Battling the Elements: Weather and Terrain in the Conduct of War / Edition 1

by Harold A. Winters, Gerald A. Galloway Jr., William J. Reynolds, David W. Rhyne

Overview

Throughout history, from Kublai Khan's attempted invasions of Japan to Rommel's desert warfare, military operations have succeeded or failed on the ability of commanders to incorporate environmental conditions into their tactics. In Battling the Elements, geographer Harold A. Winters and former U.S. Army officers Gerald E. Galloway Jr., William J. Reynolds, and David W. Rhyne, examine the connections between major battles in world history and their geographic components, revealing what role factors such as weather, climate, terrain, soil, and vegetation have played in combat. Each chapter offers a detailed and engaging explanation of a specific environmental factor and then looks at several battles that highlight its effects on military operations. As this cogent analysis of geography and war makes clear, those who know more about the shape, nature, and variability of battleground conditions will always have a better understanding of the nature of combat and at least one significant advantage over a less knowledgeable enemy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801866487
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	03/21/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Harold A. Winters is a professor emeritus of geography at Michigan State University.

Gerald E. Galloway Jr., who retired as a brigadier general after serving thirty-nine years in the U.S. army, is secretary for the U.S. Section of the International Joint Committee.

William J. Reynolds, a retired colonel and Vietnam veteran, is northwest regional manager for Science Applications International Corporation.

David W. Rhyne, a retired lieutenant colonel, teaches at Stonewall Jackson Middle School in Hanover County, Virginia.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Storms, Fair Weather, and Chance
Chapter 2. Too Much and Too Wet
Chapter 3. Clouds and Fog
Chapter 4. Invading Another Climate as Seasons Change
Chapter 5. Forests and Jungles
Chapter 6. Terrains and Corridors
Chapter 7. Troubled Waters
Chapter 8. Glaciers Shape the Land
Chapter 9. Peninsulas and Sea Coasts
Chapter 10. Island Battles
Chapter 11. Hot, Wet, and Sick
Chapter 12. Heat, Rock, and Sand

Editorial Reviews

A remarkable guide to nature's effects on the conduct of military operations . . . Accessible to the layman but still of considerable utility for the expert, this book belongs on the shelf of any serious student of military affairs.
—Foreign Affairs

This work . . . underscores the importance of weather, terrain, and soil type on military operations . . . An intriguing perspective that goes beyond instructing plebes to engaging recreational readers of military affairs.
—Booklist

Military geographer Winters and his contributors use specific case studies to illustrate the importance in military operations of five elements of physical geography: weather, climate, terrain, soil, and vegetation. The range is impressive and the examples are well chosen . . . These case studies will usefully expand the limited sense of military geography possessed by most readers of military history.
—Publishers Weekly

An excellent book and an important addition to the library of serious students of the military art . . . Well written, educational, multidisciplinary, and interesting.
—Parameters

From the Publisher

A remarkable guide to nature's effects on the conduct of military operations . . . Accessible to the layman but still of considerable utility for the expert, this book belongs on the shelf of any serious student of military affairs.

Foreign Affairs

"This work... underscores the importance of weather, terrain, and soil type on military operations... An intriguing perspective that goes beyond instructing plebes to engaging recreational readers of military affairs."

Booklist

"An excellent book and an important addition to the library of serious students of the military art... Well written, educational, multidisciplinary, and interesting."

Parameters

Military geographer Winters and his contributors (geographers and retired military officers) use specific case studies to illustrate the importance in military operations of five elements of physical geography: weather, climate, terrain, soil and vegetation. The range is impressive and the examples are well chosen: "weather" includes the "divine winds" that frustrated the 13th-century Mongol invasion of Japan and the anomalous conditions in the English Channel that shaped the evacuation from Dunkirk and the invasion of Normandy; "climate" encompasses Hitler and Napoleon in Russia and the Wilderness battles of the American Civil War; "terrain" refers to peninsulas and islands such as Inchon and Iwo Jima; "soil," to Flanders in 1917-18 and the "endless beaches" of the Western Desert and Sinai; and "vegetation" to New Guinea during WWII and Dien Bien Phu in 1954. The chapters exhibit few signs of the discrepancies in style and argument that often plague a multi-author work. Geography and history are juxtaposed rather than integrated, however, and there's little effort to explain how commanders used geography in operational planning. Nor does the book address the current shibboleth that technological advances are diminishing the relevance of terrain in warfare. Also, the scientific material included can be heavy going for a nonspecialist. Nevertheless, these case studies will usefully expand the limited sense of military geography possessed by most readers of military history. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Just as climatic conditions can affect such prosaic activities as commuting to work, weather and terrain can have an enormous effect upon the success or failure of battles and wars. Winters (emeritus, geography, Michigan State U.), with the help of three other authors having extensive military experience, assesses specific campaigns in light of geographic factors, offering detailed analyses of such battles as Bunker Hill, Gettysburg, the Battle at Verdun, and nine other encounters. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

This work . . . underscores the importance of weather, terrain, and soil type on military operations . . . An intriguing perspective that goes beyond instructing plebes to engaging recreational readers of military affairs.

Booklist