The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare

2nd Edition

£30.99

textbook

Part of Cambridge Illustrated Histories

Editor: Geoffrey Parker, Ohio State University

Geoffrey Parker, Victor Davis Hanson, Bernard S. Bachrach, Christopher Allmand, Patricia Seed, John A. Lynn, Williamson A. Murray, Peter Mansoor, Leif A. Torkelsen

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Date Published: August 2021
availability: In stock
format: Paperback
isbn: 9781316632758

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Description

The new edition of The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare, written and updated by a team of nine distinguished military historians, examines how war was waged by Western powers across a sweeping timeframe, beginning with classical Greece and Rome, moving through the Middle Ages and the early modern period, down to the wars of the twenty-first century in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. The book stresses five essential aspects of the Western way of war: a combination of technology, discipline, and an aggressive military tradition with an extraordinary capacity to respond rapidly to challenges and to use capital rather than manpower to win. Although the focus remains on the West, and on the role of violence in its rise, each chapter also examines the military effectiveness of its adversaries and the regions in which the West's military edge has been - and continues to be - challenged.
- Readers are able to follow the development of warfare right up to the present day with a new chapter that covers war down to 2019
- Students can engage with the cohesive argument of the book that military and naval superiority was crucial to the rise of the West
- Students develop a broad understanding of warfare through history, as the book focuses on Western military progress but explores the military effectiveness of other regions
- Readers will benefit from a wealth of illustrative materials, including nearly 100 that are new to this edition
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Reviews & endorsements
'Here is the story of war as the driving force in the rise of the West from the Greeks to our own day, now updated to 2019. In the fifteen years since the first edition of this book, war has unfortunately not become less central to our concerns - just the opposite. This remarkable volume, written by some of the world's leading experts in military history, helps us to understand why and how something as terrible as war remains so important in the history of the West and the world. Rarely has so much learning, lucidity, and wisdom been found between two covers.' Barry Strauss, Cornell University, and author of Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine
'This is, simply, the best survey of the history of warfare in half a century. It explains what the Western way of war is, whence it came, and how it dominated the planet down to the present day. The product of the collaboration of some of the best military historians now writing, it offers judgements as well as a compelling narrative, an argument as well as a story. There can be no better introduction to the study of military history.' Eliot A. Cohen, Robert E. Osgood Professor, Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies
'Highly polished and well illustrated, this book is a comprehensive history of the Western (European) way of war … The text is superbly supported by numerous and handy sidebars providing details, insights, and anecdotes.' Library Journal
'… this is a well-written and handsomely presented volume … the illustrations are pertinent, and the captions interesting … the range of scholarship is impressive … and it has all been pulled together by the finest military historian currently writing, who has also contributed several important sections'. History in Focus
'… exceptional … and beautifully illustrated … A highly readable book, and an interesting one, both for the expert and the amateur enthusiast. A must for college libraries.' USI Journal
'… impressive …' Contemporary Review
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Product details
- Edition: 2nd Edition
- Date Published: August 2021
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9781316632758
- length: 554 pages
- dimensions: 253 x 204 x 25 mm
- weight: 1.32kg
- availability: In stock
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction: The Western way of war Geoffrey Parker
Part I. The Age of Massed Infantry:
1. Genesis of the infantry, 600–350 BC Victor Davis Hanson
2. From phalanx to legion, 350–250 BC Victor Davis Hanson
3. The Roman way of war, 250 BC–AD 300 Victor Davis Hanson
Part II. The Age of Stone Fortifications:
4. On Roman ramparts, 300–1300 Bernard S. Bachrach
5. New weapons, new tactics, 1300–1500 Christopher Allmand
6. The gunpowder revolution, 1300–1500 Geoffrey Parker
Part III. The Age of Guns and Sails:
7. Ships of the line, 1500–1650 Geoffrey Parker
8. The conquest of the Americas, 1500–1650 Patricia Seed
9. Dynastic war, 1494–1660 Geoffrey Parker
10. States in conflict, 1661–1763 John A. Lynn
11. Nations in arms, 1763–1815 John A. Lynn
Part IV. The Age of Mechanized Warfare:
12. The industrialization of war, 1815–1871 Williamson A. Murray
13. Towards world war, 1871–1914 Williamson A. Murray
14. The West at war, 1914–1918 Williamson A. Murray
15. The world in conflict, 1919–1941 Williamson A. Murray
16. The world at war, 1941–1945 Williamson A. Murray
17. The post-war world, 1945–1991 Williamson A. Murray
18. The new world disorder, 1991–2019 Peter Mansoor and Geoffrey Parker
Epilogue: The future of Western warfare Geoffrey Parker and Leif A.Torkelsen
Reference guide
Chronology
Glossary
Bibliography
The contributors
Notes
Picture acknowledgements
Index.
Look Inside
Editor
Geoffrey Parker, Ohio State University
Geoffrey Parker is Andreas Dorpalen Professor of European History and an associate of the Mershon Center at The Ohio State University. He has published forty books, including The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road 1567–1659: The Logistics of Spanish Victory and Defeat in the Low Countries' Wars, The Grand Strategy of Philip II, and The Military Revolution 1500–1800: Military Innovation and the Rise of the West. His books have won numerous awards, and, in 2012, he received the biennial Heineken Prize in History, awarded by the Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences to the historian deemed to have had the greatest impact on the discipline. In 2006, nominated by some of his students, he won Ohio State's Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching. He has also directed thirty-five doctoral theses to completion, and, in 2013, his advisees presented him with a Festschrift in honour of his seventieth birthday: The Limits of Empire: European Imperial Formations in Early Modern World History.
Contributors
Geoffrey Parker, Victor Davis Hanson, Bernard S. Bachrach, Christopher Allmand, Patricia Seed, John A. Lynn, Williamson A. Murray, Peter Mansoor, Leif A. Torkelsen