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The Hunt: The True Story of the Secret Mission to Catch a Taliban Warlord
by Andy McNabFrom master storyteller Andy McNab, this is the opening book in an adventure-filled and action-packed new series telling, for the first time ever, the true stories of Special Forces missions. 'McNab's first major non-autobiographical work of non-fiction ... The operation is told like a novel [...] and it is as refreshingly informal and compellingly immediate as his other books' Daily Express'Part history lesson, part military manual, part fixed-bayonets thriller. A must for Special Forces fans' The SunIt is the early 2000s and 9/11 is fresh in the world's memory. The Taliban have taken over Afghanistan, and armed militants and explosive devices are terrorising the people. And now a new threat is emerging in the country: suicide bombings, ordered by military commander of the Taliban, Mullah Dadullah.Special Forces are sent in to stop him.The Hunt is the thrilling story of the secret mission to catch Dadullah, one of the most dangerous men alive. Using classified sources and his unique insight into the way the SAS works, Andy McNab gives a page-turning account of what it took the Special Forces to find their target and what they would have to do to take him down.An explosive story of hostage negotiations, undercovers missions and a final, epic assault on Dadullah's compound that could leave only one side alive, The Hunt is a powerful retelling of a real-life Special Forces mission.
The Hunt: The True Story of the Secret Mission to Catch a Taliban Warlord
by Andy McNabFrom master storyteller Andy McNab, this is the opening book in an adventure-filled and action-packed new series telling, for the first time ever, the true stories of Special Forces missions. 'McNab's first major non-autobiographical work of non-fiction ... The operation is told like a novel [...] and it is as refreshingly informal and compellingly immediate as his other books' Daily Express'Part history lesson, part military manual, part fixed-bayonets thriller. A must for Special Forces fans' The SunIt is the early 2000s and 9/11 is fresh in the world's memory. The Taliban have taken over Afghanistan, and armed militants and explosive devices are terrorising the people. And now a new threat is emerging in the country: suicide bombings, ordered by military commander of the Taliban, Mullah Dadullah.Special Forces are sent in to stop him.The Hunt is the thrilling story of the secret mission to catch Dadullah, one of the most dangerous men alive. Using classified sources and his unique insight into the way the SAS works, Andy McNab gives a page-turning account of what it took the Special Forces to find their target and what they would have to do to take him down.An explosive story of hostage negotiations, undercovers missions and a final, epic assault on Dadullah's compound that could leave only one side alive, The Hunt is a powerful retelling of a real-life Special Forces mission.
The Hunted (A\jed Walker Series Novel Ser. #2)
by James PhelanIn 2011, Seal Team Six killed Osama Bin Laden. Now, four years later, someone is eliminating Team Six - one by one they are turning up dead.Jed Walker, ex-CIA, is an outsider back in the game. He's been chasing down a sinister group code-named Zodiac that the big guns - MI5, CIA, the Pentagon - have failed to eradicate. But as Walker follows the trail of bodies, uncovering secrets and making connections he's not supposed to make, he finds the answers are closer to home than he ever imagined.Revenge is the obvious motive, but nothing is ever that simple in love or in war.Can Walker find who's responsible before the body count grows higher?Can he stop another terror attack before more innocent bystanders suffer?When the line between the good and the bad become blurred, when the hunters become the hunted, only one man can save us all.
