The Canadian Army Reading List - Version 1, September 2001
Introduction - Doctrine - Military Theory - Canadian Military Heritage - Military History - Campaign and Battle Studies - Leadership - The Human Factor - Technology - Future Warfare - Peacekeeping - Politics, International Relations and Economics - Ethics, Domestic Issues and Social Trends - Fiction

Doctrine, Training and Professionalism



English, John A. Lament for an Army: The Decline of Military Professionalism (Contemporary Affairs No. 3). Toronto: Irwin Publishing, 1998. ISBN 0-7725-2520-X.

In this examination of the Canadian Army, the author chronicles what he believes tobe dangerous decline of professionalism in the Canadian Army that manifested itself in Somalia. Highlighting the various factors responsible for this, theauthor goes on to suggest how professionalism might be restored. A small book with much to say.

Harris, Stephen J. Canadian Brass: The Making of a Professional Army, 1860 – 1939. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988. ISBN 0-0820-5765-9.

The establishment of professionalism within the Canadian Army was a struggle right from Confederation to the Second World War. Faced with an unfavourable political climate, an unsympathetic social environment, self-serving officers and other factors resulted in as many failures as successes in the struggle to gain expertise and credibility.

Houlding, J.A. Fit for Service: The Training of the British Army, 1715 – 1795. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981. ISBN 0-19-822647-0.

The complexities of individual and collective training at various levels in both peacetime and war during the eighteenth century are examined in this unique work, which often challenges popular notions of the professional skill and training achieved during this period.

Nosworthy, Brent. The Anatomy of Victory: Battle Tactics 1689 – 1763. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1992. ISBN 0-87052-014-8.

Nosworthy offers the first detailed examination of the tactical systems employed by the major European armies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In this period of significant technological change, the author discusses the effects of the musket, the socket bayonet and the general evolution of tactics. Concentrating on how battle was conducted, a clear picture of the effect of technology on battle emerges.

Paret, Peter, Editor. Makers of Modern Strategy: from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986. ISBN 0-691-02764-1.

A collection of essays tracing the evolution of war, its strategic characteristics and its political and social functions, over the last five centuries. The subjects range from major theorists, political and military leaders to impersonal forces such as technology or policy. An important and timeless work that should be read and studied.

Simpkin, Richard E. Race to the Swift: Thoughts on Twenty-First Century Warfare. London and Washington: Brasseys, 1985. ISBN 1-85753-153-3.

A compelling and demanding examination of the future of armed force and military forces as instruments of national policy in an increasingly dangerous world. The effects of technology, reluctance to employ weapons of mass destruction, the likelihood of fighting a numerically larger adversary and other trends are considered in relation to various theories of operations including manoeuvre warfare.

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