The Influence of Airpower upon History: Statesmanship, Diplomacy, and Foreign Policy since 1903

by Robin Higham (Editor), Mark Parillo (Editor), Richard B. Myers (Foreword by)

Overview

From early zeppelins, to the Luftwaffe and the Enola Gay, to the unmanned aerial vehicles of today, air power has long been regarded as an invaluable instrument of war. However, nations have employed aircraft for many other purposes as well; they provide security and surveillance, and they are vital to myriad diplomatic and humanitarian efforts. Air power has become a means for statesmen to advance a variety of goals, opening up new possibilities and problems in times of peace as well as war.

The Influence of Air Power upon History examines the many ways in which aviation technology has impacted policymaking since 1903. It analyzes air strategy in nations around the world and explores how a country's presumed technological capability, or lack thereof, has become a crucial aspect of diplomacy. Together, the essays in this insightful volume offer a greater understanding of the history of military force and diplomatic relations in the global community.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813140728
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	03/01/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	328
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Robin Higham, professor of history emeritus at Kansas State University, Manhattan, is the author or editor of more than thirty books, including The Military History of the Soviet Union and Why Air Forces Fail: The Anatomy of Defeat.Mark Parillo, professor of history at Kansas State University, is the author of We Were in the Big One: Experiences of the World War II Generation.

Table of Contents

Foreword Richard B. Myers vii

Introduction Robin Higham 1

1 States and Strategic Airpower: Continuity and Change, 1906-1939 John H. Monow Jr. 37

2 Politics and French Aviators: A Prism on the International European Crises of the 1930s Patrick Facon 61

3 Hitler, Airpower, and Statecraft Richard R. Muller 85

4 The Emperor and the Despot: Statesmen, Patronage, and the Strategic Bomber in Imperial and Soviet Russia, 1909-1959 David R. Jones 115

5 Statesmen and Airpower in Latin America, 1945-2010 René De La Pedraja 145

6 Presidential Statesmen and U.S. Airpower: Personalities and Perceptions Jeffery S. Underwood 177

7 Gunboat Diplomacy: Presidential Use of Aircraft Carriers and Their Embarked Air Wings Douglas V. Smith Kent S. Coleman 209

8 Chinese Statesmen and the Use of Airpower Andrew S. Erickson 237

9 A Century of Airpower Mark Parillo 273

List of Contributors 289

Index 295

Editorial Reviews

The essays are accompanied by bibliographies and suggestions for future research, making the book a good starting place for prospective air power scholars...Several of the essays would make good classroom readings and the book as a whole would be useful for a course on aviation or airpower history.

Teaching History - Stephen K. Stein

"The editors have assembled a distinguished group of historians to analyze how states have used air power and air forces to purse larger diplomatic, social, and economic objectives."—Colonel Anthony Christopher Cain, USAF (Ret.)

From the Publisher

[An] informative compilation of essays studying aspects of airpower history and how at various times as national leaders and statesmen debated how airpower might contribute to their particular vital national interests and to shaping world events.

Aerospace

The Influence of Airpower upon History is an important book for scholars of aviation history, as it illuminates military aviation from new perspectives, and closely examines the political and operational aspects of their activity.

Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs