William Pitt and the Generals: Three Case Studies in the Seven Years‘ War

1971 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 128-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Kent Hackmann
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Military Planning ◽  
Wise Choice ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
Armed Services ◽  
The Relationship

British historians agree that from 1756 to 1761 William Pitt was the driving force behind England's victories in the Seven Years' War. Historians are divided, however, in their assessment of Pitt's relations with his generals. Basil Williams concisely stated one position when he linked success with Pitt's “wise choice of commanders on land and sea.” Julian S. Corbett best represents the opposite opinion. “It is commonplace,” he observed, “to credit him [Pitt] with a remarkable talent for choosing commanders. Yet surely no great War Minister ever appointed so many bad ones.”The lines for debate are clear, and the question is vital for a general interpretation of Pitt's career and England's role in the war. Surprisingly, modern students of the elder Pitt have uncritically followed the opinion represented by Williams, and they have disregarded Eric McDermott's call in 1955 for a fresh examination of the “Great Commoner” and civil-military relations during the war. This essay deals with the question by telling the story of three English military operations on the French coast in 1757 and 1758. They are important in themselves for what they reveal about military planning and execution. More important, the story supports Corbett's conclusion by shedding light on the relationship between Pitt in London and the commanders in the field.Pitt came to power when the country's military fortunes were at their lowest point. General Braddock's defeat in western Pennsylvania and the loss of Minorca, the Royal Navy's best base in the Mediterranean, punctuated the pre-war hostilities with France. At home, the armed services were undermanned, and abroad the search for allies left England with Prussia to face the combined forces of France, Austria and Russia.

The “New Turkey” At Home and Abroad

2018 ◽  
pp. 625-648
Author(s):  
Asli Ü. Bâli
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Arabian Gulf ◽  
Arab Uprisings ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Syrian Civil War ◽  
Turkish Politics ◽  
The Government ◽  
Religion And State ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter examines the reversal of Turkey’s trajectory over the last fifteen years. It addresses the domestic transformation of Turkey through constitutional reforms, shifting civil–military relations, economic growth, corruption, ethnic conflict, and the relationship between religion and state. Examining these issues helps to explain why Turkish politics has become more polarized, and how this has been manipulated by the governing party to consolidate a majoritarian system and to crack down on dissent. The chapter then traces changes in Turkey’s foreign policy as it moves away from prioritizing relations with Washington and Brussels and seeks to forge a more multifaceted set of regional policies. This has failed for a number of reasons, including the Arab uprisings and the Syrian civil war. Instead, the government has embraced a “Eurasianist” turn aligning Turkey with authoritarian regimes in the Caucasus and the Arabian Gulf, in keeping with the country’s increasingly repressive domestic politics.

Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 283-298
Author(s):  
Risa Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Future Research ◽  
Civilian Control ◽  
Military Effectiveness ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Us Military ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
Military Activity ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Relationship

The concluding chapter synthesizes insights from the individual chapters, identifying six overarching lessons: civilian control of the US military is complex and understudied; norms are essential for healthy civil-military relations; the relationship between society and the military is less than healthy; partisanship is corroding civil-military relations; public scrutiny of the military is essential to military effectiveness; and the fundamental character of civil-military relations is changing. In turn, it proposes several questions for future research, suggesting that more could be known about public accountability of military activity; the nature and measurement of military politicization; and changing actors and roles in civil-military relations.

Who Has “Skin in the Game”?

2020 ◽  
pp. 97-114
Author(s):  
Jessica D. Blankshain
Keyword(s):  
Military Service ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Political Costs ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Reserve Component ◽  
Military Relations

This chapter examines how the changing role of the reserve component in the post–Cold War era has affected US civil-military relations. It argues that as the reserve component has transitioned from strategic to operational reserve, the part-time service members of the reserve component have become less distinct from their active-duty counterparts. The blurring of the distinction between citizen-soldier and professional soldier has important implications for key issues in civil-military relations. Policymakers previously assumed the societal disruption caused by mobilizing the reserve component would impose significant political costs on presidents who conduct overseas military operations, but this does not appear to be the case today. In addition, political activity—including serving in Congress—by members of the reserve component who simultaneously publicize their ongoing military service may exacerbate concerns about the politicization of the military.

Georgia: Warlords, Generals, and Politicians

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Darchiashvili ◽  
Stephen Jones
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
The United States ◽  
Russian Revolution ◽  
Prime Ministers ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Executive Authority ◽  
Democratic Control ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Relationship

The balance between civil and military structures is central to understanding the development of Georgian statehood since the beginning of the 20th century. The first modern independent Georgian state was established after the 1917 Russian Revolution. The Democratic Republic of Georgia declared its independence in May 1918. In February 1921, the young republic was incorporated into the Soviet state and had no separate army of its own. Since regaining its independence in 1991, Georgia has experienced multiple administrations, and despite significantly different policies on the military, the overall pattern has been one of civilian (though not always democratic) control. Georgian militias and paramilitaries, between 1918 and 1921 and again between 1991 and 1995, played important roles in determining political power at times of revolutionary or constitutional crises. Since 1991 there have been three presidents - Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Eduard Shevardnadze, and Mikheil Saakashvili - with strong executive authority. In 2013, the position of president was made semi-ceremonial and a prime-ministerial system was instituted. Since 2013, there have been multiple prime ministers. Bidzina Ivanishvili was the first and the most powerful. All of Georgia’s leaders have shifted from a Soviet to pro-Western orientation. Since the second half of the 1990s, the relationship with NATO has grown closer, which has had a major impact on the structure of the Georgian armed forces and on their relationship with Georgia’s civil authorities. The 2008 war with Russia had a major impact on the Georgian military, and, since then, the level of professionalization of the Georgian armed forces has increased dramatically. Samuel Huntington, Eric Nordlinger, and other Western students of civil-military relations have pointed to the important balance required between civil and military authorities for a stable democracy. Georgia still displays continuing features of nepotism, clientelism, corruption, and dominant political personalities, which has significant consequences for the independence of the Georgian military and for civil-military relations more generally. Western states such as the United States and Germany, and international organizations like NATO continue to urge reform and provide training to the Georgian armed forces

