Feeding Mars: Logistics In Western Warfare From The Middle Ages To The PresentJohn A Lynn Mars must be fed. His tools of war demand huge quantities of fodder, fuel, ammunition, and food. All these must be produced, transported, and distributed to contending forces in the field. No one can doubt the importance of feeding Mars in warfare, and it takes no great effort to recognize that logistics has always been a major aspect of large-scale armed struggle. Yet, despite its undeniable importance, surprisingly little has been written about logistics. The literature on warfare is full of the triumphs and tragedies of common soldiers and the brilliance and blundering of generals. But logistics lacks the drama of combat. It can be expressed on balance sheets no more exciting than shopping lists; movement is not measured by the dashing gallop of charging cavalry but by the steady plod of draft horses. Feeding Mars is an important contribution to the study of this essential aspect of warfare as practiced by Western powers from the Middle Ages to the Vietnam War. It deals with logistics across a broader time span than that covered in any other work on the subject and emphasizes the various ways in which the essential materials of war have been produced, acquired, and transported to fighting forces in the field. Feeding Mars makes a major contribution to military history and sheds new light on an important, but too often overlooked, aspect of warfare. |
Contents
Logistics and the Aristocratic Idea of | 3 |
The History of Logistics and Supplying | 9 |
Medieval Introduction | 31 |
Copyright | |
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Other editions - View all
Feeding Mars: Logistics In Western Warfare From The Middle Ages To The Present John A Lynn No preview available - 1994 |
Feeding Mars: Logistics in Western Warfare from the Middle Ages to the Present John A. Lynn No preview available - 2020 |
Common terms and phrases
administration Admiralty American ammunition arms Bachrach battle bread Britain British bureau campaign CINCPAC combat construction contributions Creveld cruisers defensive early modern effort empire enemy engineers English equipment Europe fleet fodder forage forces fortifications fortresses France French Fulk Nerra galleys historians horses important industrial John king labor land late lines logistical logistical command logistical support logistical system logisticians London Louis XIV Louvois major March maritime Martin van Creveld medieval mercantile merchant ship merchant shipbuilding Military History Ministry of Munitions mobility motor transport Nathanael Greene naval navy operations Ordnance organization percent period Perjés ports procurement production Public Record Office Quartermaster rations Revolution Ripley Roman royal Royal Navy siege sixteenth century soldiers Spain Spanish strategic Strategikon supply theater tion tons troops trucks U.S. Army units Vauban Vegetius vehicles vessels Vietnam vols wagons War Cabinet warfare warship Washington weapons World