Military Effectiveness

Military Effectiveness #2

by Allan Reed Millett (Editor), Williamson Murray (Editor)

This three-volume study examines the questions raised by the performance of the military institutions of France, Germany, Russia, the United States, Great Britain, Japan, and Italy in the period from 1914 to 1945. Leading military historians deal with the different national approaches to war and military power at the tactical, operational, strategic, and political levels. They form the basis for a fundamental reexamination of how military organizations have performed in the first half of the twentieth century. Volume 2 covers the interwar period. The other two volumes address World War I and World War II, respectively. Now in a new edition, with a new introduction by the editors, these classic volumes will remain invaluable for military historians and social scientists in their examination of national security and military issues. They will also be essential reading for future military leaders at Staff and War Colleges.

Genres: History, Military Fiction, Military History

306 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

A specialist in the history of American military policy and twentieth century wars and military institutions, Allan R. Millett is professor emeritus at The Ohio State University, where he taught from 1969 until his retirement in 2005.

Reviews

[Joe Collins]

This is a scholarly study of the military effectiveness of the various major powers in the period between WW1 and WW2. There are eight chapters, covering the each of the following nations in this order: Soviet Union, France, USA, Great Britain, Japan, Italy, and Germany. The final chapter is a review between all seven powers.

Each chapter is generally broken down into the following: an introduction, political effectiveness, strategic effectiveness, operational effectiveness, tactical effectiveness, a conclusion, then footnotes. The chapter discuss all three major aspects of warfare (air, land, & sea). In some cases, like Great Britain, it also discuss how the anti-war movement actually caused much damaged to the military's preparedness and how the Britain was less prepared to win a war in 1939 than it was in 1914.

[Joe Collins]

This is a scholarly study of the military effectiveness of the various major powers in the period between WW1 and WW2. There are eight chapters, covering the each of the following nations in this order: Soviet Union, France, USA, Great Britain, Japan, Italy, and Germany. The final chapter is a review between all seven powers.

Each chapter is generally broken down into the following: an introduction, political effectiveness, strategic effectiveness, operational effectiveness, tactical effectiveness, a conclusion, then footnotes. The chapter discuss all three major aspects of warfare (air, land, & sea). In some cases, like Great Britain, it also discuss how the anti-war movement actually caused much damaged to the military's preparedness and how the Britain was less prepared to win a war in 1939 than it was in 1914.

[Jonathan]

This collection of scholarly essays on the military effectiveness of the major combatants in both world wars - volume II covering 1919 to 1939 - has become something of a classic, and it doesn't disappoint. The editors defined that effectiveness in terms of four levels of activity: political, strategic, operational and tactical, and each of the nations' armies and navies are examined thereby. The Interwar Period was an era in which militaries struggled to absorb the "lessons" of the Great War, considerably complicated by the rapid technological changes of the era that made the roles of aircraft, armor, submarines and poison gas particularly ambiguous. Since it is almost impossible to find a modern work on the military history of the 20th century that does not have this series in its bibliography, one must conclude that these books are authoritative. Some of the best minds in military history were recruited to write here as well. The only drawback is that the countries invoked (Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Italy and the United States) had to have been actively involved in both world wars, so unfortunately several important combatants in those wars didn't make the cut, such as Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and China, for example. But other than that, anyone with an interest in how various military and associated organizations functioned (or didn't) in the first half of the 20th century cannot afford to give this series a miss.