FROM the days of early man, some sort of insignia has been employed to distinguish families, tribes and nations. When, in prehistoric rimes, the head of a family wished to adopt a distinguishing mark he sought it in the animal and bird life around him. He compared the qualities he imagined he possessed, or hoped to acquire, with his surroundings, and adopted the device which seemed to fit these qualities. In the very early days the family badge was carved in wood and fixed to a pole, so that all could note …

THE scarcity of information concerning organization and work of the Russian Artillery during the recent War is to be regretted since much that occurred during this conflict must prove of high interest to all soldiers. The following attempt to reconstruct certain artillery aspects of that war out of scanty scraps of published information is offered for what it may be worth. For the previous two centuries the Artillery Service had been the pride of the Russian Army. Its complete failure in the war of 1914-17 …

IN the development of equipment the need for experimental testing and proving has long been realized by leading engineers. To support this contention one may quote the words of Frederick Henry Royce whose organization designed and produced the engines which powered the British fighting planes in the Battle of Britain. He wrote:— “Nothing is to proceed on the basis of theory or intuition alone, even one’s own sure judgment and vast fund of knowledge are no substitute for recorded results from the Test Bench …

ONE of Napoleon’s best known sayings is, “There are no poor regiments, there are only poor Colonels.” Now what is it that “good” Colonels do to produce their “good” regiments? Good Colonels insist that, in addition to having the necessary military knowledge, their men must be trained so that they can take in their stride such things as danger, hardship, and unforeseen eventualities. But to get his men up to this high state of morale a commander must produce a motive force to urge his men to give willingly …

This is No 6 in a series of articles on Military Geography carried forward from the Army Training Memorandum. Other articles in the series are—Sinkiang, ATM 50; Manchuria, ATM 51; Greece, ATM 52; Persia, ATM 53; Turkey, ATM 54. THE ex-Italian colonies are situated on the African sub-continent and consist of Libya, Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. Libya, which is divided into Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, is an area of 679,358 square miles centrally situated in North Africa on the Mediterranean Sea —flanked in …

  Edited by Catherine Grant, Alessio Patalano and James Russell Georgetown University Press , 2023, 360 pp Hardcover ISBN: 9781647123383 Paperback ISBN: 9781647123390 Ebook ISBN: 9781647123406 Reviewed by: Dongkeun Lee We are currently witnessing the age of naval power, where the competition between the United States (US) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) primarily unfolds at sea. Notable areas of potential conflict, such as the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, underscore the critical role of …

Chaos, Cohesion, and Consequences   Edited by Timothy Heck and Walker Mills Army University Press, 2023, 436 pp Paperback ISBN: 9781940804873 Reviewed by: Liam Kane When should military leaders break off an engagement with their enemies? What is the difference between a retreat and a rout? What is the significance of retreat? These are the some of the questions that the contributors to Armies in Retreat  seek to answer. The book’s editors, Timothy Heck and Walker Mills, were motivated to undertake this …

British Grand Strategy, 1919–1940   by David French Oxford University Press , 2022, 623 pp Hardcover ISBN: 9780192863355 Reviewed by: Jordan Beavis David French is an illustrious name in British military history. For decades he has made significant contributions to our understanding of British strategy and Britain’s Army in both peace and war, in the latter case frequently rebalancing an often stereotyped view of the military force that was once responsible for the land defence of the world’s largest …

From the Ancient World to the Digital Age   Edited by Hal Brands Princeton University Press , 2023, 1158 pp Hardcover ISBN: 9780691204383 Reviewed by: Nick Bosio Since the early 1950s, one book, The Makers of Modern Strategy , has consistently been compulsory reading at staff and war colleges around most of the Western world. Each edition has provided practitioners and scholars with insights into strategy, strategic thinking, and the issues of strategic culture. Furthermore, each version of this …

The Indo-Pacific and Beyond Speech to the Chief of Army Symposium 2023, Perth Convention Centre, 30 August 2023 [Editorial note: This speech has been edited and condensed for clarity.] At the Shangri-La Dialogue last year, the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, and the United States Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, both spoke to the importance of guardrails—that is, simple practical structures to prevent a worst-case scenario. The bases for these guardrails are dialogue, communications, …