War and World History

by Jonathan P. Roth

This fresh and challenging inquiry into human societies takes a deep look at the effects and roles of war. As the most complex of all human endeavors, warfare - from ancient to modern - has spurred the growth of essential new technologies; demanded the adoption of complex economic systems; shaped the ideology and culture of nations; promoted developments in art and literature; and spread faith across the globe. Over the course of 48 highly provocative lectures, Professor Roth explores armed conflict across five continents. Far from a traditional approach to military events, this panoramic series is not the history of battles or military campaigns, but the story of the intimate interconnections of war with human cultures and societies and how these connections have shaped history. You'll study the complex effects of culture, economics, politics, and religion on war - and war's influences on them. In this context, you chart the colorful history of the practice and methodology of warfare.

Among many other things, you'll learn about
• the development and evolution of history-making military weapons such as bows, horses, swords, and gunpowder; the interface of warfare with religion, which has bred some of the most unusual and poignant conflicts in history; the 17th-century European nation-state, where militaries were "nationalized" into central governments and military service was imbued with ideology of citizenship and loyalty to state; the crucial military underpinnings of nationalism, Communism, Fascism, and other political movements from the modern era. Probe these pivotal and revealing features of history and deepen your understanding of our extraordinary, evolving world.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Military History, Audiobook, War, Ancient History, Historical

Audio CD

Published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I’ve read on the history and evolution of warfare, making a serious attempt to include the whole planet even as it focuses primarily on what Roth calls the “core” (which is mostly Europe and Asia and northern Africa). It starts in pre-history and ends in the present day, looking at how technology, the economy, society, ideology, religion, culture, and many other things have impacted the conduct of military action. It was absolutely fascinating. I will definitely read it again.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part I:

Despite having a master's degree in military history, the professor of this particular course is not one I am familiar with.  After having listened to a quarter of his class or so, twelve lectures that take up six hours or so of listening time, I have to say that his approach is one I have mixed feelings about.  There are definitely some advantages to listening to a military historian who has such a strong interest in the interaction between war and society and in the examination of similar social trends and the possibility of communication and influence between cultures that are often viewed in isolation.  In particular, the author's focus on a military core that extends across Eurasia divided by various lines based on different features on each side of the line, including horse archers and the use of coins and the view of the soul, is certainly a welcome one.  Not always as welcome is the author's evolutionary perspective, which tends to lead him to make some mistaken conclusions about religion and to view things in a slightly too tidy fashion.  Those listeners looking for tactical or strategic aspects of war are likely to be a bit disappointed, but those who enjoy logistics and patterns are likely to find much to appreciate.

The twelve lectures in the first part of this course begin with a discussion of what war is, and the thorny issue of defining wars (1) in terms of both violence and organization.  After that the author moves on to the equally thorny question of examining the historiography of war (2) and examining its changes based on shifting tastes over time.  After that the author looks at the origins of war in the stone age (3) before moving to the complex relationship of peace and war at the dawn of human civilization (4).  This leads to two lectures where the author looks at first the chariot (5) and then the sword (6) revolution to see how they dramatically shaped warfare from Egypt to China in the period of the middle to late bronze ages.  After this the author examines the steppes, standing armies, and the importance of the silver trade (7) as well as the relationship between Greek piracy and the hoplite of classical Greek warfare (8).  This moves on to a discussion of great empires throughout the Eurasian core (9) and the influence between war and the rise of various religions during the early 1st millennium (10).  Finally, the professor closes this part of his course with a discussion of the Greek way of war (11) and the age of war that was felt along the core during the period of late antiquity (12).

Admittedly, this course and its approach may be a bit of a tough sell when it comes to those are fond of military history.  The author represents a particular approach to military history that focuses on war and society, and this involves a look at various social and religious matters that many people who are interested in military history have little interest in.  The author thinks himself to be a more tolerant and enlightened person than he really is--he is at least a methodological theist, though, in being able to concede the reality of people's religious thinking to them, even as his systemic approach would appear to find enough order in violence to see a sort of design in it.  The author's interest in war and society as opposed to battles and dynasties and the biography of great men (and occasionally women) when it comes to warfare does mean, though, that he ignores precisely those elements of military history that most people are interested in.  This course has the sort of approach that is popular among academics but not so much among the general public, but for those of us with an interest in military history, it is worthwhile to examine even that which is unpopular for such insights as it can provide.

