Joint Military Operations: A Short History

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

This short history is the first broad and selective survey of the phenomenon known as jointness--the co-operative operations of land and naval forces until the twentieth-century and of land, sea, and air forces since World War I. Touching on operational, doctrinal, and political dimensions, the survey ranges from the ancient Mediterranean to recent times while focusing on European and American experiences from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries, including Desert Storm. Illustrative cases and reference materials are attuned to the interests of scholars, defense analysts, and students of military affairs. Jointness, subject of major concern to military historians, policymakers, politicians, and military professionals has in the past been covered within certain periods on a case by case or topical basis. This history begins instead with a broad survey from ancient to modern times and then focuses more closley on joint operations since World War I with wide-ranging examples to illustrate trends and patterns of Jointness. The survey closes with a discussion of the central problem of friction and other paradoxes connected with joint military operations. A selected bibliography provides an array of sources both for general readers and military professionals. Maps and appendices further enrich this important history.

Reviews

. . . a useful and intelligent summary of a vital aspect of modern war. An important strength of this study is its extensive footnotes. The work is an excellent synthesis for undergraduates, and will prove a useful starting point for specialists and graduate students in military history and national security studies.-Choice
Joint Military Operations is a book that should be welcomed by the military professional, the policymaker, and the student of military affairs. Well researched and well written, this book illuminates. It does not speculate. What Beaumont has done is to tell his readers that joint operations are not new, nor are the problems associated with trying to achieve jointness. As such this book makes a serious contribution to the growing body of thoughtful literature on the topic.-Parameters
Joint Military Operations is a concise and informative review of 3,000 years of joint warfare. A fact-filled and readable account of the advances and setbacks in joint warfare since the Roman Empire. This book should be required reading at all US war colleges. I highly recommend Joint Military Operations.-Airpower Journal
." . . a useful and intelligent summary of a vital aspect of modern war. An important strength of this study is its extensive footnotes. The work is an excellent synthesis for undergraduates, and will prove a useful starting point for specialists and graduate students in military history and national security studies."-Choice
"Joint Military Operations is a concise and informative review of 3,000 years of joint warfare. A fact-filled and readable account of the advances and setbacks in joint warfare since the Roman Empire. This book should be required reading at all US war colleges. I highly recommend Joint Military Operations."-Airpower Journal
"Joint Military Operations is a book that should be welcomed by the military professional, the policymaker, and the student of military affairs. Well researched and well written, this book illuminates. It does not speculate. What Beaumont has done is to tell his readers that joint operations are not new, nor are the problems associated with trying to achieve jointness. As such this book makes a serious contribution to the growing body of thoughtful literature on the topic."-Parameters

Author Bio

ROGER A. BEAUMONT, Professor of History, Texas A&M University, has specialized in the study of command and control and of special operations and elite units. His books include Special Operations Elite Units: A Reference Guide, 1939-1988 (Greenwood Press, 1988), The Nerves of War: Emerging Issues in and References to Command and Control (1986), and Horizontal Escalation (1983), among others.