History Of Warfare: The Art Of War

Part of the Cassell 'History Of Warfare' series, a multi-volume history of war and warfare from ancient to modern times.

General Hans von Seeckt, First World War commander and founder of the German Reichswehr, described the link between military thought and practice by saying "From knowledge to competence it is a great step - from ignorance to competence an even greater one". This book narrates the complete history of military thought and its impact on the art of war and warfare from the ancient Chinese through to the great masters of the nineteenth century, twentieth-century warfare and the wars of the future.

This book is unique in that precisely and coherently the author - an internationally authority on military thought and history - covers this complete history in one volume. It begins with the works of the ancient Chinese writers and thinkers, including Sun Tzu whose writings still resonate and influence today. The author then takes the reader through ancient Greece and Rome, through Byzantium and the Middle Ages and on to the thinkers of early modern times, including notably Machiavelli and Frederick the Great.

Having shown how around 1800 the works of Buelow, Jomini and especially Clausewitz brought about a major revolution in strategic thinking, the author moves on to the nineteenth century where the doctrines of Ardant du Picq, Moltke and Schlieffen are given a close and hard-headed look. So too are the most important naval thinkers - especially Mahan and Corbett. Final chapters take the reader to the military thinkers of war in the twentieth century with armoured and air warfare, and doctrines of nuclear warfare and low-intensity war. The book ends with glimpses of the wars of the future that are as fascinating as they are controversial.