War in the Modern World


Book Description

From the Renaissance to the Cold War, the definitive survey of the social, political, military, and technological aspects of modern warfare returns to print in a new paperback edition. Topics include land and sea warfare from the Renaissance to the neoclassical age; the Anglo-American military tradition; the French Revolution and Napoleon; the Industrial Revolution and war; and the First and Second World Wars and their aftermath.




War and Conflict in the Early Modern World


Book Description

In this latest addition to the War & Conflict Through the Ages series, Brian Sandberg offers a truly global examination of the intersections between war, culture, and society in the early modern period. He traces the innovative military technologies and practices that emerged around 1500, exploring the different forms of warfare including dynastic war, religious warfare, raiding warfare, and peasant revolt that shaped conflicts during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He explains how significant social, economic, and political developments transformed warfare on land and at sea at a time of global imperialism and growing mercantilism, forcing states and military systems to respond to rapidly changing situations. Engaging and insightful, War and Conflict in the Early Modern World will appeal to scholars and students of world history, the early modern period, and those interested in the broader relationship between war and society.




The Cambridge History of War: Volume 4, War and the Modern World


Book Description

Volume IV of The Cambridge History of War offers a definitive new account of war in the most destructive period in human history. Opening with the massive conflicts that erupted in the mid nineteenth century in the US, Asia and Europe, leading historians trace the global evolution of warfare through 'the age of mass', 'the age of machine' and 'the age of management'. They explore how industrialization and nationalism fostered vast armies whilst the emergence of mobile warfare and improved communications systems made possible the 'total warfare' of the two World Wars. With military conflict regionalized after 1945 they show how guerrilla and asymmetrical warfare highlighted the limits of the machine and mass as well as the importance of the media in winning 'hearts and minds'. This is a comprehensive guide to every facet of modern war from strategy and operations to its social, cultural, technological and political contexts and legacies.




War In The Early Modern World, 1450-1815


Book Description

This book presents a collection of essays charting the developments in military practice and warfare across the world in the early modern period. It also considers the nature and role of technological change, and the relationship between military developments and state-building.




History's Greatest Wars


Book Description

A centuries-spanning study of twenty-five pivotal wars that shaped world history, from the Greco-Persian War to the Soviet-Afghan War. Driving and dispersing peoples across the globe, giving birth to and destroying great empires, transforming cultures, and determining systems of government, warfare, as much as anything else, has fashioned our world. History’s Greatest Wars: The Epic Conflicts that Shaped Our Modern World highlights pivotal victories that changed nations, even entire continents, forever, and charts the astonishingly rapid evolution of warfare. It delineates defining moments in the development of political philosophies, as well as the scientific innovations that yielded the machine gun, the tank, and the atom bomb. From the Greco-Persian Wars that began in 500 BCE, to the Vietnam War and beyond, it vividly renders the key victories that turned the tide of war, and recounts the heroism of armies and individuals. Yet it does not shy away from showing the acts of savagery that characterize much warfare: the slaughters and massacres. History’s Greatest Wars covers twenty-five of the most important and “thunderous” wars, wars that shook the world and took part in forming the nations that, today, we call home. The best and worst of humanity is on display here, in a collection that will act as a perfect primer for novices while offering seasoned history readers new perspectives on many famous and some not-so-well-known conflicts. Sweeping in its scope, yet intimate in its insights into the motivations of politicians, strategists, commanders, and soldiers, this is a collection that will enhance your understanding of the modern world and your own place in it.




War in the Modern World, 1990-2014


Book Description

In War in the Modern World, 1990-2014, Jeremy Black looks at the most modern of conflicts from the perspective that war is a central feature of the modern world. Arguing that understanding non-Western developments is crucial if the potential of Western war-making is to be assessed accurately, the book also asserts that knowing the history of conflict can only help future generations. Black argues for the need to emphasise the variety of military circumstances, as well as the extent to which the understanding of force and the definitions of victory and defeat are guided by cultural assumptions. War has a multi-faceted impact in the modern world, and this book shows its significance. As the latest volume in the Warfare and History series, this title takes a global and historical perspective on modern warfare, enabling the reader to approach familiar conflicts through a new analytical framework. This book is an invaluable resource for all students of the history of modern warfare.




Waves of War


Book Description

A new perspective on how the nation-state emerged and proliferated across the globe, accompanied by a wave of wars. Andreas Wimmer explores these historical developments using social science techniques of analysis and datasets that cover the entire modern world.




War and Strategy in the Modern World


Book Description

This volume brings together some of Professor Azar Gat's most significant articles on the evolution of strategic doctrines and the transformation of war during the 20th and early 21st centuries. It sheds new light on the rise of the German Panzer arm and the doctrine of Blitzkrieg between the two world wars; explores the factors behind the formation of strategic policy and military doctrine in the world war era and during the cold war; and explains why counterinsurgency has become such a problem. The book concludes with the spread of peace in the developed world, challenged as it is by the rise of the authoritarian-capitalist great powers – China and Russia – and by the chilling prospect of unconventional terrorism. This last essay summarizes the author's latest research and has not previously been published in article form. This collection will be of much interest to students of strategic studies, military history, and international relations.




Drone Warfare


Book Description

Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2015 One of the most significant and controversial developments in contemporary warfare is the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly referred to as drones. In the last decade, US drone strikes have more than doubled and their deployment is transforming the way wars are fought across the globe. But how did drones claim such an important role in modern military planning? And how are they changing military strategy and the ethics of war and peace? What standards might effectively limit their use? Should there even be a limit? Drone warfare is the first book to engage fully with the political, legal, and ethical dimensions of UAVs. In it, political scientist Sarah Kreps and philosopher John Kaag discuss the extraordinary expansion of drone programs from the Cold War to the present day and their so-called effectiveness in conflict zones. Analysing the political implications of drone technology for foreign and domestic policy as well as public opinion, the authors go on to examine the strategic position of the United States - by far the worlds most prolific employer of drones - to argue that US military supremacy could be used to enshrine a new set of international agreements and treaties aimed at controlling the use of UAVs in the future.




Conventional and Unconventional War


Book Description

The military transformation of Early Modern Europe -- An era of limited war -- The era of Revolutionary Wars, North America -- French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars -- Industrialization and the American Civil War -- Prussian military reforms and the wars of German unification -- The long peace -- The First World War -- The interwar period -- The Second World War in Europe -- The Second World War in Asia -- The Cold War, a new era of limited conflicts? -- Conflict in the post-cold War World -- Conclusion: The new security environment and the future of warfare