Cassell's World History Of Warfare

by Holger H. Herwig, Christon Archer, Timothy Travers

The WORLD HISTORY OF WARFARE is aimed at the general reader who wants a single volume explaining military strategy and tactics across the globe from ancient times to the present day. The only comparable such work is Archer Jones' ART OF WAR IN THE WESTERN WORLD (OUP 1991) which is limited to Western Europe/North America and scampers through early history to concentrate on more recent history. CASSELL'S WORLD HISTORY OF WARFARE focuses on key attitudes to war in different ages, how war shaped societies, the impact of technology, the nature of armies and what it was like to serve in them. Each chapter addresses the key changes that mark the transition to a new era of military history and includes a typical battle and campaign to highlight the nature of war at any one time. Written by a team of four military historians, this is a very readable introduction to the whole of military history from Stone Age tribes to the Gulf War.

Genres: History, Military History

626 pages, Hardcover

First published February 13, 2003

About the author

Holger Herwig holds a dual position at the University of Calgary as Professor of History and as Canada Research Chair in the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies. He received his BA (1965) from the University of British Columbia and his MA (1967) and Ph.D. (1971) from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Dr. Herwig taught at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1971 until 1989. He served as Head of the Department of History at Calgary from 1991 until 1996. He was a Visiting Professor of Strategy at the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, in 1985-86, and the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Distinguished Visiting Professor of Judaic Studies at The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia in 1998.

Reviews

[James S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Typical world-history textbook, dry, dull, and unopinionated. They also suggest, right off the bat, that warfare only begins with farming. Read the excellent War Before Civilization to find how wrong that idea is.