Part II:

Admittedly, and pleasingly, I found the author's war and society much less irritating than I did at first.  When one is listening to lectures about ancient history where the author has a bogus evolutionary perspective and no particular regard for biblical history, it can get pretty tedious and tiresome very quickly.  Thankfully, this particular part of the lecture focused on an area where the author's broad cultural view and interest in the legitimacy of military history in often ignored regions (like Subsaharan Africa, Oceania, and the Americas in the pre-Conquest period) makes this a far more enjoyable set of lectures to listen to and gives me hope that the remaining twelve hours of lectures will be equally worthwhile.  Here's hoping, at least, as the author does show himself to be knowledgeable about a wide range of cultures and also shows himself helping the listener to realize that much remains to be studied and written about world military history and that there are some major gaps that deserve thoughtful research, all of which is heartening to someone who is and who knows a great many military historians looking for worthwhile material to write about and research.

The twelve lectures included in this part of the overall course deal with the period between the third century BC and the fifteenth century AD, a particularly exciting area for world history.  The author begins with a discussion of the armed peace that resulted from the rise of the Roman, Han, Parthian, and Mauryan Empires that lasted more or less for several centuries under these large and powerful states (13), moving on to the influence of monotheism on military strength (14), and looking at the linkages of the core during a time of barbarian conquest in which these core empires fell (15, 16).  The author then moves to discuss the common way of war focused on elite horsemen during the Middle Ages around the core (17) as well as the period of global feudalization that resulted from the rise of the armed horsemen (18).  The author discusses the similarities between the Crusade, jihad, and Dharma Yuddha as religiously infused ways of war (19) as well as the conquest of much of the core by the Mongols (20).  After this the author looks at the business of war in medieval Europe (21) as an explanation for the rise of the gunpowder revolution in that hitherto marginal part of the core (22) before spending the last two lectures of this part of the series examining warfare in the margins of Subsaharan Africa, Oceania, and the polar north of Europe and Asia (23) as well as North and South America (24).

There were at least a few elements that made this part of the lecture series particularly enjoyable for me.  For one, the author examined several aspects of history that are somewhat obscure and that I have a large degree of interest in, including the medieval warfare of the Middle East and East Asia, the military history of North America in the period before 1500, and in the spread of military culture from one state to another, all of which the author discusses.  The author's obvious interest in broad cultural connections allows him to draw appropriate comparisons between cultural traditions that are often viewed in isolation, such as the tie between Japanese and European noblemen in the Middle Ages and the delays and order of adoption of gunpowder and armed horsemen and even manages to write about a subject I would like to know about in the bow revolution in North America, a vastly neglected aspect of the spread of military culture/technology that possibly has serious results with regards to the fate of various prehistoric North American political entities.  All of this makes for an enjoyable listen.

Part III:

I must admit that it was pleasing to come to my favorite area of military history and to see it done in a thoughtful manner even if not the usual strategy and tactics focus that one usually gets when it comes to military history.  There are times, though, when it is good to get a broader understanding of conflict than the usually narrowly focused ones that one typically reads and this particular course is good at least for providing as broad a context as one can imagine within the confines of conflict on this planet, and until and unless galactic military histories are written we will have to be content with approaches that look at comparisons across regions and cultures and over the long duration of human history.  And certainly this series of lectures is an easy one to appreciate, not least because it talks about a deeply interesting part of military history in the period between the Renaissance of the 15th century and the 19th century, all of which included a great deal of military conflict on both land and sea, as well as some subtle transformations of the logistics of war.

