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The Encyclopedia of Warfare
"Every age has its own kind of war."
-- Clausewitz, On War
Raids, invasions and sieges; trench battles, naval encounters and aerial dogfights; civil wars, guerrilla wars, trade wars and nuclear wars; wars of succession, religion and independence wars have been fought in all kinds of ways and for all kinds of reasons.
Some wars have ended with slavery for the defeated, other wars have been fought over slavery. Some wars have resulted in the destruction of whole civilizations, other wars have exhausted both sides into a stalemate.
From the Seven Years' War to the Hundred Years' War, from the Wars of the Roses to the Opium Wars, from Arctic war to jungle war to amphibious war, The Encyclopedia of Warfare presents the reader with more than 5,000 entries -- arranged chronologically --on wars, campaigns, empires, rebellions and counter-insurgencies.
With a scope that begins with battles fought with spears and ends with the latest drone technology, The Encyclopedia of Warfare features an immense range of conflict from the ancient world to the present day, from Alexander the Great to the fall of the Roman Empire, from the Huns and the Mongols to the Vikings and the Crusades, from the wars of religion to world wars; from Iraq and Afghanistan to the Arab Spring and Syria today.
Packed with expert summaries and featuring 600 color maps of battles, sieges, campaigns, and empires, The Encyclopedia of Warfare is an authoritative compendium of almost five millennia of conflict.
-- Clausewitz, On War
Raids, invasions and sieges; trench battles, naval encounters and aerial dogfights; civil wars, guerrilla wars, trade wars and nuclear wars; wars of succession, religion and independence wars have been fought in all kinds of ways and for all kinds of reasons.
Some wars have ended with slavery for the defeated, other wars have been fought over slavery. Some wars have resulted in the destruction of whole civilizations, other wars have exhausted both sides into a stalemate.
From the Seven Years' War to the Hundred Years' War, from the Wars of the Roses to the Opium Wars, from Arctic war to jungle war to amphibious war, The Encyclopedia of Warfare presents the reader with more than 5,000 entries -- arranged chronologically --on wars, campaigns, empires, rebellions and counter-insurgencies.
With a scope that begins with battles fought with spears and ends with the latest drone technology, The Encyclopedia of Warfare features an immense range of conflict from the ancient world to the present day, from Alexander the Great to the fall of the Roman Empire, from the Huns and the Mongols to the Vikings and the Crusades, from the wars of religion to world wars; from Iraq and Afghanistan to the Arab Spring and Syria today.
Packed with expert summaries and featuring 600 color maps of battles, sieges, campaigns, and empires, The Encyclopedia of Warfare is an authoritative compendium of almost five millennia of conflict.
1024 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
12 people are currently reading
117 people want to read
About the author
Dennis E. Showalter
41 books28 followersA specialist in German military history, Dennis E. Showalter was professor emeritus of history at Colorado College. He was president of the American Society for Military History from 1997 to 2001 and an advising fellow of the Barsanti Military History Center at the University of North Texas.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 18, 2021
Every age has its own kind of war.
From the dawn of civilization, Wars have been fought in all kinds of ways, and for all kinds of reasons. The Encyclopedia of Warfare presents the reader with more than 5000 wars, across ages and covering different countries and civilizations, arranged chronologically. The Encyclopedia of Warfare features an immense range of battles from the ancient world to the present day, from the early Egyptians to Alexander the Great, From the Roman Empires to the Crusades, From the battles in South America to battles in Siberia. From the wars fought over religion to world wars, this book has it all.
This book is actually an encyclopedia of battles. At 1000 pages, this is a very large and ambitious book covering a huge timeline. The book is divided into different eras namely:
• Ancient Wars 2500 BCE to 500 CE
• Medieval Wars 500 CE to 1500 CE
• Early Modern Wars 1500 CE to 1775 CE
• Revolutionary Wars 1775 CE to 1815 CE
• Wars of Empire and Revolt 1825 CE to 1914 CE
• World Wars 1914 CE to 1945 CE
• Modern Wars 1945 onwards
The various battles are basically organized by date and groups into broad categories and empires. Each war includes descriptions of its campaigns, battles, and sieges. Featuring 600 full-color maps and expert summaries of battles, sieges, campaigns, and empires, The Encyclopedia of Warfare is an excellent compilation of almost every major fought so far. Quite frankly, I was amazed by the scope of the book. It covers all major battles in every continent and every major empire you can think of.
