Title
A global history of war : from Assyria to the twenty-first century / Gérard Chaliand ; translated by Michèle Mangin-Woods and David Woods ; foreword by R. Bin Wong.
Uniform Title
Guerres et civilisations. English
ISBN
9780520283619 (paperback)
0520283619 (paperback)
9780520283602 (hardcover)
0520283600 (hardcover)
9780520959439 (electronic book)
Published
Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2014]
Language
English
Language Note
Translated to English from French.
Description
xiv, 294 pages : maps ; 23 cm
Call Number
U162 .C424513 2014
Dewey Decimal Classification
355.0209
Summary
"While many books examine specific wars, few study the history of war worldwide and from an evolutionary perspective. A Global History of War is one of the first works to focus not on the impact of war on civilizations, but rather on how civilizations impact the art and execution of war. World-renowned scholar Gérard Chaliand concentrates on the peoples and cultures who have determined how war is conducted and reveals the lasting historical consequences of combat, offering a unique picture of the major geopolitical and civilizational clashes that have rocked our common history and made us who we are today. Chaliand's questions provoke a new understanding of the development of armed conflict. How did the foremost non-European empires rise and fall? What critical role did the nomads of the Eurasian steppes and their descendants play? Chaliand illuminates the military cultures and martial traditions of the great Eurasian empires, including Turkey, China, Iran, and Mongolia. Based on fifteen years of research, this book provides a novel military and strategic perspective on the crises and conflicts that have shaped the current world order."--Publisher's description.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-262) and index.
Overview: war and history
The first military empire: the Assyrians
The grand strategy of the Byzantine Empire
The Arabs
The nomads of the Eurasian steppes
The Seljuks, the Mamluks, and the Crusades
The Mongol Empire
Timur the Lame
The Ottomans
Safavid Persia
The Ming and Chinese politico-military traditions
The Manchu and the end of the nomads
The Mughals and Islam in India
Russia and the end of the Tatars
The ascent of Europe
The time of revolutions
Guerilla warfare
From total war to asymmetrical conflict
Conclusion.