The twelve lectures of this particular part of the course go about as one would expect given what has happened so far.  We begin with a look at the period of the Renaissance and the purported military revolution established by the House of Orange in the course of their revolt against the Spaniards (25).  After this we look at the conquest of the Americas and the establishment of colonies by the rising Western European powers (26).  The author then shifts his attention to the gunpowder empires that started during the same time like the Ottoman, Russian, and Safavid Empires of the Eurasian core (27).  The author spends an entire lecture talking about more holy wars like the wars of religion within Europe as well as various wars between the European nations and Ottoman Empires and between Shia Iran and Sunni Turkey (28).  The author spends an entire lecture on the rise of the regiment and what it meant (29) as well as a lecture on the wooden world of naval warfare during the period (30) before moving on to the global war among European nations to control trade (31) and the relationship between warfare and the nation-state that was rising in many areas (32), though leading to the destruction of some states like Poland-Lithuania).  The lectures then end with two contrasting sets, namely war and the making of the Americas (leading to the rise of the United States and the independence of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies) (33) and the unmaking of Africa and Asia (34) and the industrialization (35) and nationalization (36) of war.

There are at least some areas where the author does a great job in discussing a complex period of world history.  At least some of the skill of these particular lectures comes in the way that the instructor can draw upon a great many examples and some nuanced discussions as a way of pointing out the tensions between the rise of companies that had private military forces of considerable influence with the way that those companies were themselves often agents of a national government that was using them, like national banks, as a way of financing for war without leading to national bankruptcy and embarrassment.  A great many military advancements during the period were not chosen because they came with unacceptable political and economic changes to society, and so it is that the author manages to figure out some important (and non-racist) insights as to the importance of culture in the adoption of technology and into the consequences that technology has in the preservation of elites.  The author also does a great job at demonstrating the way that elites can be co-opted for national service in ways that preserve their own elite status but that transfer their behavior into acceptable channels that do not weaken the government as a whole, which is by no means always successfully managed.

Part IV:

As this course winds to its conclusion it is clear that the professor wants to make this particular course a lot different from most when it comes to contemporary military history.  Rather than adopting a chronological approach that allows the listener to gain some insights on particular wars and conflicts in a temporal context, the author chooses instead to discuss contemporary warfare in a thematic fashion.  The lectures also allow the author a chance to talk about his own complex relationship with war as an anti-Vietnam War protester who later served as a volunteer officer in the New York State National Guard and has had friends who died as a result of their involvement in war as writers and historians, all of which makes for a complex picture.  And this complex picture is both interesting and not as enjoyable as the narrative approach to history serves for me personally.  While it is certainly worthwhile that the author attempts to present military history in a way that would be appealing to academics, but it would have been preferable had he done so in a way that is appealing to those who are interested in military history 

The final twelve lectures of this particular course go as follows.  The professor discusses the issues of face and class at war (37), not an uncommon interest for contemporary academics before moving on to a discussion about imperialism and the west's triumph in the late 19th century over the rest of the world (38).  After that the author discusses the 19th century culture of war (39) as well as the common way of war that was practiced in the 20th century (40).  After this comes a discussion of 20th century ideology and its effect on war (41), the persistence of nationalism through contemporary times (42), and a look at the surprising robustness of wartime economies during the century (43).  After this comes a look at culture and war in the twentieth century and how high culture became increasingly hostile to military matters (44).  The weaponization of information (45) and issues of guerrilla war and terrorism (46).  Finally, the author concludes his lectures with a discussion about the struggle for peace and justice (47) and how anti-war movements did not coincide with a general pacifism as well as a discussion of war at the turn of the new century (48), as the author eschews an attempt to prophesy on the future of warfare.

There is a lot that can be said about this class, but in my mind it somewhat ends with a whimper instead of a bang.  It is interesting to hear about the author's own complex experience with warfare and military service and certainly the professor deserves a good deal of credit for attempting to bridge the gulf between an increasingly professional and intellectually competent military leadership in the Western world and an academic world that is immensely hostile to military service.  As a graduate of a military history program I suppose I am unusual in being intellectual without being hostile to the military per se but my own experience is similarly complex like that of the professor.  Since the professor mainly looks at warfare from the point of view of cultural politics and the rise of various ideologies, it makes the lectures less interesting than earlier ones which had more to say about literature and history than about contemporary ideological matters.  As is often true when it comes to history, the field is a lot more interesting when one can focus on the subject of history rather than have so much that reminds one of the less pleasant aspects of contemporary society around.  

[Tammam Aloudat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A journey through warfare and its role in human history, the course discusses so many aspects of war and world history from the first civilisations to the current day (well, up until 2009 when the course was created). It is a good effort at packing a massive topic into a contained and useful 48 lecture course that can be absorbed and understood. Prof. Roth is well versed in the topic and has a persuasive way of delivery.

