Beyond the Brotherhood: Reassessing US Army Combat Relationships in the Second World War

Abstract

The conventional wisdom that portrays US combat soldiers in World War II as a 'band of brothers' owes much to Hollywood and popular history, and distorts serious understanding of the relationships within combat units of the US Army. This article examines this idea in the context of theories of unit cohesion and combat motivation and suggests a more complex understanding of these issues.     

二战后美国对日本的粮食战略及其影响

二战后,日本经济凋零,粮食短缺问题严重,国民生计惨淡,社会矛盾丛生。为了解决这些问题,美国占领当局分别从外部和内部开展粮食援助和粮食强征。这一系列政策在实现美国自身的经济需求与政治目的的同时,也确实对日本的农业与社会步入正常化发挥了重要作用,为之后日本的经济腾飞奠定了坚实基础。战后初期的粮食政策连同日本经济复苏后美国长期实施的粮食倾销,共同构成了二战后美国对日粮食战略的主要内容。美国的粮食战略缓解了战后初期日本严重的粮食危机,部分解决了美国国内的粮食过剩问题,改变了日本人的饮食结构与饮食习惯,挤压了该国粮食的生存能力和发展空间,影响了日本的粮食安全乃至政治、经济主权与独立发展进程,也加剧了美日间的贸易摩擦。     

The Cambridge history of the Second World War

Following on from earlier three‐volume histories of the Cold War and the First World War, Cambridge University Press completes a trilogy with this detailed treatment of the Second World War. Multi‐authored in the Cambridge tradition, the individual chapters cover a wide range of events and topics and the 81 contributors, mainly but not exclusively from the United Kingdom and the United States, include both scholars who have already established a reputation in the subject as well as those who are in the process of doing so. Perhaps the greatest strength of the volumes is the treatment given to what may be loosely referred to as the Pacific War. No one who uses them properly is going to have any doubts about the nature and importance of the struggle between Japan and its opponents between 1937 and 1945, and it is particularly encouraging to note the use of Chinese and Japanese sources by the authors, when so many English‐language books on the subject cite none. The principal weakness of the enterprise is its division into an unnecessarily complicated series of topics, which is not always adhered to by the authors and which often compels the unfortunate reader to skip backwards and forwards, not only within but between volumes. Despite this flaw, however, this remains an important contribution to the history of the Second World War and will need to be consulted by any serious student of the subject for many years to come.     

世界历史发展进程中的第二次世界大战

第二次世界大战是资本主义陷入深刻危机的产物,使人类在物质上和精神上蒙受了前所未有的巨大双重劫难。但是,战后形成的社会主义新气象和殖民体系的瓦解,以及在国际关系中形成的各种维护世界和平与安全、促进全球经济发展与合作的新机制,进一步加快了世界历史的发展进程。战后的世界历史进入了一个以和平与发展为时代主题的新阶段。