Ebook523 pages7 hours
Limits of Air Power
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this ebook
The Limits of Air Power analyzes the American bombing campaigns in Vietnam and shows why the use of air power, so effective in previous wars, proved unsuccessful in a limited war.
Major Mark Clodfelter, a military historian, assesses the American use of air power from World War II through the Vietnam War, and shows how its effectiveness declined in Vietnam when air commanders and political leaders were faced with a very different kind of conflict than they had previously experienced. During World War II there was a very clear military objective – destruction of the Axis powers, in which the critical role of air power culminated in the detonation of two atomic bombs over Japan. During the Korean War, the threat of aerial attacks against North Korean dams hastened that war’s conclusion. But in Vietnam – where the enemy fought a guerrilla war and was not dependent on supply lines, and where no industrial economy existed – the threat of air power had less effect. The lessons learned from Vietnam, says the author, must become a part of Air Force doctrine going forward, and we ignore the lessons at our own peril. The New York Times praised The Limits of Air Power as “a courageous book. . . . It will enlighten any citizen interested in knowing whether the Air Force is prepared to do its job.”
Major Mark Clodfelter, a military historian, assesses the American use of air power from World War II through the Vietnam War, and shows how its effectiveness declined in Vietnam when air commanders and political leaders were faced with a very different kind of conflict than they had previously experienced. During World War II there was a very clear military objective – destruction of the Axis powers, in which the critical role of air power culminated in the detonation of two atomic bombs over Japan. During the Korean War, the threat of aerial attacks against North Korean dams hastened that war’s conclusion. But in Vietnam – where the enemy fought a guerrilla war and was not dependent on supply lines, and where no industrial economy existed – the threat of air power had less effect. The lessons learned from Vietnam, says the author, must become a part of Air Force doctrine going forward, and we ignore the lessons at our own peril. The New York Times praised The Limits of Air Power as “a courageous book. . . . It will enlighten any citizen interested in knowing whether the Air Force is prepared to do its job.”
Author
Mark Clodfelter
Mark Clodfelter is a professor of military strategy at the National War College.
Related to Limits of Air Power
Related ebooks
Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War, Revised Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAssured Destruction: Building the Ballistic Missile Culture of the U.S. Air Force Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Containment and Credibility: The Ideology and Deception That Plunged America into the Vietnam War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBombing to Win: Air Power and Coercion in War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Wizards of Armageddon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Force: Dangers, Delusions, and Dilemmas in National Security Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Way Out There In the Blue: Reagan, Star Wars and the End of the Cold War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tet Offensive: A Concise History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Winning Armageddon: Curtis LeMay and Strategic Air Command, 1948–1957 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTo Kill Nations: American Strategy in the Air-Atomic Age and the Rise of Mutually Assured Destruction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Winged Defense: The Development and Possibilities of Modern Air Power--Economic and Military Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Always at War: Organizational Culture in Strategic Air Command, 1946-62 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 300: The Inside Story of the Missile Defenders Guarding America Against Nuclear Attack Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRegional Missile Defense from a Global Perspective Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Kites to Cold War: The Evolution of Manned Airborne Reconnaissance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReputation for Resolve: How Leaders Signal Determination in International Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Limited Nuclear War in the 21st Century Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5From MAD to Madness: Inside Pentagon Nuclear War Planning Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeMay: The Life and Wars of General Curtis LeMay Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Case for U.S. Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wrong Turn: America's Deadly Embrace of Counter-Insurgency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5America's Rasputin: Walt Rostow and the Vietnam War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mars Adapting: Military Change During War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPearl Harbor: Failure of Intelligence? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClash of the Capital Ships: From the Yorkshire Raid to Jutland Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
History For You
The Secret History of the World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Library Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Richest Man in Babylon: The most inspiring book on wealth ever written Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Things You're Not Supposed to Know: Secrets, Conspiracies, Cover Ups, and Absurdities Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Grief Observed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lessons of History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whore Stories: A Revealing History of the World's Oldest Profession Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Power of Geography: Ten Maps That Reveal the Future of Our World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Awakening: Defeating the Globalists and Launching the Next Great Renaissance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters--And How to Get It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The ZERO Percent: Secrets of the United States, the Power of Trust, Nationality, Banking and ZERO TAXES! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Limits of Air Power
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
4 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Limits of Air Power - Mark Clodfelter
%a book_preview_excerpt.html }˒GR2Cf)QLm$)Rbl&UY8