A History of War: From Ancient Warfare to the Global Conflicts of the 21st Century

by Chris McNab

A History of War explains the dark but compelling story of warfare, from its emergence in prehistoric tribal disputes, through great imperial and global wars, to present-day counter-insurgency and 'hybrid' conflicts. Two factors sit at the heart of this story: technology - including weapons, vehicle systems and vehicles and tactics. A History of War charts the rise of the army, explaining how primitive tribal war parties evolved through seasonal levies and feudal armies to professional standing armies and mass conscription forces, with formal organisational structures.



The narrative of A History of War is sewn together by the conflicts that have periodically reshaped history, from localised insurgencies to vast world wars. The book provides summaries and insights into these conflicts while recognising the human drama of conflict, with first-hand insight into the experience of combat, either as a combatant or as a civilian swept up in violent times.

Heavily illustrated with art, maps and photographs, and written with both authority and accessibility, A History of War provides a comprehensive single-volume overview of warfare and how it has shaped our world.

Genres: History, Military History

233 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 1, 2022

About the author

Dr Chris McNab has written over a hundred books in a career spanning over two decades. He is a historian with a specialisation in military history.

Reviews

[Kristjan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a hugely ambitious effort to summarize the History of War in under 233 pages … that is some 5 thousand years of perhaps to most prominent human activity since we came together in communities to control the natural resources around us. As might be expected, it is frequently overly general in its treatment for many of the pivotal moments in history. That would not have been as much of a problem, expect the work also suffers from a confusing organization of what facts are actually presented that the principle question was often left unanswered … and this is how did this specific fact alter our world (or as the blurb states how did these conflict periodically reshape history). In nearly every battle, we see some combination of foot soldiers, mobile warriors and ranged combatants … but we don’t often see how these actually evolved. There is some discussion of a few formations … but there is not so much an explanation of of how one formation had an advantage over another formation and how the weapons and technology influenced that effectiveness. Finally … the early history did not appears to be as well researched as I had expected … example: the claim that Scythian horse archers could hit a SINGLE target from horseback at a gallop is not supported in any of my historical sources outside of myth and legend. Instead, they were know for showing [as a group] “clouds” of arrows back toward their opponents while riding away (which was awesomely effective and very dangerous in its own right without need of exaggeration). There are fewer of these issues as we move more into modern history, so perhaps there is where the author’s specialty is and perhaps that is why the early treatment of war history (in the first half of the book) was not as solid I as wanted … since the modern history from the 19th century on was much better. Over all, I just didn’t get what I wanted to out of this book.

I was given this free advance review copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#AHistoryOfWar #NetGalley.

[EDmolishED · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good place to familiarize yourself with the world's history with war. If anything, it may interest you into further reading on certain wars or people mentioned. There were many spelling errors as well. That alone detracts ones focus on the topic but overall I enjoyed it and am looking forward to my research on certain wars throughout our past and present t histories.