Activities of Military Training Missions of European Countries and the United States in the Armies of States, Transforming the Armed forces (the last third of the XIXth – the first third of the XXth Centuries): Problems and Prospects of Research

Abstract

The study of the work of military professionals sent as part of missions from the advanced European states and the United States to the reformed armies of the countries of Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America in the last third of the 19th – the first third of the 20th centuries has repeatedly been the focus of research by professional historians. The study of the training activities of military missions at the time under study allows us to see general and particular problems of the history of military modernization. A significant time span and various regions of the world in which mission officers served, allow for the scientific prospects and problems of studying military training activities using a comparative method. Comparison of training activities of missions from different countries contributes to the analysis of national military schools. This factor, along with other causes, has a decisive importance for the work of military instructors. By comparison, the regional specifics of the professional work of members of military missions are more clearly visible. The comparative methodology allows us to trace specifically the evolution of training activities of official military missions in historical retrospect through a set off historical examples. The extensive time span enables us to see what and why in the studies of a number of historians remained outside the scope of analysis, and which are as a reconsidered by the authors as mandatory for study. The study reveals the most successful works of researchers on the issues understudy. One of the aims of the article is to determine the most difficult areas for study the work of military professionals from missions in foreign armies and the ways of their disclosure. The study is relevant due to the constant interest of professional historians in the topic of military modernization and the use of military missions for faster reforms of the armed forces during difficult periods of development in some countries.