Combined Operations: A Global History of Amphibious and Airborne Warfare

(Paperback)

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This compelling book provides the first global history of the evolution of combined operations since Antiquity. Beginning with amphibious warfare in the ancient world of the Romans, Vikings, and Mongols, Jeremy Black advances through the Gunpowder Revolution, the rise of maritime empires and the formation of nation-states, the early Industrial Revolution and the adaptation of modern technology to warfare, the twentieth-century world wars, the Cold War, and concluding with the modern age of irregular and asymmetric conflict. Blacks informed and analytical narrative emphasizes conflicts around the world, focusing not only on leading powers but also regional combatants. His case studies include amphibious operations in the Mongol invasions of Japan, the War for American Independence, and the Gallipoli campaign of World War I. He also explores the development and effectiveness of airborne operations as a way to project military power inland. Offering a balanced assessment of strategic, operational, and technical developments over time, Black considers both the potential and limitations of amphibious and airborne warfarepast, present, and future.

Reviews

Jeremy Black has been one of the worlds premier military historians for years, so its no surprise that hes the one to finally pull the thread through that long and bloody history and produce a landmark text on the subject. Moreover, Black includes airborne operations along with amphibious operations under the subject of Combined Operations.... It is easy to see this book becoming required reading for Marine and Airborne communities . . . [and] a valuable primer for anyone seeking insights into joint warfare and combined warfare as a whole. Black repeatedly makes the case that interservice cooperation across domains is the key to success. For a joint force, that is a lesson that applies to any operation brought into sharp contrast through lucid writing. * The Strategy Bridge *
This volume, one of a series that Black is writing on the several dimensions of warfare (land, sea, air, and now combined) is an essential read for anyone interested in military operations from the sea. * The NYMAS Review *
This is a very necessary, and long overdue,book that sheds light on a neglected facet of military and naval history: the combined operation. Adopting a global context, Jeremy Black explains the evolving strategic, tactical, and political purposes of combined operations from the ancient world to the modern day. In so doing, he demonstrates that these organizationally complex operations have mapped the fluctuating character of war over time and remain a potentially effective asymmetrical engagement in global conflict. -- KAJ McLay, Canterbury Christ Church University
Jeremy Black has produced an outstanding and comprehensive history of combined military operations.The main emphasis is on the eighteenth century to the present, but Black also expertly analyzes and chronicles the non-Western military tradition and history from the ancient to the modern world, a little-examined but critical subject. As with his previous books on world military, strategic, and operational history, this work is a tour de force addressing the fundamental dynamics inherent in combined military operations. -- Stanley D. M. Carpenter, U.S. Naval War College
Jeremy Black offers a unique overview of the evolution of combined operations in warfare from antiquity to the twenty-first century, using historical examples from all parts of the world. These comparisons between diverse regions and periods provide true insight into military history and a comprehension of the critical factors involved. Black demonstrates how logistical and cooperative challenges between services are as important today as they were 2,500 years ago, and how the strategic asymmetries between attacker and defender remain influential on the outcome. -- Gunnar selius, Swedish Defence University

Author Bio

Jeremy Black graduated from Cambridge University with a Starred First and did graduate work at Oxford University before teaching at the University of Durham and then at the University of Exeter, where he is professor of history. He has held visiting chairs at the United States Military Academy at West Point, Texas Christian University, and Stillman College. He is a 2018 Templeton Fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Black received the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize from the Society for Military History in 2008. His recent books include Naval Warfare: A Global History since 1860, Insurgency and Counterinsurgency: A Global History, and Air Power: A Global History.