News and Announcements

Noted on the Web

NEW  Jim Dingeman recommends a do-it-yourself Build Your Own Defense Budget site at NYU.

Tom Wisker emailed a notable site he found on AvWeb.com (The Internet's Aviation Magazine and News Service).  It's the RAF's Battle of Britain History site, and also provides access to the RAF's picture library.  Through Oct 31, they will post the Fighter Command daily reports, as well as relevant weather info.

NYMAS Links (below) are being expanded with link pages now including an event timeline, links as before, and a print bibliography.  The first example is The Korean War Begins - June-July 1950 (Timeline / Links / Bibliography)

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NYMAS Board Member Col. Arnold Albert writes, "While "browsing" today in the US Govt Bookstore at the Jacob K Javits Federal Office bldg @ 26 Federal Plz (Rm 2-120) in Lower Manhattan, I chanced to inquire of the cashier if they had anything in the way of a catalog relating to military publications of the US govt. That's its name. You might be interested in obtaining a copy of same, either if you're in the vicinity of said bookstore or by contacting them and see if they'll mail you a copy: (212) 264-3825 (212) 264-9318 [fax] It's a most handy-dandy alphabetically-arranged, 32-page compendium of military history books, charts, et al covering from pre-Revolutionary War to post-Gulf War, many now available in CD-ROM format. To access the full spectrum of publications offered by the GPO, check out: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/sale.html. Think of this for additions to your own library, gifts, etc. Yours for a more informed military community!"

Col. Arnold Albert (left), NYMAS Board Member, greets Gen. (Ret.) Colin Powell at Fort Hamilton Army Base, Brooklyn on 16 November 2000 just prior to the ceremony at which Bldg. 237 was formally dedicated as the Gen. Colin L. Powell USO Center.  Gen. Powell and Col. Albert briefly reminisced about their days as City College students and Army ROTC cadets (Powell in Class of 1958, Albert in Class of 1959).

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If anyone thinks the Web can't be a serious repository for books: Check out 650,000+ pages at the University of Michigan's Making of America site.   The actual pages, too. 

  And after a rocky start, Cornell University finally has their Making of America site online.   This time, 907,750 more pages including most of the 124 volumes of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and Navies in the War of the Rebellion and vast amounts of other 19th century materials are here, and unlike microfilm, its all keyword searchable and no scratchmarks! 

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Interested in the military history of New York City?
If so, you are invited to check out the "History of Fort Tilden" web site on the internet at: http://www.geocities.com/fort_tilden/

Fort Tilden, located at Rockaway Point, NY, was an important part of the defenses of New York City from 1917 until it was closed and turned over to the National Park Service in 1974.

Started as a Coast Artillery post with 12-inch mortars and 6-inch rapid fire guns, the post evolved into the most heavily armed fortification in New York City. In World War 2, there were two casemated 16-inch guns, four 6-inch guns, several 3-inch AA guns, 90mm Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat guns, 155mm GPF mobile guns, searchlights, early harbor defense radar, and fire control towers.

There were also underground bunkers for ammunition storage, the plotting rooms of the gun batteries, the mine casemate, and the Harbor Entrance Command Post.

Radar controlled AA guns were installed in 1951 until the Nike Ajax missile system was installed in 1954. This site was later upgraded to the Nike Hercules system in 1958 and remained operational until 1974.

Many of the old structures still remain for park visitors to see. Most are only open to visitors on Ranger-led tours. Contact the National Park Service at 718-318-4300 for more information.

(The "History of Fort Tilden" web site is not maintained by the NPS, but rather volunteers working hand-in-hand with the park to promote the historic interpretation of this former Army post. Contact us at Fort_Tilden@hotmail.com )

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Author and NYMAS Board Member Al Nofi noted that in addition to everything else, he's involved in The Strategy Page.  The site has daily updates on news of military interest, Al's military history column, longish essays of strategic or historical interest, reviews of wargames, military humor, links, and much more.

