This chapter discusses an anonymous article titled ‘Tamthīl,’ which appeared in Afghanistan’s first newspaper, Shams al-Nahār (‘The Morning Sun’) in the late 19th century. The article was commissioned by the Afghan ruler Amīr Shayr ʿAlī Khān (r. 1863-65, 1868-78) and was likely written by Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Qādir Khān, the Amīr’s private secretary. It seems to have been based on a speech delivered by the Qāḍī to members of the Afghan military, arguing for the need for Westernising military reforms, but was in any case written for a broader audience. The article borrows many arguments from Khayr al-Dīn al-Tūnisī’s Arabic work Aqwam al-Masālik fī Maʿrifat Aḥwāl al-Mamālik (The surest means to knowing the conditions of kingdoms) published in 1867.

This chapter traces the Army’s rehabilitation of its reputation in the wake of the Vietnam War. Two features were central to this transformation: the first was the advent of the All-Volunteer Force and the post-Vietnam reforms to Army training, equipment and doctrine. After a shaky start, the All-Volunteer Force’s success normalised the notion of soldiering as an occupation rather than an obligation, and reforms seemed to create a much more professional and competent force than the one that was wracked by unrest and uncertainty. Second, the Army’s performance in Operation Desert Storm affirmed this narrative of professionalism and competence. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the aftermath of the war. The celebrations that took place to welcome home Gulf War veterans stood out as the largest seen in the United States since the end of World War II. Representing a crucial moment in the American public’s deepening veneration for US soldiers and veterans, the Gulf War celebrations marked a turning point when the Vietnam-era image of the soldier as a broken or rebellious draftee was finally and purposefully eclipsed by the notion of the volunteer service member as hero.

Marked military buttons were a distinct innovation introduced in the wake of the global Seven Years’ War that spread across the Atlantic world. On the smallest scale they physically embodied the reforms that characterize the period following that conflict. When considered at all, they are often used definitively by archaeologists to determine the presence of certain soldiers at specific sites. Although designed to function in this way, military buttons could not definitively identify personnel, given the realities of early modern military institutions, economic systems, and increasingly long distance imperial wars. As such, marked military buttons represent ideals of order and control rather than their actuality, exposing what military regulations and mandates alone obscure. This chapter explores the intention and reality of marked military buttons in the armies of France, Great Britain, and the new United States from the 1760s to the 1780s. These tiny artifacts reveal attempts to manifest systems of organization that, in fact, disclose their limitations to enact such systems, and thereby complicate their status as diagnostic artifacts in archaeological contexts.

Using the lens of military history, this chapter examines the broad significance of the Boshin War. It details how over the course of that conflict, early modern military structures were swept away as lords (daimyo) adopted Western rifle technology and its accompanying modern military systems. Moreover, the nascent Meiji government used mobilization for the war to eventually force all lords to adopt new military practices and methods. In addition, the chapter presents a social history of the battlefield, exploring for example, logistics and how armies were supplied. It also examines the military equipment employed and the shifting nature of battlefield practices and customs, while revealing the ways in which civilians and their communities tangibly experienced the Boshin War, and thus the larger historical moment of the Meiji Restoration.