Battles That Changed American History

Battles That Changed American History
Author: Spencer C. Tucker
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 486
Release: 2014-01-22
Genre: History
ISBN:

A fascinating and informative analysis by a distinguished military historian of the 100 most influential battles in American history, presented in an accessible, ready-reference format. The Battle of Okinawa (April–June 1945) resulted in more U.S. Navy casualties than all of the navy's previous wars combined; these heavy casualties influenced the decision to employ the atomic bomb against Japan that August. This is just one of many instances in American military history when the outcome of a battle helped to establish the course of history—the focus of this latest encyclopedia from esteemed historian Spencer C. Tucker. The 100 battles spotlighted in this work—which include defeats as well as victories—are deemed to have had the greatest impact on American history. Spanning more than 500 years of military events, the book begins its coverage with the Battle of Mabila in 1540 during the Age of Discovery and ends with the Second Battle of Falluja during the Iraq War/Insurgency in 2004. Expertly written, informative, and thoughtful, this analysis will be insightful and interesting for all high school, undergraduate, and general readers.

America's First Battles, 1776–1965

America's First Battles, 1776–1965
Author: Charles E. Heller
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Total Pages: 432
Release: 1986-12-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 0700602771

This volume, a collection of eleven original essays by many of the foremost U.S. military historians, focuses on the transition of the Army from parade ground to battleground in each of nine wars the United States has fought. Through careful analysis of organization, training, and tactical doctrine, each essay seeks to explain the strengths and weaknesses evidenced by the outcome of the first significant engagement or campaign of the war. The concluding essay sets out to synthesize the findings and to discover whether or not American first battles manifest a characteristic "rhythm." America's First Battles provides a novel and intellectually challenging view of how America has prepared for war and how operations and tactics have changed over time. The thrust of the book--the emphasis on operational history--is at the forefront of scholarly activity in military history.

1001 Battles That Changed the Course of History

1001 Battles That Changed the Course of History
Author: R. G. Grant
Publisher: Chartwell Books
Total Pages: 963
Release: 2017-10-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 0785835539

This historical account of humanity's 5000 year history of recorded conflict looks at ancient wars, modern conflict, and everything in-between.

Decisive Battles of the American Revolution

Decisive Battles of the American Revolution
Author: Joseph B. Mitchell
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2004
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781594160042

The thirteen colonies may have declared their freedom on July 4, 1776, but the Continental Army had to fight the British for more than six years to win the war of independence. Understanding the flow of battles and the strategy behind the campaigns is essential to making sense of the greater political issues that shaped the new nation. Decisive Battles of the American Revolution remains the best concise history of the war's military action. First published in 1962, historian Joseph B. Mitchell's acclaimed account covers all the battles, sieges, and campaigns from Lexington to the final victory at Yorktown. In clear language, Mitchell describes the progress of the war, analyzes the military tactics of both sides, and brings the reader to the actual scenes of fighting by the use of maps that show the disposition of troops, movement of armies, and the strategy devised by the commanders. These maps, based on modern road maps and newly updated for this edition, not only depict individual battles but also reveal the course of the war simultaneously in the North and the South so that the student of military tactics or the visitor to the battlefields can understand more clearly exactly what happened at a particular engagement. In addition to the updated maps, this new edition now contains current information about American Revolution battlefields and historic sites open to the public. For historians, for the tourist of battlefields, for the reader concerned with the stirring events that led to independence, Decisive Battles of the American Revolution is the indispensable guide to understanding how the Continental Army defeated the forces of a mighty world power.

The Gettysburg Address

The Gettysburg Address
Author: Abraham Lincoln
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 9
Release: 2022-11-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 1504080246

The complete text of one of the most important speeches in American history, delivered by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln arrived at the battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to remember not only the grim bloodshed that had just occurred there, but also to remember the American ideals that were being put to the ultimate test by the Civil War. A rousing appeal to the nation’s better angels, The Gettysburg Address remains an inspiring vision of the United States as a country “conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

Battles of the Red River War

Battles of the Red River War
Author: J. Brett Cruse
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2017-08-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 1623491525