Board Member Tom Wisker writes: "I stumbled upon a great F-16 site, which features, among other splendid stuff, almost 300 F-16 unit patches, including Israeli AF units, and other good aviator stuff. It's www.f-16.net   It's really good... even if one cannot tell, by how the airplane handles, whether she's a model A/B or C/D... I can tell, but it has not made me either rich or usefully famous."

From the H-DIPLO List:  David Johnson of Johnson's Russia List called attention to the online CIA Publication:  At Cold War's End: US Intelligence on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 1989-1991_ He wrote, "This text gives an intelligence history of the last years of the Soviet Empire. In November, the Center for the Study of Intelligence (CIS) prepared this compendium for a conference on the end of the cold war held at the Texas A&M University campus. The text offers an historical narrative of the US perspective on the rapidly developing events in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union during this time, followed by an extensive online volume of intelligence documents created during the Soviet collapse. According to the preface, the declassification of such documents so soon after their initial composition is unusual and evidences the CIA's new policy of "greater openness.""

NYMAS Board Member Tom Wisker notes with great enthusiasm, "Randy Wilson's Aviation History Site.    This has great aviation stuff, including wonderful color WW2 aircraft photos from the late and dearly lamented Jeff Ethell's archive. Olive drab/neutral gray Northrop A-17...OD/NG Curtiss A-18!!!!..."silver" P-38 in Italy... P-47s in the Pacific, ALL COLOR!!!!! -- just great!  The guy running it is Randy Wilson. Among others, he's flown the Wildcat and the Zero (yes, the ZERO!)"

Civil War students in the Northeast will want to check out the extensive links on Sue Greenhagen's  New York State and the Civil War page.  "This site deals with the Empire State's role in the War of the Rebellion and its aftermath."

In the Spring NYMAS Newsletter, editor Al Nofi points out:  The Roman Army    "Demonstrating the most effective integration of text and graphics of any website yet seen, The Roman Army is well worth a visit not merely by the Romanophiles but by anyone interested in military history.
The site examines a number of notable questions with regard to legionary formations, combat space, and related issues.  Animated graphics impart considerable value to the presentation.  Well worth a visit."

This section is meant to highlight web resources that have come to our attention.  For a wide-ranging and comprehensive index, see Web Sources for Military History by Richard Jensen, Professor of History Emeritus, U of Illinois-Chicago.  Also see Dr. Jensen's Scholars' Guide to the WWW.

There is a new bibliographical e-tool.from the University of Illinois now available on the net:
John A. Lynn and George Satterfield, A Guide to Sources in Early Modern European Military History in Midwestern Research Libraries, 2nd ed. (Urbana, IL: Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1994).  In book form this work runs 337 pages, so it is a substantial collection.  It was designed to let grad students in the Midwest know what resources are close at hand, but it is a useful reference for all early modernists. From John A. Lynn Professor of History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Adjunct Professor of History, Ohio State University.

H-War Editor Mark P.Parillo wrote: An H-War subscriber wishes to call the membership's attention to "Reviews in History," a collection of reviews on line. The site currently has more than seventy reviews on line, with a subject index. There are also authors' responses to the reviews. For an example of a review that may be of interest to H-War readers, see Dr. Evan Mawdsley's review of Richard Overy, "Russia's War" (Allen Lane/Penguin Press, 1998).

H-War Editor Mark P.Parillo also points out that the famous West Point Atlas Maps, by Edward J. Krasnoborski, are now online.  Topics include: Colonial Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, all of the conflict the U.S. has been involved with, plus Wars in Modern China and Conflicts Since 1958.

Dwight Cox of NYMAS points out two military aviation sites:  Planes and Pilots of World War II: An online World War II aviation history magazine and Japanese Aviation on Mark's Index with remarkable color illustrations.

