Military Review English Edition January-February 2017 | страница 136

mobility; (5) logistics; and (6) dealing with the population. Wahlman’s comparative matrix at the end of the
book suggests that the first case—Aachen—showed the
United States at its best across all six categories. There
is a relatively declining performance trend in Asia, the
worst performance exhibited in the fight for Hue City.
The reasons for this are complicated, and the author does
good service in disabusing the reader of simplistic notions
that U.S. ground forces became less proficient in urban
warfare. However, the small sample size of only four cases
and mostly qualitative and anecdotal evidence are reasons
enough not to infer too much from this matrix.
Not unexpectedly, the comparison ranks the United
States consistently high in firepower and survivability
as well as in mobility and countermobility capabilities.
Also not surprising, the worst relative U.S. performance
is in terms of intelligence and reconnaissance. Lastly, the
author challenges two common urban conflict misperceptions: (1) an overall numerical 3-to-1 offensive ratio is
mandatory, and (2) infantry is the most suitable branch
of arms for city fighting.
While not predictive of future U.S. ground force
performance, Wahlman’s Storming the City suggests that
intangible characteristics through which units discover,
learn, and adapt will matter most, although technological
advances in firepower, survivability, mobility, and logistics
will certainly matter. If you can only have one urban warfare book in your professional library, make sure this is it.

Col. Eric M. Walters, U.S. Marine Corps,
Retired, Fort Lee, Virginia

TRANSFORMING MILITARY POWER
SINCE THE COLD WAR
Britain, France, and the United States,
1991-2012
Theo Farrell, Sten Rynning, and Terry Terriff,
Cambridge University Press, New York,
2013, 303 pages

T

ransforming Military Power since the Cold War
is a comparative case study by three notable
military historians (two European and one
Canadian) who offer an illuminating understanding
of the military transformation of Britain, France,
and the United States beginning after the Cold War.
134

The authors relied on extensive archival research and
numerous interviews and official document access.
Anyone interested in how an army transforms, and
how it responds to challenges in an environment of
constrained resources, will benefit from this book.
With the Soviet Union’s inevitable demise, the end of
the Cold War, and the increase of connectivity through
networked computing and precision-guided weapons,
Western military forces concentrated their efforts to
adapt to new and unknown risks and requirements.
The central question the authors sought to answer was
how the armies of Britain, France, and the United States
would change to meet new strategic imperatives and take
advantage of new technologies. Both the process and the
overall outcomes of Army transformation were investigated in their research. By seeking to answer predetermined questions, the authors looked at ways to develop
findings that would have a general relevance for how
militaries innovate. The authors focused on investigating
four key elements: interests of the organization,
military culture with
respect to new ideas,
the role of civilian and
military leaders, and t he
feedback generated from
operational experience.
The book is divided
into five chapters. The
first begins with the
imperatives and innovations involved with
army transformation.
The next chapters, in
order, focus on the U. S. Army as it concentrated on the
promise of information technology and modularization, the British and French armies as they developed
networked expeditionary forces, and the development
of effects-based operations. Each military chapter
considers interests, ideas, individuals, and operational
experience, along with how they were all interrelated
with respect to army transformation. The final chapter
evaluates the overall findings of the preceding case
studies and discusses the many implications for the
future of Western land power.
Transforming Military Power since the Cold War adds
to current scholarly contributions related to military
January-February 2017  MILITARY REVIEW