What do you think?
Rate this book
The Military History Book
Discover the key themes and big ideas behind the key events in the history of warfare—from the dawn of civilization to the 21st century.
Tracing the epic 5,000-year story of warfare from the earliest battles to the War on Terror, The Military History Book explores and explains the causes and consequences of each, offering a new angle on military history. Entries analyze the key social and political driving forces, the arms and armaments, and the technologies and tactics of war from 5,000 years ago to the present day—from the tactics of early infantry and siegecraft to the rise of naval combat steel, steam, and shellfire to trench warfare and aerial dogfights to chemical weapons and cyber warfare.
Making each episode accessible and easy to understand, and bringing military history to life like never before, with stunning visuals, authoritative text, and memorable quotes, The Military History Book is the perfect gift for military enthusiasts of all ages.
Tracing the epic 5,000-year story of warfare from the earliest battles to the War on Terror, The Military History Book explores and explains the causes and consequences of each, offering a new angle on military history. Entries analyze the key social and political driving forces, the arms and armaments, and the technologies and tactics of war from 5,000 years ago to the present day—from the tactics of early infantry and siegecraft to the rise of naval combat steel, steam, and shellfire to trench warfare and aerial dogfights to chemical weapons and cyber warfare.
Making each episode accessible and easy to understand, and bringing military history to life like never before, with stunning visuals, authoritative text, and memorable quotes, The Military History Book is the perfect gift for military enthusiasts of all ages.
328 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 18, 2025
About the author
D.K. Publishing
10.1k books2,178 followersDorling Kindersley (DK) is a British multinational publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 62 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a consumer publishing company jointly owned by Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA and Pearson PLC. Bertelsmann owns 53% of the company and Pearson owns 47%.
Established in 1974, DK publishes a range of titles in genres including travel (including Eyewitness Travel Guides), arts and crafts, business, history, cooking, gaming, gardening, health and fitness, natural history, parenting, science and reference. They also publish books for children, toddlers and babies, covering such topics as history, the human body, animals and activities, as well as licensed properties such as LEGO, Disney and DeLiSo, licensor of the toy Sophie la Girafe. DK has offices in New York, London, Munich, New Delhi, Toronto and Melbourne.
Source: Wikipedia.
Established in 1974, DK publishes a range of titles in genres including travel (including Eyewitness Travel Guides), arts and crafts, business, history, cooking, gaming, gardening, health and fitness, natural history, parenting, science and reference. They also publish books for children, toddlers and babies, covering such topics as history, the human body, animals and activities, as well as licensed properties such as LEGO, Disney and DeLiSo, licensor of the toy Sophie la Girafe. DK has offices in New York, London, Munich, New Delhi, Toronto and Melbourne.
Source: Wikipedia.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 12, 2025
-Pre-review thoughts-
I am so invested in this Big Ideas Simply Explained (BISE) series!
It's cool to be the first person to review this book on GoodReads, but that also astonishes me. It's surprising that no one has officially reviewed this book yet, in the 6 months its been out! Why is that? Am I going to be put on some list for reading this? Or is it just that it's pretty new, and that military history isn't of much interest to people nowadays? Warfare has changed so much, with the conflicts feeling so distant and messy to us Occidents.
My thinking of this book has largely been influenced by reading War is a Force That Gives us Meaning by Chris Hedges and The Art of War by Sun Tzu several years ago.
I don't know much about war, as I barely pay attention to the news, and bloody conflicts throughout history felt quite boring to me for most of my nonfiction reading journey. Yet, I have to admit, that war is a force that has shaped our modern world. It is just an important phenomenon that has governed politics, science, and culture as a whole, that it must be studied seriously.
-Thoughts on the Book-
Even though it can be hard to stomach the atrocities outlined in this book, which it outlines horrifically at times, I still enjoyed this journey through the era of humanity, from the perspective of warfare and battles. BISE book always provide elegant illustrations, diagrams, pictures, and explanations for what it describes. This book puts war in the humanitarian perspective. Shedding light on the struggles of indigenous populations of the Americas, Africa, and Asia; giving voice to the underrepresented. It doesn't shy away from the egregious acts committed by all parties involved.
War is the cultural evolution of different groups of people competing against one an other, innovating on tactics, philosophy, science, technology, politics, and engineering to proliferate, survive, or reproduce. Seeing this evolution take place over the eras, and learning about why it happens - for greed, legacy, sadism, or birthright - is what was really interesting to me from reading this book.
The book covers almost every continent, except for Australia. No mention of Australian colonization from British prisoners over the Indigenous, nor of its corrupt government. Australian is only mentioned as a participant as a British colony during WW2. I bet FriendlyJordies would laugh at this XD
If you're looking at a roughly fair look at warfare from the earliest known recordings to the most recent Ukrainian-Russian war, then I think you will enjoy this book. It's one of the better written BISE books that I've read. Just be aware, the history of war is no laughing matter, it gets real dark.