The Hunter Killers: The Extraordinary Story of the First Wild Weasels, the Band of Maverick Aviators Who Flew the Most Dangerous Missions of the Vietnam War
by Dan HamptonAt the height of the Cold War, America's most elite aviators bravely volunteered for a covert program aimed at eliminating an impossible new threat. Half never returned. All became legends. From New York Times bestselling author Dan Hampton comes one of the most extraordinary untold stories of aviation history.Vietnam, 1965: On July 24 a USAF F-4 Phantom jet was suddenly blown from the sky by a mysterious and lethal weapon--a Soviet SA-2 surface-to-air missile (SAM), launched by Russian "advisors" to North Vietnam. Three days later, six F-105 Thunderchiefs were brought down trying to avenge the Phantom. More tragic losses followed, establishing the enemy's SAMs as the deadliest anti-aircraft threat in history and dramatically turning the tables of Cold War air superiority in favor of Soviet technology.Stunned and desperately searching for answers, the Pentagon ordered a top secret program called Wild Weasel I to counter the SAM problem--fast. So it came to be that a small group of maverick fighter pilots and Electronic Warfare Officers volunteered to fly behind enemy lines and into the teeth of the threat. To most it seemed a suicide mission--but they beat the door down to join. Those who survived the 50 percent casualty rate would revolutionize warfare forever."You gotta be sh*#@ing me!" This immortal phrase was uttered by Captain Jack Donovan when the Wild Weasel concept was first explained to him. "You want me to fly in the back of a little tiny fighter aircraft with a crazy fighter pilot who thinks he's invincible, home in on a SAM site in North Vietnam, and shoot it before it shoots me?"Based on unprecedented firsthand interviews with Wild Weasel veterans and previously unseen personal papers and declassified documents from both sides of the conflict, as well as Dan Hampton's own experience as a highly decorated F-16 Wild Weasel pilot, The Hunter Killers is a gripping, cockpit-level chronicle of the first-generation Weasels, the remarkable band of aviators who faced head-on the advanced Soviet missile technology that was decimating fellow American pilots over the skies of Vietnam.
The Hunter: Autobiography Of The Man Who Spent Fifteen Years Searching For Adolf Eichmann
by David C. Gross Tuviah FriedmanTHE SEARCH...THE CAPTURE...AND THE TRIAL OF HISTORY'S BLOODIEST MURDERER, ADOLF EICHMANN -- BY THE MAN WHO TRACKED HIM DOWNTuviah Friedman-The Hunter of Adolf EichmannHere is the extraordinary story of the famous hunter who spent fifteen years searching for Adolf Eichmann, one of the most ruthless criminals the world has known. When the first Soviet troops entered Poland, young Tuviah Friedman, who had lost most of his family and seen many of his friends beaten to death, knew his chance to revenge himself on the Nazis was at hand. After his escape from a concentration camp, Friedman joined Polish security force charged with rounding up former commandants of slave labor and ghettos, and became a precocious and highly successful Nazi hunter. Had he not encountered anti-Semitic prejudices among the Poles, he might have remained in Poland and entered the new government that was then being formed. Instead, he proceeded to Vienna where he began his fifteen years search for Eichmann--a searchwhose final chapter began to unfold in October, 1959. The rest is history. Tuviah Friedman's story is the authentic account of the search for Adolf Eichmann. Friedman has documents, never known to exist, and has witnessed and participated in the crucial events of this story."An enthralling detective story and a self-portrayal of one man's terrifying obsession."--Life Magazine"Eccentric? Fanatic? Dedicated Man? He is all three but his book is a fascinating one..."--The New York Times
The Hunters (A Parson and Gold Novel #6)
by Tom YoungA remarkable military thriller from one of the most acclaimed new suspense writers in years--"a triumph of the fiction of contemporary warfare" (Alan Cheuse, The Dallas Morning News). Khatar. It's a Somali word for 'dangerous,' and it's one that Colonel Michael Parson has heard too often on his present mission. His friend Sophia Gold has talked him into using his leave from the Air Force to fly relief supplies into Somalia in an antique DC-3 cargo plane.Somalia is infested with armed clans, pirates, poverty, and, increasingly, terrorism. Parson and Gold are about to face all of them firsthand. An al-Shabaab leader called The Sheikh has declared all aid a sin against God, and he launches attacks against planes and convoys to stop it. If that weren't bad enough, a Hollywood actress and activist has flown into Somalia to make a documentary, and, as far as Parson is concerned, she might as well paint targets on their backs. The mission becomes even more complicated when they encounter a wounded teenage al-Shabaab fighter, who might be seeking asylum--or a chance to kill.Not even Parson knows just how khatar his mission of mercy will become.
