This is a reprint of a study published by the Air University in 1981.

First published in 1956. Planning and execution of large-scale airborne operations by the Army Air Forces in the European theater. Please note this a reprint from the archives and while we have made extensive efforts to clean up text and photographs the quality sometimes reflects the age of the original document and the typefaces available. Photographs and maps are included but there may be inconsistencies in appearances. These are not cheap OCR editions and the book is checked for legibility throughout.

The book seeks to determine the degree that nationalism played as a contributing factor in the American Civil War. The United States currently applies analytic and diagnostic frameworks to potential hotspots around the globe in order to determine their likelihood or potential for violence. Foreign policy and preventive measures are shaped by the predictions of these diagnostic tools. What prognosis would they bare if used in retrospect on the American Civil War? Would they indicate the war as being inevitable or unnecessary? The answer to these questions is based largely on the causal link...

This work models the militant worldview of a militant Islamic terrorist through a series of fictitious letters written by a hypothetical Jaad (Grandfather) to his grandson, Habib Talib (Grandson Student). These letters represent Jaads attempt to mentor Habib Talib and to indoctrinate him into the world of international militant jihad (holy war). Through these letters, the reader will get to know the workings of Jaads mind and will develop a mental model of his worldview as a senior leader within Al Qaeda. The letters will show how easily an extremist can twist logic to convince otherwise...

This study assesses the prospect of improving military cooperation with the French through an examination of why French cooperation is desirable, how the French view the United States and the historical basis on which those views are founded, and the manner in which four additional factors complicate the security relationship. The assessment of France in terms of military, economic, and political strength reveals a French capacity to disrupt American defense policy and, therefore, underscores the desirability of French military cooperation. The negative component of ambivalent French views of...

The combat glider was effectively used by German, British and US forces in World War II (WWII). Each country had unique doctrines of development, pilot training, and force employment. Germany, restricted by the Treaty of Versailles, saw the glider as an effective means of training future Luftwaffe pilots and only in the mid-1930s realized the gilder's combat potential. The British and American military did not embrace gliders until Germany's dramatic early WWII successes in Poland and the European Low Country. British doctrine closely resembled Germany's by using gliders in commando raids of...

Aerial precision is airpower's modern contribution to the just war tradition. The fundamental purpose of this analysis is to examine the ethical and moral implications of this statement and identify some of the inherent dilemmas resulting from it for political decision makers and military strategists. In addition, likely trends and characteristics of American airpower in the twenty-first century are examined. In a world where international relations are dominated increasingly by pragmatism, this study recognizes the importance of moral virtues and ethical reasoning in political and military...

What can we learn from an analysis of Iraq's strategy against Kuwait in 1990-1991 and how can we apply these lessons for possible future operations? Baghdad's invasion and occupation of Kuwait was a key component of an Iraqi endeavor to achieve regional hegemony and global economic importance. To retain Kuwait, the regime initiated a multifaceted strategy, which encompassed the integration of the diplomatic, informational, military and economic (DIME) instruments of power. This broad strategy was a diminutive time capsule where Iraq exercised nearly every stratagem at its disposal (in an...

The United States is headed into the sixth year of an exceptionally frustrating war whose consequences so far have been largely injurious to America's long-term national security. Preoccupation with that war understandably has obscured the original decision for launching it. That decision cannot be repealed, and the controversies surrounding it offer little guidance to those grappling with the political and military challenges confronting the United States in Iraq today. Knowing the way into Iraq is not knowing the way out. That said, it is critical that Americans come to understand how the...