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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.
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.
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.
