Urban Warfare in the Twenty-First Century

Anthony King is Professor of War Studies at the University of Exeter. He has published widely on war and the armed forces, including a trilogy on military transformation in the twenty-first century: The Transformation of Europe’s Armed Forces (2011), The Combat Soldier (2013) and Command (2019). His latest book Urban Warfare in the Twenty-First Century (second edition forthcoming) offers a ground-breaking exploration of the combat operations in the city in recent history. In addition to his research, he has advised British, European and American armed forces and NATO.

"By far the best work to date on continuities and changes in urban combat in the past thirty years. Now updated to include insights from the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, it explores what has remained consistent and what has changed in urban warfare in the twenty-first century – and what the future might hold for military forces faced with this difficult challenge."Peter Mansoor, The Ohio State University "The second edition of Anthony King’s seminal book on urban warfare in the twenty-first century includes key lessons from the ongoing Russo-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza wars that rage around cityscapes. This timely, updated, and expanded work confirms the accuracy of many of the presumptions made in the author’s prescient analysis of the urbanisation of land warfare first published in 2021. This second edition is insightful, comprehensive in scope and multi-layered in its research findings. It is a work that deserves the widest readership among policymakers, military practitioners and defence scholars concerned with strategic studies and the future of armed conflict."Michael Evans, Emeritus Professor of Military Studies, Deakin University, Australia and former Head of the Australian Army’s Land Warfare Studies Centre at the Royal Military College of Australia, Duntroon "In the first edition of this ground-breaking work, Anthong King provided an original conceptual framework with which to explore the combined impact of changes in both the urban environment and military practice. Subsequent wars demonstrated the value of his approach, which makes this second edition which includes analysis of the Russo-Ukraine War, Gaza and Sudan especially welcome."Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies, King's College "Anthony King has updated Urban Warfare, using the war in Ukraine to develop his arguments to excellent effect.  As armies become smaller and towns become bigger, the challenges multiply."Sir Hew Strachan, Oxford University "Urban Warfare in the 21st Century is by far the best work to date on continuities and changes in urban combat in the past thirty years. While acknowledging the evolution of combat in cities as a continuum of historical experience, Anthony King explores new and unique aspects due to geographical, sociological, doctrinal, and technological changes. Now updated to include insights from the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Urban Warfare explores what has remained consistent and what has changed in urban warfare in the 21st century – and what the future might hold for military forces faced with this difficult challenge."Peter Mansoor, The Ohio State University

• Maps, Figures and Tables  Preface    1   Gomorrah   2   Numbers    3   The Urban Guerrilla   4   Metropolis 5   Walls 6   Air  7   Fire 8   Swarms     9   Partners   10   Rumour     11   Armageddon  Notes    Bibliography