scholarly journals Tourist settlements in the Comunidad Valenciana coast: A Typological Map

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilda Azulay Tapiero ◽  
Vicente Mas Llorens
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Mediterranean Coast ◽  
The Social ◽  
Territorial Cohesion ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Great Complexity

The system of tourist settlements on the Mediterranean coast presents a great complexity, as well as its geographical, landscape, morphological, urban and architectural conditions like for the varied way of relating to it the social and economic groups involved. The purpose of the communication is to expose the research about the need and the possibility of actions providing tourist settlements with urban and territorial cohesion, and enabling new proposals where what is decisive is not only acting on the parties but, globally, on the conditions that defines the scenes of action. In order to deal with the complexity of the tourist development on the Valencian Mediterranean coast, we proposed, as a first step, the identification of settlement types where, contrary to the buildings type, it will be necessary to apply mechanisms that take into account there are structures in the process of evolution. As Giorgio Grassi (1973) already said, a classification is not a type but allows an approximation to it. This has allowed the development of a “Typological Map of Tourist Settlements in the Comunidad Valenciana” where situate case studies while reading the territory as a whole and each settlement in relation to others settlements. A map to add data, based on the definition of parameters related to structure, urban form and architecture, but also to the relationship with the coastal physical environment, and selected for their capacity to provide data for the research purposes.

Retirement Day

2019 ◽  
pp. 291-303
Author(s):  
Andrew Marble
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Partnership For Peace ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Us Military ◽  
The Us ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
Operations Other Than War ◽  
Historic Change ◽  
The Military

The chapter is set at Fort Myer, Virginia, on September 30, 1997, the day General John Shalikashvili retired from the US military. The chapter overviews the retirement ceremony from Shalikashvili’s perspective as he reviews the honor guard with President William J. Clinton and Secretary of Defense William Cohen and thinks back to that night when he first laid eyes on US soldiers in Pappenheim and the role that luck has played in his attaining the American dream. The chapter also thumbnails his accomplishments as chairman: (1) confronting historic change, especially by realizing Partnership for Peace and NATO expansion, (2) was more supportive of non-traditional military missions (military operations other than war, MOOTW), (3) prepared the US military for the challenges of the twenty-first century, particularly by downsizing the military yet upgrading their capability and readiness, including by emphasizing joint education, joint planning, and joint training, and (4) rebalanced civil-military relations. The chapter ends with Shalikashvili’s closing remarks, emphasizing his love for soldiers and their families.

Civil-Military Relations Post-9/11

2019 ◽  
pp. 61-82
Author(s):  
Donald S. Travis
Keyword(s):  
Vietnam War ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Military Establishment ◽  
Special Operations ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Special Operations Forces ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Military

Post-9/11 civil-military challenges associated with sustained military operations against assorted enemies in Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, and other regions around the world are examined through the Clausewitzian concept known as the "paradoxical trinity" of the people, the military establishment, and the civilian government. As America's wars are conducted by a consortium of land forces that General Peter Schoomaker once characterized as a "new strategic triad" composed of the Army and Marines with Special Operations Forces (SOF), the Clausewitzian framework is employed to help reassess three interrelated lessons drawn from the Vietnam War: the legality of war, the use of advanced weapons and their associated strategies, and the persistent debates over how best to employ military power focused on conventional versus unconventional forces' roles, missions, and tactics. Potential futures of landpower and civil-military relations are identified and discussed to challenge current political and military policies and stimulate further inquiry.

scholarly journals Spanish Musical Responses to Moroccan Immigration and the Cultural Memory of al-Andalus

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
MATTHEW MACHIN-AUTENRIETH
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Cultural Memory ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
Peaceful Coexistence ◽  
Medieval Spain ◽  
Shared History ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe notion of a shared history across the Mediterranean is central to a number of Spanish-Moroccan musical collaborations, which draw on the notion of convivencia: the alleged peaceful coexistence between Christians, Jews, and Muslims in medieval Spain. In this article, I explore the relationship between a ‘musical’ convivencia and Moroccan immigration in Spain, focusing on two prominent case studies: Macama jonda (1983) and Inmigración (2003). Spanning a twenty-year period, I argue that these two productions illustrate shifting responses to Moroccan immigration at distinct historical moments: the post-Franco era and post-9/11. These two productions illustrate the malleability of the convivencia myth, employing it for distinct social and political purposes. I argue that Macama jonda and Inmigración should be read as products of shifting political and cultural relations between Spain and Morocco, and Spain's negotiation of its Muslim past.

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