Technology and War: From 2000 B.C. to the Present

by Martin van Creveld

In this impressive work, van Creveld considers man's use of technology over the past 4,000 years and its impact on military organization, weaponary, logistics, intelligence, communications, transportation, and command. This revised paperback edition has been updated to include an account of the range of technology in the recent Gulf War.

Genres: History, War, Military Fiction, Military History, Nonfiction, Technology, Science

352 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1988

About the author

Martin Levi van Creveld is an Israeli military historian and theorist.

Van Creveld was born in the Netherlands in the city of Rotterdam, and has lived in Israel since shortly after his birth. He holds degrees from the London School of Economics and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he has been on the faculty since 1971. He is the author of seventeen books on military history and strategy, of which Command in War (1985), Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton (1977, 2nd edition 2004), The Transformation of War (1991), The Sword and the Olive (1998) and The Rise and Decline of the State (1999) are among the best known. Van Creveld has lectured or taught at many strategic institutes in the Western world, including the U.S. Naval War College.

- wikipedia.org

Reviews

[Roberto · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've started reading this book in order to better understand the way modern technology and warfare interacts with each order and how it would have influenced the creative processes of futuristic weapons and battle systems in some of my favourite sci-fi works, such as "Ender's Game" and "Starship Troopers".

But, while I was still in the gunpowder part, I watched an anime called "Drifters" and could see, represented in a TV show, many of the concepts proposed by Creveld. So, I understood how broad was the theme that he had chosen and despite that, how cohesive this book was.

[Redsteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but not what I was expecting. This is NOT a book on individual weapons of war or even specifically the development of military technology, but rather the way that technological and scientific advances impact warfare and the military. This means that navigation and cartography, printing and writing, computers, transportation, construction and engineering, and communications (everything from post horses and signal gongs to radio transmission) are just as important as the crossbow, gunpowder, or the atomic bomb. Since the author is covering a very wide range (basically all of recorded world history) he rarely goes into a large amount of detail; while he does use specific examples, he's more likely to stick with generalizations that apply across the board. Since this book was published in 1989, it is somewhat out of date, but not horribly so since it's mostly historical. 3 stars.

[Roger Burk · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a somewhat breezy style, van Creveld reviews the interaction of technology and war from antiquity to the 1980s. Much of it is commonplace generalities, but he does provide some interesting insights, such as that the invention of paper enabled large professional armies in the late modern period. The book's purpose is to dispute the idea that victory is primarily the result of better technology. War consists of far more than that, he writes. Fair enough. He goes farther: integration of modern technology has made armies too complex and actually reduced military effectiveness. Advanced technology emphasized efficiency, but maximum efficiency reduces operational margins and actually reduces effectiveness in the chaotic battle environment. It'd be interesting to read his take on military technology 40 years on, with GPS, UAVs, cyber, and AI.

It's odd that he does not discuss the case of the German military in WWII. They devoted great effort to technological innovation, producing extraordinary new submarines, rockets, guided missiles, tanks, and jet aircraft. But they were too late and too few to affect the war's outcome, and the Germans missed one technological development that could have, namely atomic bombs. The Allies beat the Germans by producing decent technology in overwhelming numbers, like Sherman tanks and B-17 bombers.

[Saheb Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Consistently and clearly demonstrates the effects of technology on war, and vice versa, over centuries. Lays out the principles governing this relationship.

Personally, a clear introduction to war, concepts of land / sea / air warfare, and how they've evolved throughout history. Rich with empirical details and well-populated with examples. A must read for students of security studies.

It is a bit dated, in that it was published around 1990 - so the Soviet Union still exists, the Cold war is on, the unipolar moment hasn't come yet, 9/11 hasn't happened, the US intervention in Afghanistan hasn't happened, the rise of China hasn't taken place yet, war under the nuclear shadow (Kargil, 1999) hasn't taken place yet. This of course, is no fault of the book and does not take away from it. Van Creveld would've found these phenomena interesting and definitely worked them into the book if they had taken place before its publishing.

