The Handy Military History Answer Book

by Samuel Willard Crompton

Overview

Heroism and sacrifice. Brutality and folly. Great leaders, great villains, pivotal moments, and events. Take a captivating, concise, and convenient look at how the world, the United States, and the lives we lead today have been changed by war and the military!

Military history is a fascinating, complex, and often contradictory subject. War and fighting between tribes, clans, groups, and countries has been with us forever. Wars cause political, social, and technological upheavals. From early Greeks and Romans to the great conquering militaries of the past, continuing on through the civil wars and world wars that shaped the boundaries of today’s nations, and to the modern weapons, technologies, guerrilla warfare, and terrorism currently reported in the nightly news, The Handy Military History Answer Book looks at the who, the what, the why, and the how of conflicts throughout history. It answers over 1,100 questions, from the most widely asked to the more obscure, such as:

Who cast the first stone (of human history)?

Is there anything to the story of Ancient Troy?

Could Alexander the Great have conquered the early Roman Republic?

How many men, and auxiliary fighters, were there in a Roman legion?

Which precious metal did the Vikings prefer above all others?

Do we even have his name—Genghis Khan—right?

Where did Richard the Lion-Heart get his nickname?

How long did it take to learn how to use the longbow?

Was Napoleon really not French?

When did George Washington have to alter all his plans: and how did he go about making the change?

What signals did Paul Revere watch for on the evening of April 18, 1775?

How many people died at the Siege of Fort Sumter?

What was the worst day of the Civil War, in the Far West?

Where was the world's first submarine deployed?

When were balloons first deployed in warfare?

Where did the name "Uncle Sam" come from?

What did Rasputin have to say about the approach of the First World War?

Why on earth did Hitler code-name his invasion of Russia for a German emperor who drowned?

How close did Hitler come to victory at Moscow in 1941?

What ten days decided the outcome of World War II?

What was so special about the B-24?

When did the Cold War commence?

What role will technology like the Internet play in future warfare?

How significant—to the United States—is the rise in China’s military power?

The weapons, leaders, soldiers, battles, tactics, strategies, blunders, technologies, and outcomes are all examined in The Handy Military History Answer Book. It investigates everything from the smallest miscalculations and maneuvers to the biggest invasions and battles, as well as the cutting-edge technologies and firepower that led to victories and helped change the world! This powerful primer on the military also includes a helpful bibliography and an extensive index, adding to its usefulness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781578595099
Publisher:	Visible Ink Press
Publication date:	04/14/2015
Series:	The Handy Answer Book Series
Pages:	560
Sales rank:	1,173,174
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Samuel Willard Crompton has written numerous books on war and its side effects, including Visible Ink Press’s The Handy Civil War Answer Book, 100 Battles That Shaped World History, and 100 Military Leaders Who Shaped World History, the latter two by Bluewood Books. Crompton is also a major contributor to the 24-volume American National Biography, which is expected to stand as the premier American biographical reference for the next 50 years. He is a specialist in the French and Indian Wars and has served as a talking head for the Military Channel on its First Command program. Crompton teaches history at Holyoke Community College. He has never served in the military, but his father was an American GI in France, and his great uncle died in the last stages of World War I.

