Maneuver and Firepower: The Evolution of Divisions and Separate Brigades

Maneuver and Firepower, the companion volume to John B. Wilson's Armies, Corps, Divisions, and Separate Brigades, traces the evolution oftwo unique and complex U.S. Army organizations-divisions and separate brigades-that combined combat arms, combat support, combat service support units into well-oiled engines for war. The Army has used divisions and brigades since the colonial era, but the national leadership did not provide for their permanency in the force until the twentieth century. Wilson has prepared a detailed systematic account of the way these two organizations developed, highlighting operational art rationales and broad but interrelated technological, political, and economic factors that played a significant part in bringing the structural changes into reality. As Wilson shows, both organizations have played a pivotal role in the American military experience, and their exploits form the core of the Army's history in the twentieth century. Force planners today will find the challenges of making these military formations responsive to the ever-changing and unpredictable global dynamics affecting power and security relationships highly relevant today. This groundbreaking volume is an invaluable reference source for those involved in the ongoing Army Transformation.