Tanks: 100 Years of Evolution - new armor book by Richard Ogorkiewicz

spall

ACCESS: Restricted
Joined
2 May 2010
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Tanks 100 Years of Evolution - Feb. 24, 2015 Richard Ogorkiewicz

A new book by one of the classic armor authors.

http://www.amazon.com/Tanks-Years-Evolution-General-Military/dp/1472806700/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1420254770&sr=1-1&keywords=ogorkiewicz

Tank presents a comprehensive account of the world-wide evolution of armoured vehicles from their inception a century ago to the present day, starting with a detailed reappraisal of the development of tanks and how they evolved during World War I. By the end of that conflict tanks had gained considerable importance. However, this was not sustained in its immediate aftermath and a revival only began when the British Army started in to experiment in the 1920s with a more mobile use of tanks. The subsequent rise of the importance of armoured vehicles was accompanied by and was partly due to the advances in their design and performance achieved in Europe and America before World War II. The enhanced capabilities that tanks consequently acquired enabled them to become the core of combined-arms, mechanized formations.

Professor Ogorkiewicz has worked in the field of armoured vehicle development since the 1970s, and this is a serious, analytical study on the history of tank development and armoured warfare.
 
thanks for the info - Richard Ogorkiewicz classic 2 volumes - Jane's Technology of Tanks is still a classic and sells for $ 500 + on ebay

Sadly except for Rolf Hilmes - recent tank books seem to more about pics rather than serious technical histories or updates - look fwd to this new one
 
Ogorkiewicz is a rare author who presents a systems approach based on technical analysis.

The Jane's series is very hard to get, expensive, but should be in any armor library.

His earlier books are available, modestly priced, and still relevant.

http://www.amazon.com/Design-Development-Fighting-Vehicles-Ogorkiewicz/dp/0356014614/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1424727033&sr=8-3&keywords=Richard+Ogorkiewicz

He did many of the AFV Profiles (nice 60's & 70's monographs).
AFV Profiles are available on CDROM ~$10 for 65+ monographs per disk.
Google (AFV Profile CDROM) and you will find it.
Appreciate his work and don't dwell (??) on copyright.

RO is a font of what was done and why.
 
I've seen lots of books of this type which ultimately have proven to be unsatisfying. But I ordered this one because of the author's reputation. I hope the book meets my expectations.
 
Received my copy today (btw a kindle e-version is also available) -

Richard Ogorkiewicz, Chris Foss , Steven Zaloga and Rolf Hilmes are the acknowledged tank prolific tank authors of our era and generally IMHO a must buy for whatever comes out from their stable.

As the blurb says , "Tanks 100 years of evolution" is a 300 Pp book published by Osprey - covering tank development from the inception to modern times with the period till the second world war Covered more comprehensively.

This new book is a combination of earlier books esp the 1968 Armoured fighting vehicles by Richard Ogorkiewicz, updating and condensing info into a single volume.

the first half of the book is devoted to early tank development and armored forces till the Second World War. The second half includes a description of postwar tank development organized by countries. US ,Russia, Germany, GB and France are covered first.

Potted country developments in tank production and deployment are included for the later tank production countries including Argentina , India , Brazil , South Korea ,China ,Israel and Pakistan - with high level details of upgraded engine , weight reduction , automatic loaders etc

I would liked some more technical descriptions in tank evolution and there are no technical drawings and around 30 odd pics at the end which are not very comprehensive .

it has a good appendix with bibliography and 3 chapters on progress in mobility , armour protection and armament gun development - which would have been greatly embellished by drawings if Osprey had employed the services of a technical artist

In summary its a good summary of the historical development if you don't have anything else in your library - but it falls short of the expectation of a serious tank buff as it gives only a cursory attention to the technology and the actual evolutionary details .

I would recommend two other books :

For modern tanks -
Rolf Hilmes' 2007 Kampfpanzer heute und morgen German classic(MotorBuch Verlag) is unbeatable

while Chris Chant's 1996 "World Encyclopedia of the Tank" PSL is a much better history and technical evolution on this genre and there is an updated edition in 2002 by Haynes as well
 
A very scholarly work, the closest thing I've seen to a "textbook" about the history of tank development and procurement. I do think that it should have had many more illustrations, though.
 
Richard Ogorkiewicz is an outstanding author and based on the reviews here so far it seems this book is similar in format to his previous ones, his works rarely contain much in the way of pictures but he has a second-to-none understanding of his topic, his two volume work Technology of Tanks is especially excellent.
 
Last edited:
JFC Fuller said:
but he has a second-to-none understanding of his topic, his two volume work Technology of Tanks is especially excellent.

As per my earlier post in this thread - could not agree more

While there was an updated German edition in 1998 - an updated English two volume Technology of Tanks is long over due since the first edition in 1990
 
Treated myself to this in Blackwells Oxford yesterday and am glad that I did. A good solid old fashioned reference books where text is more important than illustrations. However, a decent up to date illustrated reference book on PostWar armoured vehicles is still needed.
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom