in winning World War II and its impact on Anglo-American strategy. Allies in War is a versatile work with a lot of uses. Both students and professionals will find rewards. This volume will be an excellent tool for teaching survey and elective history courses. It will also aid in understanding the dynamics that attend coalition warfare.” — The Journal of American History “[A] decided tour de force... Stoler provides an excellent and readable overview on a global scale of the interrelated wartime military, strategic, and diplomatic decisions and contributions of the United States and Great Britain... Stoler’s forte is elegantly concise syntheses of massive outpourings of scholarship in both military and diplomatic history and judicious, balanced, and stimulating assessments of often controversial issues... Lucid, balanced, nuanced, and acute, giving equal space to the wars in both Europe and Asia, Stoler’s interpretive overview is a valuable and welcome addition to its field.” — The Journal of Military History “This is the work of a mature historian, comfortably in command of his material, using his considerable experience to construct a tightly controlled narrative that carries the reader forward with little effort on his or her part; a sure sign of considerable effort on the part of the writer... Stoler’s book is much more than the synthesis it might appear to be... It is a masterly summary of existing scholarship, but one enriched by his own knowledge of the archival and secondary material... this book shines when it comes to grand strategy; the reader wanting a potted (and accurate) evolution of Anglo-American grand strategy will find all he or she will need here.” — The International History Review “Mark Stoler... is supremely well qualified to undertake this volume... Previous studies of Anglo-American relations during the Second World War tend to focus on either the war in Europe or the war in the Pacific. The originality of Stoler’s approach is that he wants to cover both. He seeks as well to incorporate the results of relatively recent publications on the Second World War... The results are impressive... Stoler’s writing is a major strength of this book... Stoler provides admirable surveys of the major historical controversies of the Anglo-American war against the Axis powers, such as the efficacy of the Allied strategic bombing campaign, the utility of the Italian campaign, and the continuing debate over the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Anyone who teaches courses on the history of the Second World War will find this volume a valuable resource.” — The Journal of Modern History “Allies in War is... a solid survey of the war... [an] effective synthesis of the most troublesome aspects of the special [Britain-US] relationship.” — Naval History Magazine “An important new study by one of the leading scholars in the field.” — David Reynolds, University of Cambridge