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Tank Warfare Hardcover – Download: Adobe Reader, October 27, 2020
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The story of the battlefield in the 20th century was dominated by a handful of developments. Foremost of these was the introduction and refinement of tanks. In Tank Warfare, prominent military historian Jeremy Black offers a comprehensive global account of the history of tanks and armored warfare in the 20th and 21st centuries. First introduced onto the battlefield during the World War I, tanks represented the reconciliation of firepower and mobility and immediately seized the imagination of commanders and commentators concerned about the constraints of ordinary infantry. The developments of technology and tactics in the interwar years were realized in the German blitzkrieg in World War II and beyond. Yet the account of armor on the battlefield is a tale of limitations and defeats as well as of potential and achievements. Tank Warfare examines the traditional narrative of armored warfare while at the same time challenging it, and Black suggests that tanks were no "silver bullet" on the battlefield. Instead, their success was based on their inclusion in the general mix of weaponry available to commanders and the context in which they were used.
- Print length272 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherIndiana University Press
- Publication dateOctober 27, 2020
- Reading age18 years and up
- Dimensions6.5 x 0.75 x 9.5 inches
- ISBN-100253049997
- ISBN-13978-0253049995
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Tank Warfare by Jeremy Black is an in-depth, analytical study of the tank as a weapon of war. While there have been many books on armored warfare before, not one has this scope or critical analysis. This book will be of interest to general readers as well as military historians."―Glyn Harper, author of The Battle for North Africa
"Black is a master of taking a complex subject with a long history and condensing a broad spectrum of evidence and analysis into a well-organized, well-written monograph that is insightful and informative. Tank Warfare is just such a book!"―Dennis Showalter, author of Armor and Blood: The Battle of Kursk, The Turning Point of World War II
"Tank Warfare is a tour de force of the history of armored combat from the Battle of Cambrai till Syria. In scope and brevity, this book surpasses all other available works on tank warfare. Through his lucid prose, Black, not only provides an incisive account of the great tank battles fought by the panzers and Israeli Defense Force but also engages with the existing debates in the field. As this monograph shows, the value of tank in war depends not only on the state of art technology but also on non-material factors like command, tactical concepts, training and doctrine. The author persuasively argues that though tanks will remain relevant to armies in the near future, their combat effectiveness is somewhat decreasing due to the nature of future battlefield and weapons. Tank Warfare's exciting prose and intricate analysis will not only attract the general readers but will also be of great help to the specialists."―Kaushik Roy, Guru Nanak Chair Professor, Department of History, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India
"This superb book tells the story of tank warfare since its inception. In his sweeping account, Jeremy Black covers all aspects of the tank and all conflicts in which it has been involved, displaying a rare knowledge and integrating that knowledge into a coherent whole that few are capable of. Black covers both the tank's limitations and defeats as well as its strengths and successes. He shows that its effectiveness depended on context. It was not the silver bullet of its proponents like Fuller and Liddell Hart: it was important but only as part of a mix of weaponry. This book is a tour de force and strongly recommended."―Dr John Peaty FRGS FRHistS
"Jeremy Black succeeds in steering the reader through the entire history of the tank, traversing a remarkable range of wars, campaigns, machines and technical developments. Beginning with the origins of the tank, he manages to take the narrative through all the major conflicts, and from one side of the globe to another, including the world after 1990, bringing the story right up to the present day. He takes a skeptical view of the future of the tank, one which will certainly spark controversy. I can think of no short history of the tank which covers so much ground so succinctly. It provides an excellent overview of the subject."―Alaric Searle, author of Armoured Warfare: A Military, Political and Global History, Professor of Modern European History, University of Salford, UK
"Jeremy Black is quite simply one of the very best historians we have and in this new book he brings a clarity borne from deep knowledge to one of the most interesting battlefield weapons ever to have been developed. Perceptive, authoritative and highly convincing, he both dispels myths and brings new analysis to this facet of modern warfare."―James Holland, FRHistS, author of Normandy '44: D-Day and the Battle for France.
"An account of armor is a tale of limitations and defeats, as well as potential and achievements. Jeremy Black's Tank Warfare is a fascinating history of the tank and its use in battles from the First World War to the present day, with an extra peek into the future."―Ahron Bregman, King's College London, author of The Spy Who Fell to Earth.