The Hunters And The Hunted: German U-boats, 1939-1945 (Bluejacket Bks.)
by R. H. Stevens Jochen BrenneckeHitler's U-Boats--German submarine aces tell their own stories of war and death under the sea.THEY LIVE WITH DEATHThe silent death they deal to the ships above them...and the dark death that waits for them in the depths of the sea.These authentic reports by the top U-Boat commanders of World War II tell the vivid story of the terrors and triumphs of the war under the waves--its heroics and horrors, and the final defeat of Germany's most effective war arm.THE HUNTERS"Fire one!"--and a torpedo's wake points a white finger of death at an Allied warship. The U-boats prowl the seas, hunting victims and striking with the merciless, lethal speed of a cobra...but the hunters are alsoTHE HUNTED"Dive!"--and the sub plummets downward, rocked by the crash of depth charges...or surfaces to meet a hell of shellfire and bombs!Here is the full story of the men and weapons that almost won the war for Hitler--first-hand stories of undersea action by the U-boat aces themselves.
The Hunters and the Hunted: The Elimination of German Surface Warships around the World 1914-15
by Bryan Perrett"At the start of World War One the Imperial German Navy had a large number of surface warships deployed around the world. These posed a considerable threat to British mercantile interests, particularly the import of food and fuel supplies. Their elimination was a matter of urgency. This book covers the major actions and includes the following: The escape of the Goeben and Breslau to Turkey, where they became units of the Turkish Navy serving in the Black and Aegean Seas. The remarkable cruise of the Emden. Detached from the German East Asia Squadron she sank a Russian cruiser, a French destroyer, 21 merchant ships and destroyed cargo valued at 3 million. She was cornered and sunk by the Australian cruiser Sydney while raiding the Cocos Islands. The mystery of the Karlsruhe, destroyed by an internal explosion. The German East Asiatic Squadron, consisting of the armored cruisers Schanhorst and Gneisienau and several light cruisers made passage across the Pacific to the west coast of South America where they encountered and sank two British cruisers, the Monmouth and Good Hope. The Konigsberg operated from Germanys colony of Tanga. After sinking a British cruiser she hid in the upper reaches of the Rufiji River. After a lengthy naval and air campaign by British forces she was finally destroyed by the indirect fire from two RN Monitors. By the middle of 1915 the high seas had been mostly cleared of German surface warships, but two armed German ships dominated Lake Tanganyika. Two British armed motor boats were shipped to the West African coast from England and made their way by river and overland haulage to the lake, a 400 mile journey. The result was the destruction of the German lake boats and the invasion of Tanganyika by British forces. This operation became the inspiration for CS Foresters novel The African Queen and the film that followed. "
The Hunting Trip
by William E. ButterworthFrom the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of the W. E. B. Griffin novels comes a rollicking story of love, war, and adventure. As the author of the electrifying W. E. B. Griffin novels of the military, police, spies, and counterspies, William E. Butterworth III has been delighting readers for decades--but he has a special treat for them now.At the tender age of sixteen, Philip W. Williams III is expelled from boarding school for committing a prank, and on the train home naturally wonders where his life will take him now. It never enters his mind that he will become a world-class marksman and a special agent of the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Corps in postwar Germany, play a key role in the defection of a Soviet officer and then court danger as a courier for the CIA, marry an Austrian ballet dancer of ferocious mien, become a renowned bestselling novelist, and meet the love of his life on a hunting trip to Scotland.Yet all of this, and a great deal more, awaits him, in a raucous series of adventures across Europe and the United States that will have readers laughing, cheering, and propulsively turning the pages to discover what happens next.It is a novel that only Bill Butterworth could write--and that his millions of fans will enjoy.
The Huntress: A Novel
by Kate Quinn"...compulsively readable historical fiction…[a] powerful novel about unusual women facing sometimes insurmountable odds with grace, grit, love and tenacity.” - Kristin Hannah, The Washington Post Named one of best books of the year by Marie Claire and Bookbub“If you enjoyed “The Tattooist of Auschwitz,” read “The Huntress,” by Kate Quinn." The Washington PostFrom the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling novel, THE ALICE NETWORK, comes another fascinating historical novel about a battle-haunted English journalist and a Russian female bomber pilot who join forces to track the Huntress, a Nazi war criminal gone to ground in America.In the aftermath of war, the hunter becomes the hunted…Bold and fearless, Nina Markova always dreamed of flying. When the Nazis attack the Soviet Union, she risks everything to join the legendary Night Witches, an all-female night bomber regiment wreaking havoc on the invading Germans. When she is stranded behind enemy lines, Nina becomes the prey of a lethal Nazi murderess known as the Huntress, and only Nina’s bravery and cunning will keep her alive.Transformed by the horrors he witnessed from Omaha Beach to the Nuremberg Trials, British war correspondent Ian Graham has become a Nazi hunter. Yet one target eludes him: a vicious predator known as the Huntress. To find her, the fierce, disciplined investigator joins forces with the only witness to escape the Huntress alive: the brazen, cocksure Nina. But a shared secret could derail their mission unless Ian and Nina force themselves to confront it.Growing up in post-war Boston, seventeen-year-old Jordan McBride is determined to become a photographer. When her long-widowed father unexpectedly comes homes with a new fiancée, Jordan is thrilled. But there is something disconcerting about the soft-spoken German widow. Certain that danger is lurking, Jordan begins to delve into her new stepmother’s past—only to discover that there are mysteries buried deep in her family . . . secrets that may threaten all Jordan holds dear.In this immersive, heart-wrenching story, Kate Quinn illuminates the consequences of war on individual lives, and the price we pay to seek justice and truth.
The Hurricane Girls: The inspirational true story of the women who dared to fly
by Jo WheelerCelebrating the lives of the magnificent women, the ATA girls, who courageously flew Spitfires, Tiger Moths, Lancaster Bombers and many other aircraft during World War Two.These extraordinary women, Mary Ellis, Jackie Moggridge and Pauline Gower are just a few of the remarkable stories inside . . . Since the invention of aeroplanes, women have taken to the skies. They have broken records, performed daredevil stunts and faced such sexism and prejudice that they were effectively barred from working as pilots.That changed in the Second World War. Led by firebrand Pauline Gower, an elite group of British women were selected as ferry pilots to fly for the Air Transport Auxiliary. They risked their lives flying munitions and equipment for the boys on the front line.Flying day and night without radio; dodging storms, barrage balloons and anti-aircraft fire; and with only a map, compass and their eyesight to guide them, they navigated the treacherous wartime skies.____________The Hurricane Girls is the thrilling, moving and inspirational story of the female air force who once ruled our skies.
The Hurricane Pilot Who Became a Gestapo Agent: The Betrayal and Treachery of an RAF Sergeant
by M. S. MorganTucked away in the archives of the Museum for Transport and Technology in Berlin is an old photograph of a Hawker Hurricane on public display. The image must have been taken before the night of 23/24 November 1943, when the museum and the greater part of its collection – including the Hurricane – were destroyed in a RAF bombing raid. The aircraft in the photograph bore a squadron commander’s pennant under the cockpit, had broken propellor blades and carried the squadron markings PA-A on its fuselage, as well as the serial number W9147. Intrigued by what he had seen, the picture launched the author on an investigation that uncovered an incredible story of wartime treachery and betrayal. That tale concerns one man in particular – Augustin Přeučil. Also known to his family and friends as Gustav Přeučil, it was Augustin who had been the Hurricane’s last RAF pilot. A 26-year-old aviator from Czechoslovakia, on first appearances Přeučil had fled his homeland after Nazi Germany took control and created the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia – part of Hitler’s Greater Germany. Having initially traveled to Poland, he then escaped to France and, from there, ultimately reached Britain, where he joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve. Augustin Přeučil seemed to be just like many of the men who had arrived in the UK to continue the fight against Hitler. He appeared to be settled and even married an English girl in July 1941. But on 18 September of that year, he was posted missing, believed killed, while undertaking a training flight off the coast of Sunderland and Hartlepool. Přeučil’s body was never recovered and nothing more was heard of him. His young wife received a war widow’s pension; he was just another sad statistic of the war. However, Augustin Přeučil was far from dead. Having landed the ‘stolen’ Hurricane near Bastogne in Belgium, he was treated by local people as a downed Allied pilot, sheltered and then passed into the care of the local Resistance group. Přeučil repaid their trust by handing himself into the Gestapo – and revealing all he knew. The Gestapo’s response was swift and brutal. For Přeučil, this marked the start of a new career as an undercover agent for the Gestapo, principally in Czechoslovakia. As the author reveals, how he ended up serving Hitler’s Third Reich and betraying his homeland, his adopted country and a new wife, is a story that while strange is completely true. It is also one that ended with his death. Found guilty of High Treason, Přeučil was hanged by the Czech authorities in April 1947.
The Husband Hour
by Jamie BrennerWhen a young widow's reclusive life in a charming beach town is interrupted by a surprise visitor, she is forced to reckon with dark secrets about her family, her late husband, and the past she tried to leave behind.<P> <P>Lauren Adelman and her high school sweetheart, Rory Kincaid, are a golden couple. They marry just out of college as Rory, a star hockey player, earns a spot in the NHL. Their future could not look brighter when Rory shocks everyone-Lauren most of all-by enlisting in the U.S. Army. <P>When Rory dies in combat, Lauren is left devastated, alone, and under unbearable public scrutiny. Seeking peace and solitude, Lauren retreats to her family's old beach house on the Jersey Shore. But this summer she's forced to share the house with her overbearing mother and competitive sister. Worse, a stranger making a documentary about Rory tracks her down and persuades her to give him just an hour of her time. <P>One hour with filmmaker Matt Brio turns into a summer of revelations, surprises, and upheaval. As the days grow shorter and her grief changes shape, Lauren begins to understand the past-and to welcome the future.
The Hussar [1845 Edition]
by Rev Robert Gleig Sgt. Norbert LandsheitOriginally published in 1837 in two volumes, this is the 1845 edition which combines both into one handy volume.It is the account of Norbert Landsheit, late sergeant in the York Hussars and 20th Light Dragoons, who saw service in the Peninsular War. He related his military life to the Rev. George R. Gleig, whom he met whilst an inmate at Chelsea Hospital in London, where the Gleig was rector at the time.Landsheit had an amazingly long career, and his memoir provides a fascinating insight into the experiences of a German soldier within the British Army.
The Hutchinson Atlas of World War II Battle Plans: Before And After
by Stephen BadseyThis text contrasts 21 World War II battle plans with their actual outcome. Each in-depth battle essay is complemented by original maps, producing fresh insight into the technical aspects of warfare that drove the last worldwide conflict of the 20th century. An overall introduction gives a strategic overview of the whole of the war, and places the individual battles into context. The battles are presented in seven groups of three, and each group is introduced by a short essay on the common theme for the group.