This book is obviously not meant to be read in one sitting but to be used as a reference book. Every battle is covered very briefly, so if you are looking for more details you will have a research online. So this book is a good read if you want a reference point to start your research on any given war or historical campaign. The information is typically very basic, frequently lacking a summary on what the objective of the battle. It would have been a lot more informative if a brief overview of the context of the campaign as a whole, with the final outcome, would have been provided. Also while the battles while being arranged chronologically, it could have been divided into continents for easy search.
Overall, The Encyclopedia of Warfare is an excellent resource for anyone from a casual history buff and students alike. It is meant to answer basic questions and aid you in further research or reading. If you are a history buff, this is a must-read encyclopedia.
Many thanks to the publishers Amber Books and Netgalley for the ARC.
From the dawn of civilization, Wars have been fought in all kinds of ways, and for all kinds of reasons. The Encyclopedia of Warfare presents the reader with more than 5000 wars, across ages and covering different countries and civilizations, arranged chronologically. The Encyclopedia of Warfare features an immense range of battles from the ancient world to the present day, from the early Egyptians to Alexander the Great, From the Roman Empires to the Crusades, From the battles in South America to battles in Siberia. From the wars fought over religion to world wars, this book has it all.
This book is actually an encyclopedia of battles. At 1000 pages, this is a very large and ambitious book covering a huge timeline. The book is divided into different eras namely:
• Ancient Wars 2500 BCE to 500 CE
• Medieval Wars 500 CE to 1500 CE
• Early Modern Wars 1500 CE to 1775 CE
• Revolutionary Wars 1775 CE to 1815 CE
• Wars of Empire and Revolt 1825 CE to 1914 CE
• World Wars 1914 CE to 1945 CE
• Modern Wars 1945 onwards
The various battles are basically organized by date and groups into broad categories and empires. Each war includes descriptions of its campaigns, battles, and sieges. Featuring 600 full-color maps and expert summaries of battles, sieges, campaigns, and empires, The Encyclopedia of Warfare is an excellent compilation of almost every major fought so far. Quite frankly, I was amazed by the scope of the book. It covers all major battles in every continent and every major empire you can think of.
This book is obviously not meant to be read in one sitting but to be used as a reference book. Every battle is covered very briefly, so if you are looking for more details you will have a research online. So this book is a good read if you want a reference point to start your research on any given war or historical campaign. The information is typically very basic, frequently lacking a summary on what the objective of the battle. It would have been a lot more informative if a brief overview of the context of the campaign as a whole, with the final outcome, would have been provided. Also while the battles while being arranged chronologically, it could have been divided into continents for easy search.
Overall, The Encyclopedia of Warfare is an excellent resource for anyone from a casual history buff and students alike. It is meant to answer basic questions and aid you in further research or reading. If you are a history buff, this is a must-read encyclopedia.
Many thanks to the publishers Amber Books and Netgalley for the ARC.
January 30, 2014
Comprehensive list lot conflicts, battles and wars. This encyclopedia seems to focus more on breadth rather than depth. The lack of depth would normally put it at two stars for me, but the very size of the list earned it an extra star from me. That is it wasn't merely a western focus. The generous use of maps and charts is very useful so I gave it another star for that. This book is a good companion if you want a good reference point to start your research on any given topic.
December 23, 2020
Wow! This book is a massive reference book for history nerds. This cover the entire war in historical record. We got dates, event and troops movements help with a lot of maps. Obviously the most recent and major conflict have more details because we have more information on WW1 then we have on Sumerians wars from over 4000 years ago. You can just browse trough it and enjoy, but there is also a bunch of glossary and index to help you searching in something particular if need be. Masterpieces level of references!
