Andrew Wiest is University Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Southern Mississippi and Founding Director of the university's Dale Center for the Study of War and Society. He is the 2026 winner of Samuel Elliot Morrison Prize from the Society of Military History. He is author of many books including The Illustrated History of World War I and The Boys of '67, and co-author of Campaigns of World War II: The Pacific War, The Illustrated History of the Vietnam War and Strategy and Tactics: Infantry Warfare.

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• Contents:EARLY WARFARE Heroic war and the dominance of the chariot Ancient Era (1300BCE–500CE) Egyptian-Hittite conflicts (new Kingdom period), 1274 (battle of Kadesh) Sea Peoples' invasion of Egypt Trojan War (dates uncertain) First Messenian War (c. 735–715 BCE) Lelantine War (c. 720–680 BCE; dates uncertain) Egyptian campaign against the Kingdom of Judah Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley (c. 535/518BCE–450 BCE)CLASSICAL WARS The rise of the phalanx and military order; the trireme, and mounted infantry Greco-Persian Wars (492–449 BCE) Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE) Campaigns of Alexander the Great (335– 326 BCE): Battle of Thebes, 335 BCE, Battle of the Granicus River, 334 BCE, Battle of Issus, 333 BCE, Siege of Tyre, 332 BCE, Battle of Gaugamela, 331 BCE, Battle of the Persian Gate, 330 BCE, Battle of the Hydaspes, 326 BCE First Punic War (264–241 BCE) Second Punic War (218–201 BCE) Third Punic War (149–146 BCE) Gallic Wars (58–50 BCE) Siege of Jerusalem (63 BC) by Pompey the Great Siege of Alexandria (48–47 BC) – Caesar's Civil War War of Actium (32–30 BC) Wars of Augustus (30BCE–14CE) Siege of Masada (72–73 or 73–74) – First Jewish–Roman War Roman conquest of Britain (43–96) Roman–Parthian War of 58–63 Second Dacian War (105–106) Perso-Roman wars of 337–361 Goguryeo–Wa conflicts (391–404) Gothic War (401-403)EARLY MEDIEVAL WARFARE (600–1100) The return of heroic war in the west, organization remains in the east, the rise of cavalry, the longship, and the return of the phalanx (shield wall) Siege of Rome (537–538) – Gothic War (535–554) Siege of Ravenna (539–540) – Gothic War (535–554) Siege of Rome (549–550) – Gothic War (535–554) Siege of Edessa (603) – Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 Siege of Constantinople (626) by Avars and Sassanid Persians Siege of Damascus (634) – Muslim conquest of the Levant Jinshin-no-ran (672) Siege of Mecca (683) by the Umayyads during the Second Fitna Muslim conquest of Iberia (711–720s) Siege of Narbonne (737) – Umayyad invasion of Gaul Thirty-Eight Years' War (770–811) Siege of Barcelona (800–801) by Louis the Pious Siege of Paris (845) – Viking expansion Siege of Syracuse (868) – Muslim conquest of Sicily The Great Heathen Army lands in England (860–70s): Battle of Edington 878 Siege of Regensburg (921) Siege of Antioch (968–969) – Arab– Byzantine wars Battle of Brunanburh 937 Battle of Maldon 991 Siege of Taranto (982) Siege of Bari (1043): Norman conquest of Southern Italy Siege of Melfi (1061): Byzantine–Norman wars Norman Conquest (1066) – StamfordBridge, Hastings Siege of Syracuse (1085–86) – Norman conquest of Southern Italy Siege of Pevensey Castle (1088) – Rebellion of 1088 Manzikert (1971)LATE MEDIEVAL ERA (1100–1500) The dominance of body armour, mounted cavalry, the keep, and the warrior code Crusades (1095–1291; sporadically thereafter): First Crusade (1095–1099); Second Crusade (1147–1150); ThirdCrusade (1189–1192); Fourth Crusade (1202–1204); Fifth Crusade (1217– 1221); Sixth Crusade (1228–1229); Eighth Crusade (1270) Bouvines (1214) Genpei War (1180–85) Barons’ War (1264–67) Mongol invasions of Japan (1274 and 1281) Battle of Bannockburn (1314) Genkō War (1331–1333) Hundred Years’ War (c. 1337–1453) Battle of Sluys (1340) War of the Eight Saints (1375–78) Grunwald (1410) Siege of Constantinople (1453) Thirteen Years’ War (1454–66) Wars of the Roses (1455–85) – Bosworth Field, 1485 Ōnin War (1467–1477) Reconquista (1492) – Fall of GranadaEARLY MODERN WARFARE (1500–1760) Adapting to the gunpowder revolution and the weakness of premodern systems of the absolute monarchs Livonian War (1558–83) Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648) Battle of Sekigahara (1600) Kalmar War (1611–13) Thirty Years’ War (1618–48) Powhatan War (1622–44) Bishops’ Wars (1639; 1640) English Civil Wars (1642–51) First Northern