[Thai Son · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and sensibly organized. I don't know enough on the subject so this was basically my first foray. Might have to pick up those classics on warfare eventually.
author reached a nuanced conclusion where he pointed out how the relationship between tech and war was never truly coherent/ supportive, but rather diametrically opposed, because of the way warfare is organized / how technological changes can come as a sort of intervention that disrupts the conduct of war (I'm paraphrasing wildly).
Skimmed most of the book though, so don't take this too seriously.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

some of van Creveld's own assertions are kinda quesh imo... but overall his theoretical bases are always pretty strong and helpful in understanding the central discourse around issues #educational

[Linus Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

"To read the signs, our age also displays these symptoms. Partly because of the nuclear threat, partly because of the modern fascination with advanced technology per se, and partly for deeply rooted socio-ideological reasons, weapons are being turned into toys and convention war into an elaborate, but fundamentally pointless, game. While games can be nice while they last, in our age too there is a real danger that they will be upset by barbarians who, refusing to abide by the rules, pick up the playing-board and use it to smash the opponent's head. Let him who has ears to listen, listen: The call Lucifer ante portas already reverberates, and new forms of warfare are threatening to put an end to our delicate civilization"

In this seminal work, Creveld examines the role of technology in the conduct of warfare, from ancient times to the post-WWII, post-nuclear era. He emphasizes that while military technology itself has certainly played a major role, civilian technology or quasi-military technology (better roads, sanitation, etc.) has likely played a larger role in the conduct of warfare. The book is an excellent read for both students of history and people concerned with the balance of geopolitical power in the post-nuclear, but especially post-9/11, world. As Creveld says..."Even more than the guerilla, the terrorist is limisted to weapons which are small, light, and easily hidden from the authorities' eye. During the millenia before 1600 the dagger was by far the most popular of these weapons, as in the case of the Sicarii who are mentioned by Josephus and who were named after it. During the 17th century, the pistol and the bomb, the former easily acquired and the latter easily manufactured, joined the list of terrorist weapons. Even so, for another 300 years that list remained comparatively small. It was only during the 20th century that technological advances made available a whole series of small, but extremely powerful, devices"

He continues, when speaking about how to counter terrorism: "...several conditions, however, must be met for this [effective anti-terrorist operations] to be possible There must be no reluctance to employ the normal surveillance apparatus of the modern state [emphasis mine]." This itself raises a whole can of issues relating to state surveillance and liberty, which we as a society are still grappling with to this day, and which has no clear-cut answer.

An excellent, exciting, fun, read. His bibliography is well-annotated as well, and I want to dig more in depth into some of his sources.

[Hans · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, the author does succeed in showing the reader how technology and invention influenced war, while doing this in a restricted number of pages. On the other hand, and this mainly applies to the final parts of the book, he seems to aim at a certain type of reader, the more well educated military reader, maybe even people being in the military.
I am not in the military but have read stacks of books over the years, covering all types of warfare and eras, and I got lost a few times and even reread a few pages to get to grips with what the author was stating.

The first parts of the book do a good job in telling us how technology had its influence on warfare and how often civilian inventions started to play a major role in strategy and tactics. It does so by using numerous examples that are easy to understand, yet are not simplistic. The book has been divided in different eras and for each he gives examples of warfare on land and at sea. Obviously the more recent eras add air warfare and even space and computers to the mix. And it is mainly in the more recent eras where the book fell short of my expectations.

[Greg Oaster · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am giving this book three stars only because I felt as if the author was writing to more highly educated reader. You can tell this author has a PhD because he was constantly using words that I had no idea what they meant, let alone heard of. Plus his constant use of Latin and foreign quotes and phrases.

To the content of the book, I thought it was a simple summary of almost four thousand years of technology in warfare. It was well researched and put together.

If you have a few days to kill and get past the confusing vernacular, its a good read. I only picked it up because I saw it laying around and the title looked interesting.

[Rena · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was alright. I found some points interesting, but overall it wasn't really my cup of tea.

This book is more for people who really enjoy history and the integration of technological advances into military history. Van Creveld's analysis is very spot on, and it does provide some thought-provoking arguments to the way war is addressed nowadays.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

i'm reading this book for work, and in addition to the fact that it has been extremely helpful in my research, i also find it to be well-written and quite interesting.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

1st half of the book was excellent. 2nd half of the book, not so much.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

will change the way you think about TOO 6 EFIBUPs.