The Hutchinson Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval Warfare
by HutchinsonFirst Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
The Hydra Protocol
by David WellingtonTo prevent nuclear annihilation, wounded Special Forces operative Jim Chapel must infiltrate a top secret Russian military base and disable an unstable supercomputerA routine mission in Cuban waters to retrieve a hidden key code from a sunken Soviet submarine quickly changes course when Cuban officials are tipped off. It turns out that Nadia, the beautiful stranger who saves Chapel from being discovered, is actually a Russian agent, and her intel is shocking. Hidden during the Cold War, a forgotten Russian supercomputer controls hundreds of nuclear missiles, all aimed at the United States. Just one fail-safe error and America will be obliterated. And there have been glitches in the computer's programming. . . .To disarm Hydra before it plunges the United States into nuclear winter, Nadia and Chapel must travel across Eastern Europe and infiltrate a secret base hidden deep in the steppes of Central Asia. But as these uneasy allies discover, not everyone wants the weapon out of commission.Jim Chapel is out of his depth, and out of his element, but not out of the game.
The Hydra Protocol
by David WellingtonTo prevent nuclear annihilation, wounded Special Forces operative Jim Chapel must infiltrate a top secret Russian military base and disable an unstable supercomputerA routine mission in Cuban waters to retrieve a hidden key code from a sunken Soviet submarine quickly changes course when Cuban officials are tipped off. It turns out that Nadia, the beautiful stranger who saves Chapel from being discovered, is actually a Russian agent, and her intel is shocking. Hidden during the Cold War, a forgotten Russian supercomputer controls hundreds of nuclear missiles, all aimed at the United States. Just one fail-safe error and America will be obliterated. And there have been glitches in the computer's programming. . . .To disarm Hydra before it plunges the United States into nuclear winter, Nadia and Chapel must travel across Eastern Europe and infiltrate a secret base hidden deep in the steppes of Central Asia. But as these uneasy allies discover, not everyone wants the weapon out of commission.Jim Chapel is out of his depth, and out of his element, but not out of the game.
The Hydra Protocol
by David WellingtonTo prevent nuclear annihilation, wounded Special Forces operative Jim Chapel must infiltrate a top secret Russian military base and disable an unstable supercomputerA routine mission in Cuban waters to retrieve a hidden key code from a sunken Soviet submarine quickly changes course when Cuban officials are tipped off. It turns out that Nadia, the beautiful stranger who saves Chapel from being discovered, is actually a Russian agent, and her intel is shocking. Hidden during the Cold War, a forgotten Russian supercomputer controls hundreds of nuclear missiles, all aimed at the United States. Just one fail-safe error and America will be obliterated. And there have been glitches in the computer's programming. . . .To disarm Hydra before it plunges the United States into nuclear winter, Nadia and Chapel must travel across Eastern Europe and infiltrate a secret base hidden deep in the steppes of Central Asia. But as these uneasy allies discover, not everyone wants the weapon out of commission.Jim Chapel is out of his depth, and out of his element, but not out of the game.
The I Inside
by Alan Dean FosterFor over 100 years, the machine called Colligatarch had ruled the Earth. Its predictions of the future have proved so accurate that humans accepted its recommendations as the best course of action - until a young engineer in Phoenix begins to travel without authorization, enter secret places, assume aliases, and display super-human feats of strength. Is it because he has fallen in love? Or has he instead fallen into an interplanetary plot?
The IDIC Epidemic (Star Trek: The Original Series #38)
by Jean LorrahI.D.I.C.—Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combination. More than just a simple credo, for those of the planet Vulcan it is the cornerstone of their philosophy.On the Vulcan Science Colony Nisus, that credo of tolerance, known as I.D.I.C. (Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combination) is being being put to its sternest test. For here, on a planet where Vulcan, human, Klingon, and countless other races live and work side by side, a deadly plague whose origins has sprung up. Aplague whose origins are somehow rooted in the concept of I.D.I.C. itself. A plague that threatens to tear down that centuries-old maxim and replace it with an even older concept: Intersellar War.
The IRA, 1968-2000: An Analysis of a Secret Army (Political Violence #Vol. 7)
by J. Bowyer BellBased on thousands of interviews over 35 years with the leaders and members of the Republican movement and the IRA itself, as well as the Irish, British and Americans involved in the Troubles, the focus of this study is on the workings of an organization involved in armed struggle.
The Ia Drang Campaign 1965: A Successful Operational Campaign Or Mere Tactical Failure?
by Lt.-Col. Peter J. SchifferleThis monograph analyzes the effectiveness of operational campaign design during the initial US ground combat in the Vietnam War. The focus is on the linkage of national strategic ends with military means and ways from the Spring of 1965 through the results of the la Drang battles of November 1965. The monograph identifies lessons from this period that are applicable to current US Joint and Army doctrine as well as lessons for planners and executors of US military action under the American system of civilian control of the military.First, the monograph evaluates current US doctrine for campaigns and identifies the concept of linkage of national strategic ends with military ways and means as critical to successful campaign design. Then the monograph assesses US military doctrine in 1965, identifying the weakness of unconventional warfare capabilities. A detailed discussion of the concept of both limited war and gradualism as national strategies, includes the limits on military action imposed by these strategies. Section III identifies specific military objectives identified by the National Command Authority, including preventing the war in Vietnam from escalating to a general war. The primacy of President Johnson's domestic concerns is also identified.The monograph then assesses the effectiveness of US military campaign planning and execution in 1965. The conclusion is that the operational ways and means used by General Westmoreland in the conduct of his chosen strategy of attrition were not linked in any way with the national strategic aim of limited warfare. The monograph also identifies a failure in supervision by civilian leaders, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, of the military planning and conduct of the air and ground campaign in South Vietnam. Too little supervision was the cause of failure, not over supervision by the civilian and military leadership.
The Iberian Leech: Napoleon’s Counterinsurgency Operations In The Peninsula, 1807-1810
by Major Mark A. ReevesBy 1807, Napoleon's victories over his European adversaries were legendary. His Grand Army had defeated the greatest European armies of the period. Each army, in succession, from the Hapsburg Empire to Russia, had been soundly beaten and had not been able to come to grips with how to deal with his lightning style of warfare. Yet, over a six-year period from 1807 to 1813, in the backwater Iberian Peninsula, Napoleon lost both his prestige and more troops than he lost in the infamous wintry campaign in Russia. How did an army of bandits, priests, and commoners along with a small expeditionary force achieve victory over the most powerful armies on the continent? The answer lies in that Napoleon did not only fight a band of insurgents and a small British led coalition army, but he also suffered from a combination of poor morale, weak leadership and a refusal to fully recognize the enemy situation. His overextended lines of communications covered an area that was bleak and poor in resources and he could no longer rely on foraging to feed and supply his troops, many of them suffering from starvation.The Iberian Campaign cost Napoleon over 250,000 troops and drained the French of manpower and resources that could have been used elsewhere. The campaign bankrupt Napoleon's image of invincibility and sapped his armies' leadership and experience. Therefore, Napoleon would have to rely on more conscripts and an ever-increasing number of foreign troops to fill his depleted ranks. Napoleon's generals were entangled in a politico-military quagmire for which they were never prepared and for which they received little guidance. The Peninsular Campaign sucked the lifeblood of Napoleon's armies and they were never able to fully recover from it.
The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris
by Peter Beinart“Peter Beinart has written a vivid, empathetic, and convincing history of the men and ideas that have shaped the ambitions of American foreign policy during the last century—a story in which human fallibility and idealism flow together. The story continues, of course, and so his book is not only timely; it is indispensable.” — Steve Coll, author of Ghost WarsPeter Beinart's provocative account of hubris in the American century describes Washington on the eve of three wars: World War I, Vietnam, and Iraq—three moments when American leaders decided they could remake the world in their image. Each time, leading intellectuals declared that the spread of democracy was inevitable. Each time, a president held the nation in the palm of his hand. And each time, a war conceived in arrogance brought tragedy. But each catastrophe also imparted wisdom to a new generation of thinkers. These leaders learned to reconcile the American belief that anything is possible with the realities of a world that will never fully conform to this country's will—and in their struggles lie the seeds of American renewal today.