December 20, 2020
This huge reference is for any student, teacher or even chroniclers of history who like to point out the one aspect of man that never seems to stop. Not a casual page read by any means, more of a oh what happened here later, oh what lead to that war or battle 200 years later. Expertly collected and full of colorful maps and facts. A fascinating study.
December 1, 2023
This book is actually an encyclopedia of battles.
It is a good quick reference guide in that regard. The is well produced with a generous number of detailed maps.
The battles are organized by the war in which each was fought, so a reader may need to make frequent use of the table of contents because the organization within each major time period is a bit arbitrary.
What you will not get is much explanation about why each war was fought nor innovations within those wars.
You learn a bit about the trees, not much about the forests.
Yes, there are some errors but I have not yet found a number that would draw the whole into suspicion.
It is a good quick reference guide in that regard. The is well produced with a generous number of detailed maps.
The battles are organized by the war in which each was fought, so a reader may need to make frequent use of the table of contents because the organization within each major time period is a bit arbitrary.
What you will not get is much explanation about why each war was fought nor innovations within those wars.
You learn a bit about the trees, not much about the forests.
Yes, there are some errors but I have not yet found a number that would draw the whole into suspicion.
October 11, 2023
The Encyclopedia of Warfare is an excellent resource for anyone from a casual history buff to a professional historian. It is meant to answer basic questions and point one in the right direction for further research or reading. And to that purpose it is a wonderful success. Admittedly, for the 2023 edition, I found the same strengths with the main difference being that conflicts since 2013 have been included. So this is mostly a repeat of my review of the 2013 edition.
First of all, just like any encyclopedia, this is not designed to be read from cover to cover, at least not as a single work. Like my old Encyclopedia Britannica, one will likely skip around and end up reading most of it. But also like the EB, each entry aims to offer a very basic who, what, why, when, where with a little more elaboration when the event (battle, skirmish, etc) is more important. Anyone coming to this work expecting it to be something other than a single volume encyclopedia is either unaware of what an encyclopedia is or just likes to hear themselves be negative.
In deciding for myself how much I liked the volume I mostly read the entries for wars and conflicts with which I have more than a passing familiarity. In order to keep this book manageable some things were glossed over or omitted while others were given more space. A reader may well think one battle, for example, is more important than the space it is given. That does not mean either the editors nor the reader are wrong, they probably came at it from different perspectives. My study and research on wars were primarily cultural and intellectual history with enough military history thrown in so I could try to understand when something might have been done for military reasons and when something may have been done for political or appearance reasons. As such, I would probably highlight something that rightfully doesn't warrant it in a volume like this. So keep in mind the title of the book before criticizing it for being what it is not trying to be.
As a big aside, I can picture this being in a fiction writer's office, especially a writer of historical fiction, as a quick easy first step toward including any conflicts that might have been going on and impacted their characters, even if just to make the story more immersive. I personally hope to jump around in the book, mostly in the time periods in which I have the least knowledge, and use it as a springboard for more detailed reading.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
First of all, just like any encyclopedia, this is not designed to be read from cover to cover, at least not as a single work. Like my old Encyclopedia Britannica, one will likely skip around and end up reading most of it. But also like the EB, each entry aims to offer a very basic who, what, why, when, where with a little more elaboration when the event (battle, skirmish, etc) is more important. Anyone coming to this work expecting it to be something other than a single volume encyclopedia is either unaware of what an encyclopedia is or just likes to hear themselves be negative.
In deciding for myself how much I liked the volume I mostly read the entries for wars and conflicts with which I have more than a passing familiarity. In order to keep this book manageable some things were glossed over or omitted while others were given more space. A reader may well think one battle, for example, is more important than the space it is given. That does not mean either the editors nor the reader are wrong, they probably came at it from different perspectives. My study and research on wars were primarily cultural and intellectual history with enough military history thrown in so I could try to understand when something might have been done for military reasons and when something may have been done for political or appearance reasons. As such, I would probably highlight something that rightfully doesn't warrant it in a volume like this. So keep in mind the title of the book before criticizing it for being what it is not trying to be.
