Military Geography: For Professionals and the Public (Association of the United States Army) [Paperback]

John M. Collins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 1998 | ISBN-10: 1574881809 | ISBN-13: 978-1574881806 | Edition: 1

This book covers many topics that are crucial to military planning but often receive only passing mention in histories or briefings. Collins, a former Army officer, stresses land geography, but he does not stint oceans, the atmosphere, or interplanetary space. His discussions of urban areas are too brief, given the increasing amount of large-scale violence in cities since the end of World War II.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John M. Collins is a retired U.S. Army colonel and a distinguished visiting research fellow at the National Defense University. Collins culminated his military career as the director of military strategy studies and then as chief of the Strategic Research Group at the National War College. He was subsequently the senior specialist in national defense at the Congressional Research Service for twenty-four years. Collins has written twelve books and numerous monographs, including Strategy: Principles, Practices, and Historical Perspectives. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 462 pages
• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc.; 1 edition (August 31, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574881809
• ISBN-13: 978-1574881806
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #156,010 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to a specialized topic., April 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Military Geography: For Professionals and the Public (Association of the United States Army) (Paperback)

If you are a serious reader of military history, a serving military professional, or a specialist in international security and defense issues, this book is worth your time. As an introductory text, it covers many topics that are crucial to military planning but often receive only brief mention in histories or briefings. Collins, a former Army officer, stresses land geography, but does not stint oceans, the atmosphere or interplanetary space. His discussions of urban areas are too brief, given the increasing amount of large-scale violence in cities since the end of World War II. More maps would also be an improvement. Nonetheless, highly recommended.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ***Terrain and the 9 Grounds***, April 4, 2002

By 

Troy A. Lettieri "Professional Warrior" (NC, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Military Geography: For Professionals and the Public (Association of the United States Army) (Paperback)

Sun Tzu the greatest military strategist to ever live dedicated two complete scrolls to the use of geography in warfare. The two scrolls were (translated) "Terrain" and the second was "Nine Grounds". Today the out come of all major conflicts are determined with a list of various factors one of those being geography. Knowing the "lay of the land" is a major asset to a tactician, knowing the "land" enables a planner to estimate probably courses of actions the enemy may take and how he may counter this move while using all available assets to his advantage, like the local geography. This includes every element from the weather, season, night, day, terrain, and that is to name but a few. The book covers topics from sea states to atmosphere as well as outer space and moon conditions. The book uses historical events to promote the topic by illustrating the events outcome due to some overlooked or advantages geographical condition. This book is not just for some planning officer at corps level but is an awesome primer for squad leaders and specialty troops like scouts, snipers and Special Forces operators. The book is also quite a good read for the armchair historian. The content of the book is put together excellent, the text, illustrations, and pictures are crisp and clear. The book is also oversized which makes it easier to read and handle. As a final not if you own this book, or like this topic I also recommend; "Battling The Elements" by Harold A. Winters.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Goes Way Beyond Hold the High Ground, December 3, 2006

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Military Geography: For Professionals and the Public (Association of the United States Army) (Paperback)

Any amateur reader of military science and history knows a few maxims of military geography -- hold the high ground and let the enemy come to you for instance. But that is not the way that a professional military officer/geographer knows about the military aspects of geography.

This book is an extremely interesting mix of general discussion about military geography combined with detailed discussions of the situation at specific places where the US military has had to go.

Of particular interest to me was the chapter on the beaches in Normandy. Among all the descriptions of the physical geography is a description of the obstacles (which modify geography) such as beach fortifications. In talking about these his comment is: 'The aggregate could best be described as awesome.' This leads on to the construction of airfields in Normandy in the days after D-Day, seven airfields were operational by D+20.

I suspect that the military has books and courses on geography for their own use, but for the amateur interested in the details about military geography I can't recommend this book to highly.