War (1655–60) War of Devolution (1667–68) King Philip’s War (1675–76) War of the Grand Alliance (1689–97) King William’s War (1689–97) Second Northern War (1700–21) War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14) War of the Emboabas (1708–09) Carnatic Wars (1746–48; 1749–54; 1758– 63) Queen Anne’s War (1702–13) Yamasee War (1715–16) War of the Polish Succession (1733–38) War of Jenkins’ Ear (1739–48) War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48) King George’s War (1744–48) French and Indian War (1754–63) Seven Years’ War (1756–63)REVOLUTIONARY WARS (1760–1850) The military revolution and the introduction of Nationalism to warfare American Revolution (1775–83) First Maratha War (1775–82) War of the Bavarian Succession (1778–79) Cape Frontier Wars (1779–1879) French Revolution (1787–99) French revolutionary wars (1792–1801) Tripolitan War (1801–05) Second Maratha War (1803–05) Third Maratha War (1817–18) Napoleonic Wars (1803–15) Black War (1804–30) Peninsular War (1808–14) War of 1812 (1812–15) Creek War (1813–14) War of Greek Independence (1821–32) Padri War (1821–37) Naning War (1831–32) Pastry War (1838–39) Mexican-American War (1846–48)WARS OF EMPIRE (1850–1914) The technological dominance of the west in the wake of the economic revolution Crimean War (1853–56) Bleeding Kansas (1854–59) American Civil War (1861–65) Bombardment of Kagoshima (1863) War of the Triple Alliance (1864/65–70) Seven Weeks’ War (1866) Selangor Civil War (1867–73) Boshin War (1868–1869) Franco-German War (1870–71) Acehnese War (1873–1904) Red River Indian War (1874–75) Serbo-Turkish War (1876–78) Anglo-Zulu War (1879) War of the Pacific (1879–83) Gun War (1880–81) Sino-French War (1883–85) Serbo-Bulgarian War (1885–86) Sino-Japanese War (1894–95) Spanish-American War (1898) Philippine-American War (1899–1902) South African War (1899–1902) The War of a Thousand Days (1899–1903) Acehnese War (1873–1904) Philippine-American War (1899–1902) Boxer Rebellion (1899–1901) South African War (1899–1902) The War of a Thousand Days (1899–1903) Boxer Rebellion (1900–01) Moro Wars (1901–13) Russo-Japanese War (1904–05) Pig War (1906–09) Mexican Revolution (1910–20) Italo-Turkish War (1911–12)WORLD WAR I (1914–18) The industrial revolution run amok – the dominance of the machine gun and the artillery piece 1914: Battle of Li.ge; Battle of Charleroi; Mons; Ypes; Champagne; East Prussia Campaign; Galicia; 1915: Neuve Chapelle; Ypes; Artois; Loos; Siege of Przemysl; Great Retreat (Russia); Gallipoli Campaign; Mesopotamian Campaign 1916: Verdun; Somme; Isonzo; Brusilov Offensive (Russian victory); Battle of Jutland 1917: Arras; Nivelle Offensive; Vimy Ridge; Cambrai; February Revolution (Russia); October Revolution (Russia); Second Battle of Heligoland Bight 1918: Belleau Wood; Hundred Days Offensive; Marne Include wars of the 1920s: Baltic War of Liberation (1918–20) Russian Civil War (1918–20) Russo-Polish War (1919–20)WORLD WAR II (1939–45) The system righted again with the dominance of armor and airpower; naval aviation Include wars of the 1930s: Sino-Japanese War (1937–45) Spanish Civil War (1936–39) 1939: Russo-Finnish War; Poland; Phoney War 1940: France & Low Countries; Libyan Desert; Battle of Britain; U-boats in North Atlantic; Taranto 1941: North Africa; Invasion Balkans, Greece, Crete; Barbarossa; Pearl Harbor 1942: Japanese invasion SE Asia; Midway; Fall Blau/Stalingrad 1943: Guadalcanal; Pacific island hopping; Sicily; Kursk 1944: Cassino; D-Day; Normandy; Bagration; Arnhem; Ardennes; Leningrad 1945: Crossing Rhine; Battle for Berlin; Iwo Jima; Okinawa; atomic bombing Also air campaigns over German and JapanCOLD WAR (1945–90) The impact of nuclear weapons, limited war, and insurgency Chinese Civil War (1927–1949 Greek Civil War (1944–45; 1946–49) Arab-Israeli wars (1948–49; 1956; 1967; 1973; 1982) Korean War (1950–53) Algerian War (1954–62) Vietnam War (1954–75) Sino-Indian War (1962) Six-Day War (1967) War of Attrition (1969–70) Yom Kippur War (1973) Afghan War (1978–92) Sino-Vietnamese War (1979) Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) Falkland Islands War (1982)MODERN ERA (1991–Present) The return of decisiveness in warfare and the turn to technology, maneuver, and professionalization Persian Gulf War (1990–91) Bosnian conflict (1992–95) Kosovo conflict (1998–99) Afghanistan War (2001–14) Iraq War (2003–11) Syrian Civil War (2012–21) Russia–Ukraine War (2014–Present) Iran (2026)Index