Cambridge History of War – serie

Volume III of The Cambridge History of War covers the early modern world, offering a four-hundred-year perspective from the last Eurasian nomadic empires to the advent of ironclad, steam-driven warships in the mid-nineteenth century. Together, the chapters cover the rise of professional armies and purpose-built warships in Europe; the evolution of military societies in the great Islamic empires; the vicissitudes of Ming and Qing military organization and that of their Asian neighbours; and the raising and maintaining of armies in Africa and the Americas. Numerous processes of imperial expansion, both on land of sea, are examined, as are the processes of global confrontation and interchange across different military systems. Technology, organization, finance, and military cultures are each explored from a broad perspective. Bringing together an impressive team of experts in their fields, the volume provides a comprehensive and accessible history of war from 1450-1850.

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.