A sweeping history of this scale is necessarily shallow though and he touches on many topics that would have benefitted from a deeper view and more nuance which he cannot deliver. This is a weakness of sorts that can be accepted if the course is considered an entry to the topic rather than a comprehensive approach to it.

Prof. Roth divides the world into a "core" which is most of Eurasia and North and West Africa and the "periphery" which is everything else (Americas, Oceania, and Sub-Saharan Africa). His argument is that there were fundamental similarities and contacts in the core that made warfare similar to a large extent to justify this division. The good point is that he doesn't ignore the periphery and dedicates a good amount of time discussing the similarities and differences.

This is not a chronological history though, it flows more or less chronologically but each lecture focuses on a certain topic.

The worst part of the series was actually the last lecture where he goes from a neutral historical voice with some, mostly Euro-centric biases, into a full fledged American nationalist who spends too much time singing the praises of the US military. It was unnecessary. It was already obvious that the good professor has ignored mentioning any American atrocities in his lecture on war crimes for example but to go into full patriotic mode made me look back much more critically at some of his analyses in previous lectures. Academic rigour should have been maintained and at least the pretence of neutrality would have made the lecture series more digestible to non-Americans.

[Nick Heim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Opens with an excellent criticism of a predominantly western focus in the field of history. He highlights how this is especially true of military history. Then proceeds to focus predominantly on western military history with only brief forays into Indian, Chinese, and SOJ cultures. Pretty long, with a wide as the ocean deep as a puddle approach. He does a stellar job touching the military revolutions and referring the reader to more in depth works. I.e. Jeremy Black, Victor Davis Hanson, and Julian Saul David. As well as doing an extremely decent job mentioning primary source material and citing archeological/Contemporary evidence to controdict or support claims of primary sources. Definitely worth a listen before reading more in depth volumes on subjects specific to a particular area of military history. The only reason it's 3 stars instead of 4 is I want more Chinese, and Korean peninsula military history. In particular the spring and autumn period. The way he kind of glazes over it would be like just passing by the Peloponnesian wars. "OH btw, then Sparta and Athens had beef"

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such an incredibly long series of lectures. Like almost 24 hours of listening as an audiobook. It was really good, and covered such a huge amount of material it would be difficult to figure out how to do the same thing as a shorter version. I don't know that you could and still do it justice.

I appreciated Roth's attempts to refrain from Eurocentrism and devote entire sections of the book to Asia, Africa, and other areas of the world with less written about them . . . at least in English. Highly recommend to anyone interested in politics, international relations, military history, or national security topics.

[Guy Barnhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me way too long to listen to Professor Roth’s series due to an imbalance of negative published reviews on Audible. I highly recommend if you’ve already listened to some of the top of programs (anything by McWhorter, Vandiver, Daileader, etc) or even if you haven’t- it’s a good mid-length introduction to what makes the Great Courses so addictive. Dr. Roth is extremely erudite and intelligent. A wide scope is taken which I appreciated; violence and war among humans is an interesting subject and I’ve never encountered a study with such breadth. The PDF offers some interesting material for further reflection and a nice bibliography for deeper exploration.

[Edward Laauwen · Rating 1 out of 5]

A researcher who thinks he "knows it all" when, in fact, he draws the wrong conclusions from EVERY single item he puts forward to defend his conclusions.

I really feel for those who studied History at San Jose State University who were his students and have been given the WRONG information, but mr. Roth is a dimwitted and wrong-minded professor who should NEVER have been given the position in the first place.

[Ryan Patrick]

A really good review of world history through the lens of military history. It's probably a little stilted towards the West, but "world history" is an interesting beast. I'm not really a fan—it's just too hard to do justice to every civilization, and so everything gets boiled down to the basics, and sometimes even less so. I thought that for what it was, the lecturer did hit all the essentials of the major civilizations. And the lecturer himself was excellent.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it, but not overly. Most of the lectures were fairly interesting, and some were very revealing. On the other hand it is an extensive history lesson that, after a while, runs one story after another until it is a large mess - which war most assuredly is, but its study ought to be tad more clear. It helps not at all that the lectures are nowhere titled - like in the table of contents.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent review of world history from the perspective of war. Author/lecturer is very smart and insightful. Still not sure why he joined the National Guard.....Balanced view of the world rather than the Europe-centric histories that seem to dominate.

