7/30/2009

Afghanistan, 1919-2009. Lecturas no aptas para casposos, graduados o no


Ha llegado al Reino mi ejemplar del Journal of Military History Vol. 73, No. 3. July 2009) que edita la Society for Military History, fundada en 1933.

Dos piezas destacan por oportunidad de contenidos. Para mi vergüenza, su calidad es casi imposible de hallar en la, aunque casposa, oquedad de las cabezas académicas españolas que tanto influyen en nuestros líderes políticos y facultativos militares y diplomáticos. (Todavía no he tomado la dosis de morfina prescrita para hoy).

La primera refiere procedimientos y debates en el mismo Teatro de Operaciones que coinciden con los aplicados y discutidos hoy sobre las estrategias a aplicar en AFG-PAK.

La segunda, análisis de la vida y obra de Sir Michael Howard, demuestra cómo se deben hacer las cosas en materia de estudios sobre Seguridad y Defensa, de estudios sobre la guerra...

1. Christian Tripodi, “‘Good for one but not the other’; The ‘Sandeman System’ of Pacification as Applied to Baluchistan and the North-West Frontier, 1877-1947,”

The Journal of Military History 73 #3 (July 2009): 767-802

This article examines the long-running debate over the application of the "Sandeman System" of pacification to the North-West Frontier of British India in 1877-1947. Colonel Sir Robert Sandeman’s innovative doctrine of tribal administration had enabled the peaceful spread of British influence across Baluchistan during the late nineteenth century, yet the Government of India subsequently declared his methods inapplicable to the neighboring and perennially turbulent North-West Frontier. This essay seeks to provide a fuller understanding of the reasoning behind the policymakers’ opposition to Sandeman’s techniques and thus provide clarification of a debate that bedeviled British Frontier policy for over six decades.


2. Brian Holden Reid, “Michael Howard and the Evolution of Modern War Studies,”

The Journal of Military History 73 #3 (July 2009): 869-904

Sir Michael Howard has made an enormous contribution to writing about war since 1950. This essay offers a considered assessment of his work and devotes due attention to the context in which he wrote and the influences that shaped his outlook. Three essential themes have permeated his work: the German problem (and thus the British problem that complicated its resolution), the Soviet problem, and the relationship between war and society. The essay charts his efforts to impart a framework to the study of war and the degree to which it has been shaped by societal, but especially organizational and moral forces. The essay offers a slice of British historiography and intellectual life in the postwar years.

Otrosí...

No me resisto a recomendar, de entre las publicadas en este volúmen, las siguientes críticas de libros, duramente exigentes, procedimiento ignorado en este Reino por la inmensa mayoría de académicos y/o aficionados.

U.S. Marines and Irregular Warfare, 1898-2007: Anthology and Selected Bibliography, by Stephen S. Evans, reviewed by Aaron B. O’Connell, 968-969


War of a Thousand Deserts: Indian Raids and the U.S.-Mexican War, by Brian Delay, reviewed by Ned Blackhawk, 952-953 (incluye examen de la continuidad de lo que hoy llamaríamos insurgencia entre mediados de los siglos XVII a XIX).


Anthropological Intelligence: The Deployment and Neglect of American Anthropology in the Second World War, by David H. Price, reviewed by Pamela Frese, 988-989

Air Commandos Against Japan: Allied Special Operations in World War II Burma, by William T. Y’Blood, reviewed by Benjamin Armstrong, 1003-1004


L'Espagne Républicaine: French Policy and Spanish Republicanism in Liberated France, by David A. Messenger, reviewed by Robert S. Coale, 1006-1007

India’s Nuclear Policy
, by Bharat Karnad, reviewed by Benjamin P. Greene, 1015-1016

Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within, by Shuja Nawaz, reviewed by Rob Johnson, 1019-1020

Arms and Innovation: Entrepreneurship and Alliances in the Twenty-First Century Defense Industry, by James Hasik, reviewed by Byron K. Callan, 1028-1029

Bad Strategies: How Major Powers Fail in Counterinsurgency, by James S. Corum, reviewed by Andrew J. Birtle , 1030-1032

Kosovo Liberation Army: The Inside Story of an Insurgency, by Henry H. Perritt, Jr., reviewed by Charles R. Shrader, 1032-1033

FOTOS

Del texto breve de Mark Jacobsen's British Retreat from Waziristan "A typical Wazir fortified village. On May 25, 1919, General F.G. Lucas ordered the North Waziristan Militia to abandon its most vulnerable frontier posts y Torkham Check-Post in 1919.

5 comentarios:

madisonrepublicano dijo...

Impresionante la revistica.

madisonrepublicano dijo...

Saludos Jorge. No sé si podrás decirme algo al respecto, pero, por favor, sabes si el Master de Historia Militar on line (Master of Arts in Military History Program)de la Norwich University es de cierta calidad y/o prestigio? Disculpa la pregunta pero creo que el nivel de ese tipo de Estudios, como los de RR.II., en España está a un nivel de -2.

Jorge Aspizua Turrión dijo...

si tienes el dinero, de cabeza p'dentro. Está Antulio... total garantía

madisonrepublicano dijo...

Ajá, muchas gracias, de verdad, que uno no puede ni guiarse. Pues supongo que si las finanzas lo permiten me meteré en un par de años o así. Lo que he estado mirando en su web y no dicen nada, debe ser muy disuasivo. Cuantos miles de Dólares suelen salir estas cosas en USA, si es que conoces esa info. Muchas gracias otra vez.

Saludos y espero que de lo tuyo vaya mejorando con prontidud.

madisonrepublicano dijo...

Y bueno, sí, que esté Antulio Echebarría, el de Clausewitz, da bastante confianza. Quizás el mejor interpretador de la actualidad del teórico. Gracias otra vez por las indicaciones.