Table of Contents

Photo Credits viii

Dedication ix

Introduction xi

Iron, Stone, and Bronze: 3000 to 320 B.C.E. 1

Prehistory 1

First Settlements 2

The Late Bronze Age 4

Hebrews and Jews 7

Greeks and Persians 10

Greek versus Greek 15

The Phalanx 17

Alexander 18

Alexander's Successors 23

Empires and Barbarians: 320 B.C.E. to 800 C.E. 25

Early Rome 25

Punic Wars 26

"Our Sea," the Mediterranean 33

Roman Civil War 38

The Roman Empire 39

Augustus' Heirs 41

The Pax Romana 44

Barbarian Tribes and the Fall of Rome 47

The Byzantine Empire 49

The Arab Explosion 51

Charlemagne 53

The World Island: 801 to 1405 57

The Mongols 58

The Mongols in China 65

Tamerlane and Bayezid 68

Holy wars: 1095 to 1453 75

The Normans 75

The First Crusade 79

Jihad 82

The Third Crusade 83

The Fourth Crusade 88

Philip versus John 88

Border Wars 90

The Hundred Years' War 95

End of the Byzantine Empire 102

Renaissance and Reformation Warfare: 1454 to 1648 107

Luther and Pope Leo X 107

Cortés and Montezuma 108

Magellan and Elcano 111

Henry, Charles, and Francis 112

The Terrible Turk 115

Catholic versus Protestant 116

The Rise of Russia 117

The Rise of England 119

Malta and Lepanto 122

The Spanish Armada 124

Religious Wars in France 131

The Thirty Years' War 133

The Enlightenment: 1648 to 1763 143

The Rise of France 148

The Short Peace 154

War of the Austrian Succession 155

French, Indians, English, and Americans 159

Age of Revolution: 1763 To 1799 175

Commander in Chief 181

The Times That Try Men's Souls 183

Year of the Hangman 188

Diplomats Abroad 193

The French Alliance 194

Benedict Arnold's Treason 197

Greene versus Cornwallis 199

The Revolution of 1789 204

The Napoleonic Era: 1800 to 1815 213

Barbary Pirates 213

France versus Everyone 215

Napoleon's Zenith 220

The Momentous Year 223

The American War 228

Exile to Elba 230

Rockets' Red Glare 232

Napoleon's Last Gamble 237

Nationalities and Grim Practicalities: 1815 to 1860 245

Conservatives and Reactionaries 245

New Technologies 248

Revolutions, Again 249

Far Eastern Wars 251

Taiping Rebellion 252

Texas Revolution 256

U.S.-Mexican War 259

Revolutions of 1848 262

Crimean War 263

Garibaldi's Revolution 265

Civil Wars and Imperial Grabs: 1861 to 1915 269

Union versus Confederacy 269

Vicksburg and Gettysburg 273

The Last Battles of the U.S. Civil War 278

The Rise of Prussia 283

Franco-Prussian War 283

Overseas Empires 285

The American Empire 288

The Zulu Wars 291

End-of-the-Century Conflicts 292

Russo-Japanese War 298

Balkan Wars 300

The Great War: 1914 to 1918 303

The Assassination of Archduke Franz-Ferdinand 307

First Battles of World War I 310

The Eastern Front 315

War at Sea 316

Gallipoli 317

The Western Front in 1915 320

Meat Grinder 323

Battle of Jutland 328

T.E. Lawrence 329

Russia and America 333

Americans in Other Armies 337

The November Revolution 337

Sledgehammer Blows 338

Totaling the Losses 344

From Coal to Oil: 1919 to 1959 349

The Advent of Oil 350

Aircraft Carriers 352

The World in Depression 354

Natural Resources 356

Rise of the Dictators 357

Japan and China 361

World War II: 1939 to 1945 367

Battle of France 369

So Many, So Much, So Few 375

FDR's Americans 376

Hunt for the Bismarck 378

Operation Barbarossa 379

Tora, Tora, Toral 384

Germany First 388

Battle for North Africa 389

Offensive in Russia 390

Twin Disasters 392

Japanese High Tide 394

Miracle at Midway 397

The Allied Invasions 401

D-Day 403

Breakout 410

The Russian Onslaught 412

Battle of the Bulge 414

War in the Pacific 418

Hitler's Fall 422

Surrender of Japan 425

The Cold War: 1945 to 1980 429

China, Korea, and Vietnam 432

India, Israel, and Egypt 438

Summit Meetings 441

The Cuban Missile Crisis 446

China and Vietnam 449

The Six-Day War 451

Vietnam 452

The Explosions of 1968 454

Vietnam Again 458

Yom Kippur War 458

Nixon in China 461

Oil and the Arabs 462

The End of the Vietnam War 463

Détente and the Dictators 465

The Persian Gulf 467

Resource Wars and Religious Conflicts: 1980 to 2014 475

The Hostage Crisis 473

Lebanon War 477

Reagan and Gorbachev 478

Tiananmen Square 480

Fall of the Soviet Bloc 481

End of the Cold War 483

First Gulf War 484

9/11 491

The Future of War 507

Further Reading 511

Timeline 515

Index 527

Editorial Reviews

"... an excellent reference with short, digestible answers and surprising trivia for military historians of any level." — Military History magazine

"... There is a great deal of information here … a military buff will most likely find this a captivating read ..." — Library Journal

"Although the work is not specifically marketed to teens, the content is quite suitable for ... the 'sound bite generation.'" — VOYA magazine

"...will fill in the blanks for anything you don’t already know about our armed forces and that of other countries."— Bookworm Sez

From the Publisher

03/01/2015
Beginning with 3,000 BCE, Crompton (The Handy Civil War Answer Book) chronicles the military battles of humankind through 2014. Fifteen chapters divide the text into broad categories: "Empires and Barbarians"; "Age of Revolution"; "Nationalities and Grim Practicalities"; "From Coal to Oil"; and "Resource Wars and Religious Conflicts," among others. Within those chapters, seemingly arbitrary and often contrived questions are posed and then answered in a few sentences up to two paragraphs each. Some questions and answers are highlighted in gray boxes, but no indication is given as to how these selections were determined. Black-and-white photos liberally illustrate the text, yet captions are sometimes lacking. Information appears to be accurate though some answers could be interpreted as opinion. The discussion of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and the immediate time thereafter is garbled, with incorrect dates and chronology. There is a great deal of information here; however, it will be difficult to glean. A standard text with subtopics might have been a better format. VERDICT While a military buff will most likely find this a captivating read, the missing page numbers in the table of contents, the absence of a bibliography, plus typos and grammatical errors make this less than a useful purchase.—Eldon Younce, Anthony P.L., KS

Library Journal