Military Education

Often the only time a nation evaluates the education of its armed forces is during the aftermath of a great military disaster. This work brings together the ideas of international scholars, all recognized as leaders in their fields, to examine the professional military education experience of various nations during the last 250 years. Case studies of each branch of the military reveal success and failure in the past and present, with a goal of improving military education in the future.

Franke examines the extent to which military socialization at the U.S. Military Academy prepares cadets cognitively for shifting missions. Assessing the dynamic relationship between identity, values, and attitudes, he shows the importance of individuals' identification with social groups for their behavioral choices.

Challengin assumptions about a distinctive "southern military tradition" in higher education, Andrew demonstrates that southern military schools were less concerned with preparing young men for actual combat than with instilling in their students broader values of honor, patriotism, civic duty, and virtue.

Author, educator, and reformer, Arthur L. Wagner was instrumental in pushing the U.S. Army into the twentieth century. From a lackluster beginning at West Point, Wagner went on to become one of the most influential officers of his day; and through his prolific writing, he was nearly a household name to his colleagues.

Wagner's pioneering work for the army came at a time when many officers preferred the school of experience to formal education. Against the opposition of the army's "old guard", Wagner succeeded in turning the army toward a professional ethic that required diligent study and reflection. In this well-written and thoughtful biography, T. R. Brereton traces the life of a remarkable soldier who played a central role in the introduction of new tactics, maneuvers, and army lesson learning.

This report summarizes the Arroyo Center's analysis of the Reserve Component (RC) school system and the prototype over two fiscal years (1995 and 1996) in the areas of training requirements and school production, training resources and costs, and training

This work examines the evolution of military-scientific research and theory as it was taught to student-officers at the Nicholas Academy. It is the only work (in English or Russian) that follows the development of this intellectual tradition within the institutional context of the Russian Imperial General Staff and its growing professional responsibilities in the late 19th and early 20th century. The book contains five portraits of influential Russian military theorists and educational administrators. Russian Imperial Doctrine features extensive use of original Russian language bibliographic sources and extensive use of French, British, and American archival sources.

This history describes in detail how conservative traditions and aristocratic values were preserved in the selection and training of German army officers prior to World War I despite changing times and the influx of many middle-class recruits into the army. Clemente demonstrates how "right thinking" and service to the King and the Kaiser were the basis for Prussian officer education in the period from 1860 to 1914. The book raises provocative questions about German performance in World War I and in subsequent years.

Bayonets before Bullets is the first comprehensive institutional and operational history of the Imperial Russian Army during the crucial period of its modernization, 1861-1914. Bruce W. Menning surveys the development of organization, doctrine, and strategy from the aftermath of Russia's defeat in the Crimean War through the wars against Turkey in 1877-1878 and Japan in 1904-1905, to the eve of World War I. Describing how the Russian army organized, trained, and armed itself to fight during a critical era of change, Menning weaves analysis of reforms in technology and military art with lively accounts of combat operations and portraits of the personalities involved. Enhanced by superb battlefield maps, operational diagrams, and rare photographs of the leading Russian military commanders, Bayonets before Bullets provides a fascinating account of how the Imperial Russian Army struggled to modernize in a Darwinian world that dealt harshly with those who failed to adapt to changes in technology and military art.

"David Shambaugh has written the most in-depth and balanced assessment of the Chinese military available. It is likely to be the defining work on the subject for some time to come."--Robert S, McNamara, former United States Secretary of Defense and President of The World Bank

"The role of the Chinese military will be a determining factor in how China not only relates to the outside world (especially to the United States) but also how China itself evolves politically. "Modernizing China's Military is a very important contribution to our enhanced understanding of a critically important trend in world affairs."--Zbigniew Brzezinski, former United States National Security Advisor and currently Counselor at the Center for Strategic & International Studies

"David Shambaugh gives a lucid, comprehensive, and objective account of the substantial growth this past decade in the PLA. He includes an insightful summary of more than a century's history of the Chinese military as a basis for explaining many of the problems the PLA has had, and will continue to have, in its modernization. This should be read by those responsible for our national security as well as scholars of contemporary China."--William J. Perry, former United States Secretary of Defense and currently Professor at Stanford University.

"Shambaugh's analysis of China's military power at home and abroad is thoroughly comprehensive, meticulously researched and enriched by years of personal interviews in Bejing with top civilian and military security specialists. His reliability and objectivity enhances understanding of the military challenge China may project in the future."--Allen S. Whiting, Regents Distinguished Professor ofPolitical Science (Emeritus) at the University of Arizona.

"For those who promote international security, facts can be elusive. Superb China hand David Shambaugh gives us his extensive research and incisive analysis of the PL

"An international excursion into the byways of the military mind . . . [with] special significance as one of the few books to seek to set, let alone succeed in setting, the Latin American military in a broader international perspective. . . . It will become standard fare for students of Latin America, [and] of military affairs worldwide."-Frank D. McCann, author of The Brazilian-American Alliance, 1937-1945

Examines several approaches to establishing visions, strategic plans, and implementation plans for the Chancellor's office to develop a strategic and performance planning process.

This report provides background and contextual information for a more comprehensive Rand report that explores ways of attracting college-eligible youth into the military.