Strategic Studies at Columbia University: The homepage for the Institute for War and Peace Studies at Columbia and weekly announcements of events at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

At Boston University: The Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology, and Policy:   "Chartered in 1988, ISCIP focuses on conflict-prone societies in crisis, particularly Russia and other post-Soviet republics, with special attention to destabilizing factors of a political, ethnic, and/or international nature."

An excellent example of a web site used in support of a college course in military history:  Prof. Elihu Rose's World War II course at Columbia University.

The Ohio State University Military History Home Page includes Links to Less Traveled Sites Dealing With War and Military Affairs.   Also at the Site is a page entitled Dialogue in Military History including a provocative short essay, "Why Military History Sucks".

The First World War Poetry site at Oxford University. Winner of the Oxford OxTALENT Web Award: "This virtual seminar is an attempt to preserve the best aspects of traditional humanities teaching, using the potential offered by new media and new capabilities."

The Blackhawk Down project is one of the most interesting uses of this new media in describing an actual incident. It combines video, sound, graphics and print in a creative and interactive fashion. It is based on the incident in Somalia between the U.S. Rangers and the forces of Gen. Mohamed Farrah Aidid.

Another creative use is The Valley of the Shadow, a site exploring the impact of the Civil War on a Northern and a Southern town. This site is part of Jefferson Village, a NEH-sponsored laboratory at the University of Virginia, experimenting with the educational applications of the new technology.

The University of Michigan has established a vast electronic archive on 19th century American history called The Making of America, with over 650,000 pages of digitized material. Humanities Net functions as an invaluable resource for scholars with over 100 discussion lists. For those interested in post-World War II scholarship, the Cold War International History Project is a collection of original sources and documents with valuable new material.

There is an extraordinary collection of military history links at The Western Way of War course site at Princeton University.

Total News-an all-encompassing source for news around the world - allows you to isolate news stories from specific regions or countries. It's also good for hard-to-find news sources and agencies. Allows users to customize their initial home page similar to other emerging "portals" like Yahoo, Excite, and the Infoseek / Go Network.

Our Guides to Military History on the Web
Warfare before 1900 Ancient Warfare Medieval History & Warfare  Warfare in the Renaissance  Colonial America And The 18th Century  American Revolution  The Napoleonic Wars  The War of 1812 19th Century The Mexican War   Civil War - Background  Civil War - General  Civil War - Eastern Theater Civil War - Western Theater  as a a NYMAS comprehensive and annotated Links Page. The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and Navies in the War of the Rebellion are regarded as the most extensive and comprehensive compilation of primary sources concerning military operations in the American Civil War (1861-1865). The various Web sources for these Official Records are covered on a special NYMAS comprehensive and annotated Links Page. If anyone thinks the Web can't be a serious repository of books: Check out 650,000+ pages at the University of Michigan's Making of America site.   The actual pages, too.    And after a rocky start, Cornell University finally has their Making of America site online.   This time  907,750 more pages including most of the 124 volumes of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and Navies in the War of the Rebellion and vast amounts of other 19th century materials are here, and unlike microfilm, its all keyword searchable and no scratches!	Warfare after 1900 World War I   (extensive) The Spanish Civil War  World War II - General World War II - Air War World War II - Asia - Pacific Theater World War II - European Theater World War II - Normandy / D-Day  World War II - Naval  World War II - Eastern Front  World War II - The Holocaust  NEW   The Korean War Begins - June-July 1950 (Timeline / Links / Bibliography) NEW  Korea:  The Pusan Perimeter: Aug-Sept 1950 The Korean War  NEW  &   The Cold War Vietnam - General Vietnam - The Tet Offensive Vietnam - Units  The Gulf War   Current and Recent Conflicts Modern African Military History Great Lakes Crisis in Africa South Asia & the Indo-Pakistani Conflict International Affairs Conflict in the Balkans - a NYMAS comprehensive and annotated Links Page.
General Links British Military History    Documents In Military History Internet/Multimedia History   The Webmaster's Finds and Favorites
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