Feeding Mars: Logistics In Western Warfare From The Middle Ages To The Present

by John A. Lynn (Editor)

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.

Genres: Military History, Military Fiction, History, Nonfiction

344 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

John Albert Lynn is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and a visiting professor at Northwestern University, Evanston. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. Although he specializes in the military history of France from the early modern period through the revolution, he has taught classes spanning the entire range of military history, including classes on the military history of south Asia.

Reviews

[Richard Jahelka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of all over the place. Must be written by a Logistician.

[Msg Det]

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[Dave Beeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reading on the history of military logistics.

[Ta · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice collection of essays depicting various logistical crisises. More interesting essays are at the beginning of the book, since they start out with a thesis and attempt to prove it with various sources. Latter essays are more focused on showing how logistics broke down or succeeded at doing their task.

Be careful with the ebook version: it's been horribly mangled. A lot of lines are missing spaces or spaces were added where spaces are not needed. Letters were misread by the program and a couple times I could not decipher what the original word in the sentence was supposed to be. Buy the hardcover or look for a different ebook version.