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Summary:

Called "the preeminent survey of American military history" by Russell F. Weigley, America's foremost military historian, For the Common Defense is an essential contribution to the field of military history. This carefully researched third edition provides the most complete and current history of United States defense policy and military institutions and the conduct of America's wars. Without diminishing the value of its earlier editions, authors Allan R. Millett, Peter Maslowski, and William B. Feis provide a fresh perspective on the continuing issues that characterize national security policy. They have updated the work with new material covering nearly twenty years of scholarship, including the history of the American military experience in the Balkans and Somalia, analyzing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2001 to 2012, and providing two new chapters on the Vietnam War. For the Common Defense examines the nation's pluralistic military institutions in both peace and war, the tangled civil-military relations that created the country's commitment to civilian control of the military, the armed forces' increasing nationalization and professionalization, and America's growing reliance on sophisticated technologies spawned by the Industrial Revolution and the Computer and Information Ages. This edition is also a timely reminder that vigilance is indeed the price of liberty but that vigilance has always been'and continues to be'a costly, complex, and contentious undertaking in a world that continually tests America's willingness and ability to provide for the common defense

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• A Dangerous New World, 1607-1689
• The Colonial Wars, 1689-1763
• The American Revolution, 1763-1783
• Preserving the New Republic's Independence, 1783-1815
• The Armed Forces and National Expansion, 1815-1860
• The Civil War, 1861-1862
• The Civil War, 1863-1865
• From Postwar Demobilization Toward Great Power Status, 1865-1898
• The Birth of an American Empire, 1898-1902
• Building the Military Forces of a World Power, 1899-1917
• The United States Fights in the "War to End All Wars," 1917-1918
• Military Policy between the Two World Wars, 1919-1939
• The United States and World War II : From the Edge of Defeat to the Edge of Victory, 1939-1943
• The United States and World War II : The Road to Victory, 1943-1945
• Cold War and Hot War : The United States Enters the Age of Nuclear Deterrence and Collective Security, 1945-1953
• Waging Cold War : American Defense Policy for Extended Deterrence and Containment, 1953-1965
• In Dubious Battle : Vietnam, 1961-1967
• The Lost War : Vietnam, 1968-1975
• The Common Defense and the End of the Cold War, 1976-1993

• World Disorder New and Old, 1993-2001
• Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, 2001-2011
• Appendix A. Participation and Losses, Major Wars, 1775-2012
• Appendix B. The Armed Forces and National Expansion
• Appendix C. The Armed Forces of the Cold War and After
• Appendix D.U.S. Troops Stationed Abroad
• Appendix E. American Military and Diplomatic Deaths, Terrorist and Military Actions, 1980-2000.

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Author/Creator:

Millett, Allan Reed , author

Contributors:

Maslowski, Peter, 1944- , author

Feis, William B., 1963- , author

Languages:

English

Language Notes:

Item content: English

Main Work:

For the common defense: a military history of the United States from 1607 to 2012 [by Millett, A.R.]

Other Related Resources:

Print version: For the common defense [by Millett, A.R.] (Third edition, Free Press trade paperback edition; New York, NY : Free Press, [2012] — ISBN 9781451623536; LCCN 2012004800; OCLC Number 759912872)

Subjects:

United States — History, Military

United States — Armed Forces — History

United States — Military policy

History

Armed Forces (United States)

History, Military

Military policy

United States

Genres:

History

General Notes:

"Completely revised and expanded"--Cover
Includes bibliographical references and index.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations, maps

Digital Characteristics:

text file

Call Numbers:

E181 .M6986 2012eb

ISBNs:

9781439118276 (electronic bk.)
1439118272 (electronic bk.)
1451623534 [Invalid]

OCLC Numbers:

893126972