Category Archives: History

History – Cold War Strategic ASW

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Undersea Warfare – Soviet strategic missile submarines were the greatest naval threat to the United States during the Cold War. Accordingly, strategic antisubmarine warfare (ASW) became a major role of the U.S. Navy, especially the attack submarines. This excerpt from Cold War Submarines: The Design and Construction of U.S. and Soviet Submarines by Normal Polmar and Kenneth J. Moore briefly describes the development of strategic ASW.
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History – The Russo-Japanese War

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Naval War College Review – In the first years of the twentieth century, Japanese leaders, with little experience in international issues, raised the nation’s stature, developed appropriate strategies, showed excellent qualities of leadership and coordination, and so won a crucial victory in the Russo-Japanese War. But if that was the high point of Imperial Japan, it was also the beginning of the end.

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History – Lessons from a Successful Counterinsurgency: The Philippines, 1899-1902

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Parameters – The United States topples an unsavory regime in relatively brief military action, suffering a few hundred fatalities. America then finds itself having to administer a country unaccustomed to democratic self-rule. Caught unawares by an unexpectedly robust insurgency, the United States struggles to develop and implement an effective counterinsurgency strategy. The ongoing US presidential campaign serves as a catalyst to polarize public opinion, as the insurrectionists step up their offensive in an unsuccessful attempt to unseat the incumbent Republican President. These events-from a century ago-share a number of striking parallels with the events of 2003 and 2004. The Philippine Insurrection of 1899-1902 was Americaís first major combat operation of the 20th century. The American policy of rewarding support and punishing opposition in the Philippines, called “attraction and chastisement,” was an effective operational strategy. By eliminating insurgent resistance, the campaign successfully set the conditions necessary for achieving the desired end-state.

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