As a big aside, I can picture this being in a fiction writer's office, especially a writer of historical fiction, as a quick easy first step toward including any conflicts that might have been going on and impacted their characters, even if just to make the story more immersive. I personally hope to jump around in the book, mostly in the time periods in which I have the least knowledge, and use it as a springboard for more detailed reading.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
May 21, 2022
This is a very large and ambitious book with nearly 30 individual contributors covering a huge timeline. At the front are an index of wars and campaigns, an index of maps and charts and a nice timeline of civilization as a whole. After that, the various conflicts are basically organized by date and groups into broad categories (with only a limit description of the division criteria):
Ancient Wars 2500 BCE to 500 CE
Medieval Wars 500 CE to 1500 CE
Early Modern Wars 1500 CE to 1775 CE
Revolutionary Wars 1775 CE to 1815 CE
Wars of Empire and Revolt 1825 CE to 1914 CE
World Wars 1914 CE to 1945 CE
Modern Wars 1945+
Almost all of the information provided is under specific headers for a given battle within a conflict or campaign. The information is typically very basic, frequently lacking summary on what the objective of the battle was (focused more on a description of the forces and outcome, with some having maneuvers as well). In addition, the war/conflict headings were empty of any summary on the ‘casus belli’ and ultimate outcome. This gives the impression of a simple list of battles. Reinforcing this impression is how each section was actually organized … just by date, so it was not uncommon to jump across continents making it difficult to keep track of such conflicts … this would have been a lot better if there were geographic subdivisions (and a map). . Minor conflict with only one or two battles should have always been groups together. This was not consistent, and I assume a result of the many contributors (which I acknowledge can be difficult to manage). Examples:
Post Roman Britain (500 - 1500)
Franks (500 - 1000)
Byzantium (500 - 1000)
Turkist Empire (600 - 1299)
Muslim Expansion (624 - 1100)
China Tang Dynasty (581 - 950)
Korea (600 - 1100)
Norse Expansion (800 - 1066)
Norman England (1066 - 1200)
Holy Roman Empire (900 - 1259)
China Song/Ming (960 - 1644)
Scandinavian Kingdoms (1157 - 1471)
This makes the encyclopedia good, but short of its potential.
I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#TheEncyclopediaofWarfare #NetGalley
Ancient Wars 2500 BCE to 500 CE
Medieval Wars 500 CE to 1500 CE
Early Modern Wars 1500 CE to 1775 CE
Revolutionary Wars 1775 CE to 1815 CE
Wars of Empire and Revolt 1825 CE to 1914 CE
World Wars 1914 CE to 1945 CE
Modern Wars 1945+
Almost all of the information provided is under specific headers for a given battle within a conflict or campaign. The information is typically very basic, frequently lacking summary on what the objective of the battle was (focused more on a description of the forces and outcome, with some having maneuvers as well). In addition, the war/conflict headings were empty of any summary on the ‘casus belli’ and ultimate outcome. This gives the impression of a simple list of battles. Reinforcing this impression is how each section was actually organized … just by date, so it was not uncommon to jump across continents making it difficult to keep track of such conflicts … this would have been a lot better if there were geographic subdivisions (and a map). . Minor conflict with only one or two battles should have always been groups together. This was not consistent, and I assume a result of the many contributors (which I acknowledge can be difficult to manage). Examples:
Post Roman Britain (500 - 1500)
Franks (500 - 1000)
Byzantium (500 - 1000)
Turkist Empire (600 - 1299)
Muslim Expansion (624 - 1100)
China Tang Dynasty (581 - 950)
Korea (600 - 1100)
Norse Expansion (800 - 1066)
Norman England (1066 - 1200)
Holy Roman Empire (900 - 1259)
China Song/Ming (960 - 1644)
Scandinavian Kingdoms (1157 - 1471)
This makes the encyclopedia good, but short of its potential.
I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#TheEncyclopediaofWarfare #NetGalley
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews