Eyes Of War

How perceptual technologies have shaped the history of war from the Renaissance to the present From ubiquitous surveillance to drone strikes that put “warheads onto foreheads,” we live in a world of globalized, individualized targeting. The perils are great. In The Eye of War, Antoine Bousquet provides both a sweeping historical overview of military perception technologies and a disquieting lens on a world that is, increasingly, one in which anything or anyone that can be perceived can be destroyed—in which to see is to destroy. Arguing that modern-day global targeting is dissolving the conventionally bounded spaces of armed conflict, Bousquet shows that over several centuries, a logistical order of militarized perception has come into ascendancy, bringing perception and annihilation into ever-closer alignment. The efforts deployed to evade this deadly visibility have correspondingly intensified, yielding practices of radical concealment that presage a wholesale disappearance of the customary space of the battlefield. Beginning with the Renaissance’s fateful discovery of linear perspective, The Eye of War discloses the entanglement of the sciences and techniques of perception, representation, and localization in the modern era amid the perpetual quest for military superiority. In a survey that ranges from the telescope, aerial photograph, and gridded map to radar, digital imaging, and the geographic information system, Bousquet shows how successive technological systems have profoundly shaped the history of warfare and the experience of soldiering. A work of grand historical sweep and remarkable analytical power, The Eye of War explores the implications of militarized perception for the character of war in the twenty-first century and the place of human subjects within its increasingly technical armature.

From the Crimean War and American Civil War through the two World Wars, from Vietnam to the Balkans and Afghanistan, photographers have been drawn to the battlefront. This book selects 200 of the most powerful war photographs, together with poignant testaments by soldiers and battlefield witnesses, to make an unforgettable tableau. Among these arresting images are Mathew Brady's Civil War pictures from Gettysburg; those taken from the Cape to Cairo during the colonial "Scramble for Africa"; those from the armageddon of the First World War; the World War II photos of Robert Capa and Margaret Bourke-White; and those of Don McCullin and Larry Burrows from Vietnam. The brute strength of military hardware is contrasted with the vulnerability of the human body, as artillery, tanks, planes, and aircraft carriers are set against infantry. Heart-stopping images of the trenches in WWI, the empty steppes of Russia during WWII, and the street fighting in Afghanistan testify to the skill of the photographers.

In tribute to the gallant leaders of the Pacific war, the editors of this book have prepared a brief summary highlighting their military and naval careers. We were indeed fortunate to have at the helm men of such integrity and brilliance of purpose. They assumed the mighty tasks of battle with courage, foresight and confidence and have so directed our fighting men that their names shall be indelibly imprinted in the history of the United States as symbols of the democratic principle, "that government of the people, for the people and by the people shall not perish from the earth." For indeed these great leaders are first of all Americans ... Americans who faced the challenge of World War II and by their efforts surmounted it. We are proud to salute them! This publication is a photographic description of WWII, containing 400 photos from Dec 7, 1941 to V-J Day, Sept. 2, 1945.

During the final days of the Japanese occupation of China, Shao-shao celebrates his tenth birthday, observes traditional holidays with his family, and befriends the daughter of a traitor.

This collection provides a transnational, interdisciplinary perspective on artistic responses to war from 1914 to the present, analysing a broad selection of the rich, complex body of work which has emerged in response to conflicts since the Great War. Many of the creators examined here embody the human experience of war: first-hand witnesses who developed a unique visual language in direct response to their role as victim, soldier, refugee, resister, prisoner and embedded or official artist. Contributors address specific issues relating to propaganda, wartime femininity and masculinity, women as war artists, trauma, the role of art in soldiery, memory, art as resistance, identity and the memorialisation of war.

First published in 1958. This volume translates and places in the appropriate historical context a number of private documents, such as diaries, autobiographies and confessions, which explain what the Opium War felt like on the Chinese side.

Established in the 1940s, the Five Eyes intelligence network consists of Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. The alliance was integral to shaping domestic and international security decisions during the Cold War, yet much of the intelligence history of these countries remains unknown. In The Bridge in the Parks, intelligence scholars from across the Five Eyes come together to present case studies detailing the varied successes and struggles their countries experienced in the world of Cold War counter-intelligence. The case studies draw on newly declassified documents on a variety of topics, including civil liberties, agent handling, wiretapping, and international relations. Collectively, these studies highlight how Cold War intelligence history is more nuanced than it has often been portrayed – and much like in the world of intelligence, nothing is ever entirely as it seems.

By the summer of 1917, Canadian troops had captured Vimy Ridge, but Allied offensives had stalled across many fronts of the Great War. To help break the stalemate of trench warfare, the Canadian Corps commander, Lieutenant-General Arthur Currie, was tasked with capturing Hill 70, a German stronghold near the French town of Lens. After securing the hill on 15 August, Canadian soldiers endured days of shelling, machine-gun fire, and poison gas as they repelled relentless enemy counterattacks. Through Their Eyes depicts this remarkable but costly victory in a unique way. With full-colour graphic artwork and detailed illustration, Matthew Barrett and Robert Engen picture the battle from different perspectives – Currie’s strategic view at high command, a junior officer’s experience at the platoon level, and the vantage points of many lesser-known Canadian soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice. This innovative graphic history invites readers to reimagine the First World War through the eyes of those who lived it and to think more deeply about how we visualize and remember the past. Combining outstanding original art and thought-provoking commentary, Through Their Eyes uncovers the fascinating stories behind this battle while creatively expanding the ways that history is shared and represented.