Battles of the Red River War unearths a long-buried record of the collision of two cultures. In 1874, U.S. forces led by Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie carried out a surprise attack on several Cheyenne, Comanche, and Kiowa bands that had taken refuge in the Palo Duro Canyon of the Texas panhandle and destroyed their winter stores and horses. After this devastating loss, many of these Indians returned to their reservations and effectively brought to a close what has come to be known as the Red River War, a campaign carried out by the U.S. Army during 1874 as a result of Indian attacks on white settlers in the region. After this operation, the Southern Plains Indians would never again pose a coherent threat to whites’ expansion and settlement across their ancestral homelands. Until now, the few historians who have undertaken to tell the story of the Red River War have had to rely on the official records of the battles and a handful of extant accounts, letters, and journals of the U.S. Army participants. Starting in 1998, J. Brett Cruse, under the auspices of the Texas Historical Commission, conducted archeological investigations at six battle sites. In the artifacts they unearthed, Cruse and his teams found clues that would both correct and complete the written records and aid understanding of the Indian perspectives on this clash of cultures. Including a chapter on historiography and archival research by Martha Doty Freeman and an analysis of cartridges and bullets by Douglas D. Scott, this rigorously researched and lavishly illustrated work will commend itself to archeologists, military historians and scientists, and students and scholars of the Westward Expansion.

Decision at Sea

Decision at Sea
Author: Craig L. Symonds
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 585
Release: 2006-10-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199754888

From thunderous broadsides traded between wooden sailing ships on Lake Erie, to the carrier battles of World War II, to the devastating high-tech action in the Persian Gulf, here is a gripping history of five key battles that defined the evolution of naval warfare--and the course of the American nation. Acclaimed military historian Craig Symonds offers spellbinding narratives of crucial engagements, showing how each battle reveals the transformation of technology and weaponry from one war to the next; how these in turn transformed naval combat; and how each event marked a milestone in American history. - Oliver Hazard Perry's heroic victory at Lake Erie, one of the last great battles of the Age of Sail, which secured the Northwestern frontier for the United States - The brutal Civil War duel between the ironclads Monitor and Virginia, which sounded the death knell for wooden-hulled warships and doomed the Confederacy's hope of besting the Union navy - Commodore Dewey's stunning triumph at Manila Bay in 1898, where the U.S. displayed its "new navy" of steel-hulled ships firing explosive shells and wrested an empire from a fading European power - The hairsbreadth American victory at Midway, where aircraft carriers launched planes against enemies 200 miles away--and where the tide of World War II turned in the space of a few furious minutes - Operation Praying Mantis in the Persian Gulf, where computers, ship-fired missiles, and "smart bombs" not only changed the nature of warfare at sea, but also marked a new era, and a new responsibility, for the United States. Symonds records these encounters in detail so vivid that readers can hear the wind in the rigging and feel the pounding of the guns. Yet he places every battle in a wide perspective, revealing their significance to America's development as it grew from a new Republic on the edge of a threatening frontier to a global superpower. Decision at Sea is a powerful and illuminating look at pivotal moments in the history of the Navy and of the United States. It is also a compelling study of the unchanging demands of leadership at sea, where commanders must make rapid decisions in the heat of battle with lives--and the fate of nations--hanging in the balance.

History Wars

History Wars
Author: Edward T. Linenthal
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 306
Release: 1996-08-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1429936770

From the "taming of the West" to the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the portrayal of the past has become a battleground at the heart of American politics. What kind of history Americans should read, see, or fund is no longer merely a matter of professional interest to teachers, historians, and museum curators. Everywhere now, history is increasingly being held hostage, but to what end and why? In History Wars, eight prominent historians consider the angry swirl of emotions that now surrounds public memory. Included are trenchant essays by Paul Boyer, John W. Dower, Tom Engelhardt, Richard H. Kohn, Edward Linenthal, Micahel S. Sherry, Marilyn B. Young, and Mike Wallace.

Great Battles of the Civil War

Great Battles of the Civil War
Author: John MacDonald
Publisher: Wiley
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1992-04-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780020345541

17 of the Greatest Battles of the Civil War Come Alive as Never Before For the first time, breakthrough computer graphics re-create every detail of the Civil War's most important battles. A team of experts has researched every aspect of every battle—from topography to troop strength—and, using the computer's latest capabilities, reconstructs the battlefields in vivid detail and analyzes why and how the winners won. Also included is a wealth of contemporary anecdotes, eyewitness accounts, character studies, paintings, drawings and period photographs that reveal a uniquely accurate picture of the most memorable battles of the Civil War. An amazing commander's view. Had the generals possessed these graphics, history might have changed. Here's how it works: From a standard 2-dimensional map, the computer constructs a sophisticated 3-dimensional graphic of the battle site. Then the artists overlay all the details of the battle: troop movement, weapon deployment, the state of the terrain, even the exact weather conditions.