Latin America's Wars, Vol. 1, The Age of the Caudillo, 1791-1899, and : Latin America's Wars, Vol. 2, The Age of the Professional Soldier, 1900-2001 (review)

Four Latin American countries—the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua—have contributed military forces to the ongoing struggle in Iraq. Indeed, on 12 November 2004, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld conferred upon six soldiers from El Salvador the U.S. Bronze Star Medal for heroism under fire. Considering the contributions these small, relatively impoverished nations have made to the war in Iraq, not to mention similar contributions made by other Latin American nations in previous conflicts outside the region, it is a shame that so little is known of Latin America's rich and complex military history.

Drawing upon more than two decades of research, National Defense University professor Robert Scheina has produced a virtually encyclopedic account of armed conflict in Latin America. Utilizing an impressive range of sources (including interviews with Latin American colleagues and military officers), Scheina presents the multitude of reasons for discord in the region, from race, independence movements, unionist vs. federalist struggles to caudillismo, intra-class warfare, the interventions of the capitalist states, and communist insurgencies. Spanning a time frame extending from 1791 to 2001, these two volumes represent an impressive body of work on a subject often overshadowed by Mars' influence elsewhere in the world.

Beginning with the Haitian Revolution and ending with the ongoing Colombian drug war, Scheina focuses on the various "sparks" of conflict, and then analyzes the tactics, operations, leadership, equipment, and most importantly, the impact of the conflict on the nation and/or region. Samples from several of these chapters will serve to illustrate Scheina's deft handling of his material.

The chapter concerning the post-independence struggles in Argentina is masterfully concise and clear. Scheina makes this complex conflict between the Federalists and the Unitarians comprehensible, including the roles played by such actors as the British Royal Navy, the French, and Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi. Of note considering the current U.S. war against terrorism, is the obvious use of terror as a military tactic in the Argentine conflicts.

Another important topic discussed in Age of the Caudillo is filibustering—or "Do It Yourself Manifest Destiny." Scheina contends that "the Age of the Revolution gave birth to modern filibustering" (p. 205). Reviewing the American filibustering expeditions against Mexico, Cuba, and the countries of Central America, as well as the influence of American slavery on this phenomenon, Scheina illuminates for readers the legitimate historical reasons why Latin Americans are often suspicious of U.S. motives in the region's affairs.

In volume 2, The Age of the Professional Soldier, Scheina brings the reader up to the beginning of the twenty-first century and Latin America's role in global conflict. One of the more interesting chapters in this volume covers the role of Cuban troops in Africa during the Cold War. Among Scheina's key observations in this chapter is that "Cuba's fighting in Africa was at its own initiative and not that of the Soviet Union" (p. 337). Scheina goes on to make some very thought-provoking comparisons between the Cuban experience in Africa and the U.S. experience in Vietnam, in particular the attempt to control the conflicts from Havana and Washington, respectively.

Volume 2 also includes a good, brief overview of the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands War. This concise and cogent chapter makes clear the Argentine military junta's pivotal failure to anticipate the reaction of both Great Britain and the United States to its seizure of the islands. In addition, Argentina failed to consider...