Cheers!
I am so invested in this Big Ideas Simply Explained (BISE) series!
It's cool to be the first person to review this book on GoodReads, but that also astonishes me. It's surprising that no one has officially reviewed this book yet, in the 6 months its been out! Why is that? Am I going to be put on some list for reading this? Or is it just that it's pretty new, and that military history isn't of much interest to people nowadays? Warfare has changed so much, with the conflicts feeling so distant and messy to us Occidents.
My thinking of this book has largely been influenced by reading War is a Force That Gives us Meaning by Chris Hedges and The Art of War by Sun Tzu several years ago.
I don't know much about war, as I barely pay attention to the news, and bloody conflicts throughout history felt quite boring to me for most of my nonfiction reading journey. Yet, I have to admit, that war is a force that has shaped our modern world. It is just an important phenomenon that has governed politics, science, and culture as a whole, that it must be studied seriously.
-Thoughts on the Book-
Even though it can be hard to stomach the atrocities outlined in this book, which it outlines horrifically at times, I still enjoyed this journey through the era of humanity, from the perspective of warfare and battles. BISE book always provide elegant illustrations, diagrams, pictures, and explanations for what it describes. This book puts war in the humanitarian perspective. Shedding light on the struggles of indigenous populations of the Americas, Africa, and Asia; giving voice to the underrepresented. It doesn't shy away from the egregious acts committed by all parties involved.
War is the cultural evolution of different groups of people competing against one an other, innovating on tactics, philosophy, science, technology, politics, and engineering to proliferate, survive, or reproduce. Seeing this evolution take place over the eras, and learning about why it happens - for greed, legacy, sadism, or birthright - is what was really interesting to me from reading this book.
The book covers almost every continent, except for Australia. No mention of Australian colonization from British prisoners over the Indigenous, nor of its corrupt government. Australian is only mentioned as a participant as a British colony during WW2. I bet FriendlyJordies would laugh at this XD
If you're looking at a roughly fair look at warfare from the earliest known recordings to the most recent Ukrainian-Russian war, then I think you will enjoy this book. It's one of the better written BISE books that I've read. Just be aware, the history of war is no laughing matter, it gets real dark.
Cheers!
May 14, 2026
War has been a part of humanity since time immemorial, dating back thousands of years to the Mesopotamian age and ancient Egypt. Since then, many wars have been fought through time and across the world to this day. But how does each war influence the world we live in today? And how were wars fought and won back then? This book seeks to explain the world of warfare in simple ways.
My journey of reading the Big Ideas book series continues, this time with military history. I have read about some wars of the past, and I have some vague understanding of how some started and ended. However, there are plenty more influential wars that have shaped the world we live in, some dating thousands of years ago, such as the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, to mandatory ones we learn at school such as the American and French Revolutions as well as the two World Wars; and others more recent or even ongoing to this day, such as the Israeli-Palestinian unrest and the Russia-Ukraine wars. I want to know more about these wars, and I have to thank this book for explaining complex wars in simple ways.
I really like the Big Ideas book series for condensing complex topics into something simpler so that general readers can understand the basics without needing in-depth knowledge to appreciate them. Military history is one example, and I have to thank Big Ideas for making me understand the causes and effects of the most important wars in history. What will my next Big Ideas book be? It is anyone's guess, including mine. We shall see!
My journey of reading the Big Ideas book series continues, this time with military history. I have read about some wars of the past, and I have some vague understanding of how some started and ended. However, there are plenty more influential wars that have shaped the world we live in, some dating thousands of years ago, such as the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, to mandatory ones we learn at school such as the American and French Revolutions as well as the two World Wars; and others more recent or even ongoing to this day, such as the Israeli-Palestinian unrest and the Russia-Ukraine wars. I want to know more about these wars, and I have to thank this book for explaining complex wars in simple ways.
I really like the Big Ideas book series for condensing complex topics into something simpler so that general readers can understand the basics without needing in-depth knowledge to appreciate them. Military history is one example, and I have to thank Big Ideas for making me understand the causes and effects of the most important wars in history. What will my next Big Ideas book be? It is anyone's guess, including mine. We shall see!
January 27, 2026
5000+ years in 300 odd pages
Interesting read… covering time, space, technology, warfare…. AT times it felt rushed but to cover in any more detail, the author would go 800 pages more…
Interesting read… covering time, space, technology, warfare…. AT times it felt rushed but to cover in any more detail, the author would go 800 pages more…
March 15, 2026
If all you want is the recitation of facts, this book is good. But if you want an narrative of military history, this book is not what you want. I was dissapointed.
June 4, 2026
Military History Nuts arise!
Succint presentation of every major conflict in recorded history. They include maps, charts, and time lines. A must for history buffs.
Succint presentation of every major conflict in recorded history. They include maps, charts, and time lines. A must for history buffs.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews