A History of Warfare

A History of Warfare is a book by John Keegan, military historian. It was published in 1993 by Random House. It discusses early warfare, the proliferation of bronze warfare and then iron. The 'horse peoples', first under the Assyrians, then the Persians, Parthians, Persians; then in the 7th century the Arabs, Mongols under Genghis Khan and finally the last of the horse peoples under a Mongol named Tamerlane, who unleashes massive carnage and destruction. The rise in medieval europe causes the raising of money for castles.(infantry are paid to dig under castles for their destruction). Western Europe perfects castles that are impregnable. At the same time, cavalry is gradually eliminated from the battlefield, matchlock, flintlock and eventually Smith and Wesson revolver became dominate( they help win the Russo-Japanese War for the Asiatic power, which was the only major victory of a war from Asia in the 20th Century). In World War I mustard gas, grenades and more cannon and hand arms kill mass that are buried in muddy graveyards on the Western Front. In World War II milliions die on the Eastern Front because of Adolf Hitler's theories of land grab(Lebensraum). A frequent theme in Keegan's book is Carl von Clausewitz, military theorist. Keegan says politics can stay, war must go.

• This article was gleamed from my thorough reading of A History of Warfare by John Keegan