[elche_dimmi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only issue I had with this was that the lecturer on many occasions seemed to talk a little too quiet and I couldn't understand what he was saying. Not sure if it was him or the way the audio was recorded.
Otherwise, this was an excellent learning experience for me.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommended overview of world history with a focus on military conflict. The pre-modern lectures in particular are fantastic.

[BGS · Rating 4 out of 5]

audibook

[Clyde · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another solid entry in The Great Courses series. Not quite up to the level of Food: A Cultural Culinary History but considerably better than 36 Books That Changed the World.
Roth is a good lecturer and I learned quite a bit about war through the ages. Time well spent.

[Mark Lawry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A 24 hour course that covers a lot. Really big picture covering over 4,000 years of history. Roth gave one 1/2 lecture to Rome and an entire sentence to the Silla Dynasty (a 1,000 year period in Korea.) He rattles off one empire after another spanning the globe. Obviously all of the groups and topics he covers could easily be a huge study in themselves. It is clear Roth knows a lot about a lot. I learned quite a bit. For example, I did not know that the surrender document at Appomattox was written by a Seneca Indian and good friend of Grant. He would later become a Brigadier General. The course is filled with such little interesting facts to help one win a game of Trivial Pursuit. The last 2 lectures are probably the best. Many might be unaware that war is becoming less and less on a global scale, and in those wars that do happen fewer and fewer die. Roth's take on the many reasons for this fact makes the entire course well worth the listen.

[Skuli Saeland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Þessi fyrirlestraröð um hernað og heimssöguna er með þeim betri sem ég hef hlýtt á. Kennarinn Jonathan P. Roth leiðir mann í gegnum söguna frá fyrstu ummerkjum um fyrstu mennina og fjallar um baráttu samfélaga sín á milli. Hvers vegna þau hafi þróast með þeim hætti sem þau gerðu og hvaða áhrif þau höfðu á menningu, vísindi og samskipti helstu samfélaga.
Mér finnst Roth gera þetta vel. Hann er ekkert að velta sér upp úr einstaka bardögum eða herforingum heldur bendir hann á samspil hernaðar og heimssögunnar og hvernig nýjungar bárust fram og til baka á milli helstu heimsveldanna s.s. hestvagnar, bogar, ístöð, byssupúður, hernaðartækni o.s.frv.
Ég uppgötvaði margt nýtt við hlustun þessara fyrirlestra sem sýnir manni hve nauðsynlegt er að fylgjast alltaf með því nýjasta sem er að birtast frá fræðimönnum þegar eldri "sannindum" er rutt úr vegi.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unusual in covering world history, not merely the big empires and Europe. The contributions of peoples of the Asian steppe, for example, receive proper emphasis, instead of every so often darting into and out of history from nowhere. Also, it emphasizes military technological developments from the earliest times, the interplay of military and social history, and brings in some of the field's scholarly controversies. This is not a description of one battle after another. I really enjoyed the series, though I'm not a particular aficionado of military history.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent history of well humanity since its focus is the most human of things War. It does what few others do and actually focuses on the broad scope and doesn't get bogged down in listing conflicts or just talking about technology. The lecturer keeps the focus on the broad overviews of economics, trends, religious influences as well as the massive tech changes but doesn't focus on any one subject. He also manages to keep it from being Eurocentric and that was very appreciated.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent! A broad, well balanced overview of War and World History. Most books of this nature tend to be Eurocentric but this work is inclusive of Asian, Near East, African and Aboriginal conflict history and development.

[Bernard · Rating 3 out of 5]

alsolute 5 stars, wat an experience

[Innastholiel]

I GIVE UP.



You have slain me. I cannot with this lecturer. He has this weird speech pattern and enounciation that creates a (kind of oddly satisfying) white noise I just cannot listen to without immediately forgetting what he just said. So I give up. The topic isn't as interesting as I thought it would be, either, so there's that, too.