Major Battles and Campaigns

The Defeat of Imperial Germany, 1917-1918 by Rod Paschall is the first volume in the Major Battles and Campaigns series under the general editorship of John S. D. Eisenhower. Designed for the "armchair strategist," this book offers striking proof of the inaccuracy of the conventional depiction of the trench warfare of the First World War, in which commanding generals are seen as mediocre and unimaginative, having stubbornly sent hundreds of thousands of troops over the top to be mowed down by the lethal weaponry of modern war. Paschall builds a compelling case that the generals on both sides invented ingenious new strategies that simply failed in the context of a war of attrition. In a series of vivid analyses of successive offenses, Paschall describes the generals' plans, how their plans were aimed at dislodging the entrenched enemy and restoring maneuver and breakthrough on the Western Front, and what happened when the massed soldiery under their command sought to carry out their orders. Though these strategies and tactics largely failed at the time, they would prove successful when implemented twenty years later during World War II. Dozens of photographs, many never before published, as well as theater and battlefield maps help make The Defeat of Imperial Germany, 1917-1918 an outstanding and original contribution to the body of knowledge of the Great War. Colonel Rod Paschall, a native of San Antonio, Texas, is director of the U.S. Army Military History Institute at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. A graduate of West Point, he holds postgraduate degrees in international affairs and American history from George Washington and Duke universities. A decorated veteran of five campaigns in Vietnam, he is a member of the Army Special Forces and a graduate of the U.S. Naval War College.

Begun in ignorance of the military reality, the War of 1812 was fought catch-as-catch-can with raw troops, incompetent officers, and appallingly inadequate logistics. From a feckless Congress to the treason of many citizens who fed and praised the enemy, America faced overwhelming odds. The young country was invaded along three frontiers, the national capital was occupied and burned, and the secession of the New England states loomed as a definite possibility. In Amateurs, to Arms!, military historian John R. Elting examines the war from both the British and American points of view. With expert analysis and lively prose, he recounts the campaign of "Mr. Madison's War": the US invasion of Canada; the key naval battles on Lakes Erie and Champlain; the British invasion via the Chesapeake Bay and its repulse at Baltimore; and the campaign leading to the American victory at New Orleans, which was ironically fought and won after the war was over. Specially prepared maps and numerous illustrations complement Elting's vivid, penetrating account of how the young republic fought and nearly lost its "Second War for Independence."