Frontline
Combat and Cohesion in the Twenty-First Century
Published on 30. July 2015
Book
Hardback
376 pages
978-0-19-871966-3 (ISBN)
Description
Since 2001, Western forces have been involved in a series of major military campaigns, primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan but also in Africa. For all the sophistication of the contemporary Western way of war with its digital technologies and precision weapons, infantry soldier have been frequently involved in close combat of an intensity which is comparable to the wars of the twentieth century. At the small unit level, combat has been as brutal as ever. Yet, in many cases, they have prevailed even when they were surprised or disadvantaged. How and why have professional Western soldiers been willing and able to fight effectively together during these campaigns?
Through a series of rich historical and ethnographic case-studies, this collection seeks to analyse the experience of combat soldiers on operations in the last decade. The book explores the motivation, training, and culture of the professional Western soldier, highlighting differences and commonalities between the troops of different nations.
This book is a project of the Changing Character of War programme at the University of Oxford.
Through a series of rich historical and ethnographic case-studies, this collection seeks to analyse the experience of combat soldiers on operations in the last decade. The book explores the motivation, training, and culture of the professional Western soldier, highlighting differences and commonalities between the troops of different nations.
This book is a project of the Changing Character of War programme at the University of Oxford.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
726 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-871966-3 (9780198719663)
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
07/2015
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€60.99
Available for download
Person
Anthony King is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Exeter. He has written on sport, social theory, and the armed forces including his most recent books The Transformation of Europe's Armed Forces (Cambridge University Press 2011) and The Combat Soldier (Oxford University Press 2013). He is currently working on a book on divisional headquarters. He has acted as a mentor and adviser to the armed forces for a number of years including membership of NATO's ISAF RC (South) Prism Cell in 2009-10 in Kandahar.
Content
PART I CONCEPTS ; 1. On Cohesion ; 2. Subaltern Soldiers: Essentialism, Eurocentricism and the Nation-State in the Combat Motivation Debates ; 3. On Killing: historiography and conceptual issues: contexts and concepts from the First World War to the present ; PART II: CURRENT DEBATES ; 4. From a Sociology of Units to a Sociology of Combat Formations: Militaries in Urban Combat ; 5. Discipline and Punish: EncouragingCombat Performance in the Citizen and Professional Army ; PART III: HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE ; 6. Combat and Cohesion in the First World War ; 7. Re-evaluating Combat Cohesion: The British Second Army in the North-west Europe Campaign of the Second World War ; PART IV: CASE STUDIES ; 8. New Model Diggers? Australian Identity, Motivation, and Cohesion in Afghanistan ; 9. A Profession of Love: Cohesion in a British Infantry Platoon in Afghanistan ; 10. Hierarchy, Status, and Combat Motivation in the French Foreign Legion ; 11. Cohesion and Misconduct: The French Army and the Mahe Affair ; 12. Cohesion, Political Motivation, and Military Performance in the Italian Alpini ; PART V: THE HOME FRONT ; 13. Of FOBS and Families ; 14. Beyond a Battlefield ; 15. The Future of Cohesion