Impossible Victories

A military historian takes an in-depth look at a selection of surprising battlefield successes. Victory on the battlefield is sometimes achieved against the odds—victory snatched from the jaws of apparently inevitable defeat. A daring counterattack, an unexpected maneuver, a stubborn refusal to be beaten, and the impossible victory is won. In the ten dramatic episodes in this book, military historian Bryan Perrett revisits battles from the Peninsula War of 1811 to Vietnam in 1967, via colonial action in two world wars.

"A remarkable inside story of the war from the perspective of the Iraqi Commander-in-Chief. Fascinating, very readable, and recommended." – Jeremy Bowen, BBC Middle East editor " Impossible Victory is the definitive memoir of Iraq's effort to save its people and many other would-be victims from the most destructive terrorist organisation in history." – Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster, former US national security advisor and author of Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World "This book ... casts a historical light on a decisive era." – Jean-Yves Le Drian, French minister for Europe and foreign affairs *** By 2014, the world had grown weary of Iraq and its troubles. The Americans had all but gone and the media had turned its gaze towards Syria, but Iraq's problems were far from over. That same year, ISIS put Iraq back on the map as they crossed the border from Syria and rampaged through the country, kidnapping, raping and killing, all in the name of enforcing their murderous interpretation of Sharia law. Terror had arrived and was taking the region in its grip. Saddam Hussein, the occupation, sectarian war, corruption and political instability had collectively laid the groundwork for further violence, and Iraqis were about to see the worst of it. It was against this backdrop that Haider al-Abadi became Prime Minister. What would likely be the most formidable task of his life lay ahead of him: to help unify his homeland's fractured military and politics and, slowly, to turn the tide on ISIS, ultimately achieving what once seemed an impossible victory. This is the definitive and fascinating true story of how the people of Iraq took on and eventually defeated ISIS, told by the country's former Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi.

Some of the most unlikely, unexpected, improbable, and even impossible military successes of the past 200 years, covered in a "top ten" list! With accurate detail and adventurous drama, these accounts highlight the Albuera counterattack in the 1811 Peninsular War; the Battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane in 1814; the Charges at Beersheba and Huj in Palestine (1917); the Rough Riders storming San Juan Hill; US Rangers at Omaha Beach; and the Hill 875 attack in Vietnam.

From the jaws of defeat, incredible victories. AT ALL COSTS! transports you to the battlefront for over two centuries of astonishing military confrontations. From the Battle of Minden in 1795 to dramatic second world war stories and the Battle for Goose Green in the Falklands, Bryan Perrett gives astoundingly vivid accounts of international forces in daring actions, achieving victory against the odds. These real-life military adventures are meticulously, accurately described, giving a true flavour of some of the most important moments in world history.

Annotation What does it mean to win a moral victory? A host of scholars and soldiers, including Augustine, Cicero, Clausewitz, Napoleon, and MacArthur have claimed that victory is the very object of war. Yet what victory means, and what might render it moral, have always been problematic and may well have become unsustainable in today's security environment. This book examines how we can discern a just from an unjust victory, how best to balance the duty to fight justly withthe obligation to win, and what the changing nature of war means for moral judgment. The wide-ranging collection of essays covers the intellectual and historical traditions of victory as well as thecontemporary challenges it poses in light of changing ways of war. It will be of interest to military professionals and political practitioners as well as those interested in strategy, the just war tradition, international relations, and security.

A collection of true short stories relates the obstacles, challenges, circumstances, and efforts involved in some of history's most impossible victories

Most wars between countries end quickly and at relatively low cost. The few in which high-intensity fighting continues for years bring about a disproportionate amount of death and suffering. What separates these few unusually long and intense wars from the many conflicts that are far less destructive? In Logics of War, Alex Weisiger tests three explanations for a nation's decision to go to war and continue fighting regardless of the costs. He combines sharp statistical analysis of interstate wars over the past two centuries with nine narrative case studies. He examines both well-known conflicts like World War II and the Persian Gulf War, as well as unfamiliar ones such as the 1864-1870 Paraguayan War (or the War of the Triple Alliance), which proportionally caused more deaths than any other war in modern history. When leaders go to war expecting easy victory, events usually correct their misperceptions quickly and with fairly low casualties, thereby setting the stage for a negotiated agreement. A second explanation involves motives born of domestic politics; as war becomes more intense, however, leaders are increasingly constrained in their ability to continue the fighting. Particularly destructive wars instead arise from mistrust of an opponent's intentions. Countries that launch preventive wars to forestall expected decline tend to have particularly ambitious war aims that they hold to even when fighting goes poorly. Moreover, in some cases, their opponents interpret the preventive attack as evidence of a dispositional commitment to aggression, resulting in the rejection of any form of negotiation and a demand for unconditional surrender. Weisiger's treatment of a topic of central concern to scholars of major wars will also be read with great interest by military historians, political psychologists, and sociologists.