Название: A History of War: From Ancient Warfare to the Global Conflicts of the 21st Century
Автор: Chris McNab
Издательство: Arcturus Publishing Limited
Год: 2022
Страниц: 249
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf, epub
Размер: 14.98 MB

A History of War explains the dark but compelling story of warfare, from its emergence in prehistoric tribal disputes, through great imperial and global wars, to present-day counter-insurgency and 'hybrid' conflicts. Two factors sit at the heart of this story: technology - including weapons, vehicle systems and vehicles and tactics. A History of War charts the rise of the army, explaining how primitive tribal war parties evolved through seasonal levies and feudal armies to professional standing armies and mass conscription forces, with formal organisational structures.

The narrative of A History of War is sewn together by the conflicts that have periodically reshaped history, from localised insurgencies to vast world wars. The book provides summaries and insights into these conflicts while recognising the human drama of conflict, with first-hand insight into the experience of combat, either as a combatant or as a civilian swept up in violent times.

The Roman War Machine: The history of Rome, and the empire that it forged, covers a period of more than 1,000 years, so a close review of its history is beyond the scope of this book. What is clear, however, is that Rome would not have grown from a small city-state into one of history’s largest and most enduring empires without the capabilities of an exceptional army. This army evolved as a citizen force during the 6th century bce, conscripted to meet the needs of specific campaigns. It took several centuries and numerous reforms to make it into the consistently battle-winning force it became.
Between the 5th and the 3rd centuries bce, Rome was locked within an endless sequence of wars, as it steadily expanded its power within the Italian mainland and then further afield into Greece around the edges of the Mediterranean. Looking back at the tapestry of battles Rome fought during this era, we are struck as much by the defeats as by the victories.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) – remote-controlled aircraft without a human pilot on board – are actually not a modern invention. Initial experiments in UAV technology can be seen during the first two decades of the 20th century, largely in the context of building pilotless drones for anti-aircraft gunnery training. It was during the Cold War, however, that UAVs became more of a battlefield presence, mainly as a way of performing detailed surveillance over enemy battlespace without putting a human pilot at risk. UAVs were used in this capacity by the USA in the Vietnam War and by the Israelis during the Arab–Israeli Wars of the 1960s and 70s, the Israelis also applying UAVs to decoy enemy SAM batteries away from piloted combat aircraft. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs) – UAVs capable of mounting and launching ordnance – began to make their appearance in significant numbers, particularly operated in hunter-killer roles by US forces. These weapons became core technologies in the ‘War on Terror’, loitering at altitude for hours on end over the combat zone or restricted areas, and taking out point or high-value targets when identified using the UCAV’s own onboard surveillance and monitoring equipment. Such are the advances in global communications that pilots based in hubs in the USA literally fly UCAV combat missions over Afghanistan in real time. The future generations of UAVs/UCAVs promise an ever-greater diversity of types, ranging from tiny insect-sized craft used for covert surveillance inside buildings through to strategic bombers. Given their capabilities, a question mark hangs over the future of piloted combat aviation.

Written with both authority and accessibility, A History of War provides a comprehensive single-volume overview of warfare and how it has shaped our world.

Contents:
Introduction
Chapter 1: Ancient and Classical Warfare
Early armies
Composition
The Rise of Warrior States
Warrior Empires
Warfare in Ancient Greece and the Hellenistic Age
The Roman War Machine
Warfare In India and China
Chapter 2: The Middle Ages
Chapter 3: War in the Early Modern World
Chapter 4: Imperial and Revolutionary Warfare
Chapter 5: The World Wars
Chapter 6: The Cold War
Chapter 7: The New Age of Warfare
List of Illustrations