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Title: History of Warfare: Art Of War: War and Military Thought by Martin van Creveld ISBN: 0-304-35264-0 Publisher: Sterling Publishing Pub. Date: June, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.6 (10 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A Through Introduction to Military Theory
Comment: This book is a very good starting point to anyone who wishes to gain a basic knowledge of military theory. The book covers all the major periods of history - ancient China, ancient Europe, the Middle Ages, Modern History, with a chapter on Naval Warfare theory, and a chapter on war from 1945.
The author, as he states, meant the book to be broad rather than deep, and this is certainly true. Although all important military theorists are present, many are dealt with in rather short order. In addition, van Creveld makes no attempt to explain the various concepts used in military theory, focusing more on the development of theory and the distinction between tactics, strategy and grand strategy.
The book is well writen, and has many helpful illustrations and pictures. Those who have previously read van Creveld will easily identify his unique style, including asides. I especially enjoyed van Creveld's discussion on Fuller and Lidell Hart's importance in 20th century military theory.
In addition to the index and short sketches of thinkers, there is a nice list of further suggested reading.
To sum up: If you want an introduction to the development of military theory and its main thinkers, this book is very good. If you want to deeply understand the various concepts employed in military theory - this is not the book for you.
Rating: 4
Summary: A brief Overview of Military theory
Comment: Martin van Creveld is one of the better military historians of the last half-century or so. He writes clearly and intelligently, and produces books that are timely and innovative. He has at times gotten himself into controversies with various other authors over his interpretations of events, but he does at least think innovatively and ananlytically. If he has a weakness as a writer, it's that he's too scholarly for the general public, and his ideas are therefore somewhat inaccessible.
The present volume is an attempt at an overview of the progress of military theory, as opposed to the evolution of warfare itself. It is structured, therefore, as a review of each work on warfare, one after the other in turn. As another reviewer noted, this leads to the weird phenomenon of a book about warfare (indirectly anyway) which jumps right over both World Wars without a blink. The author also attempts to keep to his subjects (the works themselves) and as a result gives the lives of the writers short shrift, at some points. Also he avoids discussing several controversies much (notably the question of how much influence Liddell Hart *really* had on the German Blitzkrieg) claiming that they've been dealt with elsewhere. This is no doubt true, but since this is supposed to be an introductory volume on the subject, saying this without even directing the reader to another volume is a bit annoying.
Taking all of the above into consideration, I enjoyed this book a great deal. Why not five stars then? Well the book is peppered with illustrations that are only marginally connected to the text of the book. Some of them are portraits of military thinkers or generals, and are reasonably worthwhile, though one that is supposed to be Sherman looks more like Grant. But also there are many elaborate maps (a standout feature of the Cassell History of Warfare series) and here they have nothing to do with the text and are superfluous. The only thing they do is take up space. The last one, for instance, depicts the war in Bosnia, and that's not even mentioned in the text at all, really. So I enjoyed the book, but I would hope they would rerelease it as a monograph without the useless pretty pictures.
Rating: 4
Summary: A brief overview of Military thought
Comment: Martin van Creveld is one of the better military historians of the last half-century or so. He writes clearly and intelligently, and produces books that are timely and innovative. He has at times gotten himself into controversies with various other authors over his interpretations of events, but he does at least think innovatively and ananlytically. If he has a weakness as a writer, it's that he's too scholarly for the general public, and his ideas are therefore somewhat inaccessible.
The present volume is an attempt at an overview of the progress of military theory, as opposed to the evolution of warfare itself. It is structured, therefore, as a review of each work on warfare, one after the other in turn. As another reviewer noted, this leads to the weird phenomenon of a book about warfare (indirectly anyway) which jumps right over both World Wars without a blink. The author also attempts to keep to his subjects (the works themselves) and as a result gives the lives of the writers short shrift, at some points. Also he avoids discussing several controversies much (notably the question of how much influence Liddell Hart *really* had on the German Blitzkrieg) claiming that they've been dealt with elsewhere. This is no doubt true, but since this is supposed to be an introductory volume on the subject, saying this without even directing the reader to another volume is a bit annoying.
Taking all of the above into consideration, I enjoyed this book a great deal. Why not five stars then? Well the book is peppered with illustrations that are only marginally connected to the text of the book. Some of them are portraits of military thinkers or generals, and are reasonably worthwhile, though one that is supposed to be Sherman looks more like Grant. But also there are many elaborate maps (a standout feature of the Cassell History of Warfare series) and here they have nothing to do with the text and are superfluous. The only thing they do is take up space. The last one, for instance, depicts the war in Bosnia, and that's not even mentioned in the text at all, really. So I enjoyed the book, but I would hope they would rerelease it as a monograph without the useless pretty pictures.
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Title: Command in War by Martin van Creveld, Martin L. van Crevald, Martin Van Creveld ISBN: 0674144414 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: March, 1987 List Price(USD): $21.50 |
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Title: TRANSFORMATION OF WAR by Martin Van Creveld ISBN: 0029331552 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 31 March, 1991 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: The Napoleonic Wars by Gunther Rothenberg ISBN: 0304359831 Publisher: Cassell Pub. Date: 28 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Warfare in the Seventeenth Century by John Childs ISBN: 0304363731 Publisher: Cassell Pub. Date: 28 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Roman Warfare by Adrian Goldsworthy ISBN: 0304362654 Publisher: Cassell Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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