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Desert Storm 1991 - Richard P. Hallion |
- By Nick-D
The 25th book in Osprey Publishing's 'Air Campaign' series covers the aerial aspects of the 1991 Gulf War. It was written by Richard P. Hallion, who has had a diverse career as a historian, academic and aviation museum professional.
This is rapidly becoming my favourite Osprey series, books like this being the reason why. Written by someone with expertise in the topic, it packs a lot of information into its 96 pages. Hallion provides a good account of the opposing forces and how the campaign played out. This includes good quality analysis of why the on-paper impressive Iraqi air defences were rapidly defeated, and how the coalition forces used air superiority to effectively win the war before the ground campaign began. A point made somewhat in passing that's relevant to recent events in Ukraine is Hallion's observation that the air campaign was effectively a test of late Cold War-era Western and Soviet technologies and doctrines, with Western aircraft and tactics proving far superior.
It's hard to fault this book, but the obvious thing to note is that the length is just too short to do this topic justice. Osprey really should allocate more pages if they're going to commission serious works like this one. The book is also not as well illustrated as most Osprey works.
Overall though, this is a very useful book that provides insights into late Cold War and modern aerial warfare.
Publishing details: Hallion, Richard P. (2022). Desert Storm 1991: The Most Shattering Air Campaign in History. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781472846969.
Recent external reviews |
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Dunn, Steve R. (2022). The Harwich Striking Force: The Royal Navy's Front Line in the North Sea 1914–1918. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 9781399015967.
- Mortimer, John (20 October 2022). "The Harwich Striking Force". Australian Naval Institute.
Ricks, Thomas E. (2022). Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
ISBN
9780374605162.
- Kaiser, Charles (9 October 2022). "Waging a Good War review: compelling military history of the civil rights fight". The Guardian.
Asselin, Pierre (2018). Vietnam's American War: A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
978-1-107-51050-0.
- Hart, Dan (October 2022). "Review of Asselin, Pierre, Vietnam's American War: A History". H-War, H-Net Reviews.
Recent military history works
- Ricks, Thomas E. (19 October 2022). "Taking the Long View on Some Very Long Wars". The New York Times.
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