Waging War: Conflict, Culture, and Innovation in World History

by Wayne E. Lee

Waging Conflict, Culture, and Innovation in World History provides a wide-ranging examination of war in human history, from the beginning of the species until the current rise of the so-called Islamic State. Although it covers many societies throughout time, the book does not attempt to tell all stories from all places, nor does it try to narrate "important" conflicts. Instead, author Wayne E. Lee describes the emergence of military innovations and systems, examining how they were created and then how they moved or affected other societies. These innovations are central to most historical narratives, including the development of social complexity, the rise of the state, the role of the steppe horseman, the spread of gunpowder, the rise of the west, the bureaucratization of military institutions, the industrial revolution and the rise of firepower, strategic bombing and nuclear weapons, and the creation of "people's war."

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, World History

560 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2015

About the author

A specialist in early modern military history, with a particular focus on North America and the Atlantic World, Wayne Lee is Bruce W. Carney Distinguished Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Reviews

[Joseph Stieb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not even To Kill a Mockingbird has a five star rating on Goodreads! Disclosure: the author of this book happens to be my advisor. Still, if you want a clearly written, up to date, comprehensive, and not all that lengthy summary of military history, you won't find a better option. The book is truly global in its scope. I learned stuff about Ottoman, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and even prehistoric war that I was completely unfamiliar with beforehand. Lee also uses a helpful analytical model of culture, capacity, and calculation to explain why certain nations or societies embraced different technologies and strategies. This book is a great example of new military history, and I highly encourage military history buffs and students of all kinds to pick it up.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lee attempts a monumental task of charting the world history of warfare, something that many other authors have shied away from due to the immense scale. Such a task could be akin to almost writing the history of the world. Hence, Lee is upfront that he is not trying to write a comprehensive history of war. Such a task would be impossible. Instead, he focuses on the history of warfare in the world and its general development and how specific case studies have contributed to it. Lee does so well and illustrates a clear thread through the narrative. While many historians focus on Western military history and the Western Way of War, Lee brings in non-Western states, particularly China and Japan, to the conversation and as seen, they contribute significantly to the history of warfare.

Some issues:
-Wayne does not bring in the narrative of wars and national histories into his text. While doing so will inflate the text, one does need a fair amount of background knowledge to fully appreciate the text. I read the Cambridge History of Warfare (and some additional Wikipedia pages) to supplement gaps in knowledge.
-Wayne’s writing does get a bit too technical, especially when writing on tactics and technology, which can be hard for the general reader to appreciate

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent textbook for a global military history class or for a non-military historian curious about the broad strokes.

Like everything in “world” history and most “global” history, it is mostly focused on Europe and the Mediterranean in pre-modern history and the U.S. plus Europe for the 20th century. There are significant efforts to include other regions, particularly China and East Asia, which makes it better than most competing overviews. Overall imperfect but useful - which is about as much as you can ask for such a big topic.