Review
Black's text is far more than a mere chronological account of tank warfare. It is indeed much more. It is a critique to a sort of tank-centric approach of military culture, one that appeared after World War Two and has been in vogue for the whole duration of the Cold War, an approach which derives from a flawed use of military history. The book is also an overview of what tanks are today and, of course, what tanks should be tomorrow.
-- Matteo Mazziotti di Celso, Nuova Antologia MilitareReview
An account of armor is a tale of limitations and defeats, as well as potential and achievements. Jeremy Black's Tank Warfare is a fascinating history of the tank and its use in battles from the First World War to the present day, with an extra peek into the future.
-- Ahron Bregman, King's College London, author of The Spy Who Fell to Earth.About the Author
Jeremy Black is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Exeter and a Senior Fellow both of Policy Exchange and of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He is the author of many books, including A History of Britain: 1945 to Brexit, War and Technology, and Warfare in the Western World, 1882-1975. Black is a recipient of the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize from the Society for Military History.
Product details
- Publisher : Indiana University Press (October 27, 2020)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 272 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0253049997
- ISBN-13 : 978-0253049995
- Reading age : 18 years and up
- Item Weight : 1.26 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.5 x 0.75 x 9.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,093,266 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #66 in Armored Vehicles Weapons & Warfare History
- #6,481 in World War II History (Books)
- #12,585 in Engineering (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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- Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2021To bad it’s not bigger but it make up for it with all the other book lists on the subject fantastic.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2021
1.0 out of 5 stars Book is mistitled - it should be "Why I like Anti-Tank Weapons better than Tanks"
I was excited to get this book, but what a let -down. I can summarize it in one word: "Bleh"
The author tells you things like how many tanks are made, and is very vague on any details about them other than caliber (in inches, millimeters, or pounds with no cross-indexing) and armor thickness (usually in millimeters or inches) but fails to tell you ANYTHING useful about the actual tank. No technical details about anything - tanks, anti-tank weapons, mines, etc.
So...this must be about tactics and strategy, except the author fails to really give you any details about these as well. You are left with one short passage after another telling you a battle occurred (with this many tanks!) but you lack any clarity of what occurred, why, or the options.
About 30% through the book it suddenly dawned on me that this author must be British. Yup. You can just tell - the Brits have this peculiar myopic vision of WWII ("Montgomery was underrated!" No, he wasn't, he was mediocre at best. "Rommel was overrated!" No, he was brilliant and yes made some mistakes. "Patton was overrated!" No, he wasn't, he was the best tank general the allies had).
Most wars barely exist in this book...apparently none had tanks in them that did any good, but anti-tank weaponry ruled the Earth. (Why do you even need an anti-tank gun if there are no tanks?) I don't mind spending time on anti-tank weapons because they are important to tank tactics - but really? The author devotes as much time to the anti-tank weapons as the tanks - but no details of course.
Apparently the Blitzkrieg was overrated and only worked by accident - if the allies had only done THIS, or THAT! No, the Blitzkrieg was exactly the right strategy at exactly the right time used against opponents who did not yet understand mobile warfare. Yes, had they understood mobile warfare the opponents could have done better - but that is exactly beside the point...they had no experience yet. And yes, the right defense was defense in depth with reserves to produce the opportunistic counter-attack...which the opponents eventually figured out after getting smashed a few times.
This book on Tank Warfare has the least useful information about tanks (technical details, tactics, or strategy) of any Tank book I have ever read. It mentions combined warfare, but doesn't seem to really understand the concept except maybe - "Combined Arms Warfare is good...". The book is mercifully short - which is the best thing about the book. The best chapter was the last one about looking into the future, but even that was poorly thought out like a kid talking about something he doesn't really understand.
If you want information about tank warfare, this is NOT the book to get it from.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2021While interesting, it was far too academic to casually enjoy. Very comprehensive and informative. It was the didactic presentation of information that made it hard to get into.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2021Seriously? A topic as rich as armored warfare should be written about in more elaborate ways. Shame. Should have been a far better book.






