Throughout history, battlefields have placed a soldier's instinct for self-preservation in direct opposition to the army's insistence that he do his duty and put himself in harm's way. Enduring Battle looks beyond advances in weaponry to examine changes in warfare at the very personal level. Drawing on the combat experiences of American soldiers in three widely separated wars-the Revolution, the Civil War, and World War II-Christopher Hamner explores why soldiers fight in the face of terrifying lethal threats and how they manage to suppress their fears, stifle their instincts, and marshal the will to kill other humans. Hamner contrasts the experience of infantry combat on the ground in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when soldiers marched shoulder-to-shoulder in linear formations, with the experiences of dispersed infantrymen of the mid-twentieth century. Earlier battlefields prized soldiers who could behave as stoic automatons; the modern dispersed battlefield required soldiers who could act autonomously. As the range and power of weapons removed enemies from view, combat became increasingly depersonalized, and soldiers became more isolated from their comrades and even imagined that the enemy was targeting them personally. What's more, battles lengthened so that exchanges of fire that lasted an hour during the Revolutionary War became round-the-clock by World War II. The book's coverage of training and leadership explores the ways in which military systems have attempted to deal with the problem of soldiers' fear in battle and contrasts leadership in the linear and dispersed tactical systems. Chapters on weapons and comradeship then discuss soldiers' experiences in battle and the relationships that informed and shaped those experiences. Hamner highlights the ways in which the "band of brothers" phenomenon functioned differently in the three wars and shows that training, conditioning, leadership, and other factors affect behavior much more than political ideology. He also shows how techniques to motivate soldiers evolved, from the linear system's penalties for not fighting to modern efforts to convince soldiers that participation in combat would actually maximize their own chances for survival. Examining why soldiers continue to fight when their strong instinct is to flee, Enduring Battle challenges long-standing notions that high ideals and small unit bonds provide sufficient explanation for their behavior. Offering an innovative way to analyze the factors that enable soldiers to face the prospect of death or debilitating wounds, it expands our understanding of the evolving nature of warfare and its warriors.

Introduction: a generation goes to war -- Memorial days -- Dong Ap Bia: becoming Hamburger Hill -- Passing the torch to a new generation -- Receiving the torch -- Not their father's way of war -- The American war in Vietnam -- Getting out of this place -- Duck and cover -- Enduring Vietnam: a story that has no end

At a critical moment in world history The Longest War provides the definitive account of the ongoing battle against terror. --Book Jacket.

e-artnow presents to you a unique legal civil right collection comprised of the most important U.S. Civil Rights Acts and Supreme Court decisions considering racial discrimination. _x000D_ Table of Contents:_x000D_ Emancipation Proclamation & Gettysburg Address (1863)_x000D_ Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (1865)_x000D_ Civil Rights Act of 1866_x000D_ Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (1868)_x000D_ Reconstruction Acts (1867-1868)_x000D_ Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (1870)_x000D_ Enforcement Act of 1870_x000D_ The First Enforcement Act of 1871 (to enforce the rights of citizens of the United States to vote in the several States of this Union)_x000D_ The Second Enforcement Act of 1871 (Ku Klux Klan Act)_x000D_ Civil Rights Act of 1875_x000D_ Executive Order 9981 (1948)_x000D_ Voting Rights Law of 1965_x000D_ Executive Order 11246 (1965)_x000D_ Fair Housing Act (1968)_x000D_ United States Code Title 18 Chapter 13 (1968, 1976, 1988, 1994, 2009)_x000D_ The Community Reinvestment Act (1977)_x000D_ Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (2007)_x000D_ Case Law:_x000D_ Strauder v. West Virginia (1880)_x000D_ Buchanan v. Warley (1917)_x000D_ Shelley v. Kraemer (1948)_x000D_ Sweatt v. Painter (1950)_x000D_ Brown v. Board of Education (1954)_x000D_ Boynton v. Virginia (1960)_x000D_ Heart of Atlanta Motel Inc. v. United States (1964)_x000D_ Loving v. Virginia (1967)_x000D_ Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. (1968)_x000D_ Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)_x000D_ Batson v. Kentucky (1986)

This book is an innovative comparative history of how German and British soldiers endured the horror of the First World War. Unlike existing literature, which emphasises the strength of societies or military institutions, this study argues that at the heart of armies' robustness lay natural human resilience. Drawing widely on contemporary letters and diaries of British and German soldiers, psychiatric reports and official documentation, and interpreting these sources with modern psychological research, this unique account provides fresh insights into the soldiers' fears, motivations and coping mechanisms. It explains why the British outlasted their opponents by examining and comparing the motives for fighting, the effectiveness with which armies and societies supported men and the combatants' morale throughout the conflict on both sides. Finally it challenges the consensus on the war's end, arguing that not a 'covert strike' but rather an 'ordered surrender' led by junior officers brought about Germany's defeat in 1918.

A collection of military history essays examining the philosophical side of war and the meaning of “victory.” What does it mean to win a war? How does this differ from a simple military victory? How have different cultures and societies answered these questions through history, and how can we apply these lessons? When considering how a war might be “won,” there are three big ideas that underpin how success can be measured: ownership, intervention for effect, and fighting for ideas. These three main themes also contain a series of sub-themes: internal and external, short-term and long-term, military success versus political success, and tactical outcomes versus campaign effects versus strategic success. This book examines the constituent parts of what may comprise “victory” or “winning” in war and then travels, chronologically, through a wide variety of historical case studies, further exploring these philosophical components and weaving them into a factual discussion. The authors of each chapter will explore the three big ideas within the context of their individual case studies, offering pointers as to where, within that framework, their case study may sit. The message of this book is not just an academic exploration for its own sake, but a vital aspect (both morally and practically) of the political and military business of the application of force. In short, know in advance how you wish to end before you start. “Comprising sixteen excellent and thought-provoking essays by eighteen noted military historians and former warriors, the book comprehensively examines the realities of war and the wide-ranging concepts of victory. At the same time, it offers a very good general history of warfare.” —Baird Maritime “[This book] can provide useful insights to anyone; students and subject matter experts alike can find something to gain from this book. Most importantly, its emphasis on contemporary warfare can provide consequential information for our current military and civilian leadership, if they are willing to hear it.” —Air & Space Power Journal

This highly readable text details the findings of an exhaustive series of studies of Israeli combat veterans, documenting the effects of combat stress reaction on mental and physical health, social interaction, and military effectiveness. It provides mental health professionals, trauma victims, and military personnel with an unparalleled source of information, and offers a unique perspective of contemporary Israeli culture.