The Art of War in World History From Antiquity to the Nuclear Age [Paperback]

This engrossing anthology gathers together a remarkable collection of writings on the use of strategy in war. G?rard Chaliand has ranged over the whole of human history in assembling this collectionthe result is an integration of the annals of military thought that provides a learned framework for understanding global political history.

Included are writings from ancient and modern Europe, China, Byzantium, the Arab world, Persia, and the Ottoman Empire. Alongside well-known militarists such as Julius Caesar, Napoleon, Walter Raleigh, Rommel, and many others are irregulars such as Cort?s, Lawrence of Arabia, and even Gandhi. Contrary to standard interpretations stressing competition between land and sea powers, or among rival Christian societies, Chaliand shows the great importance of the struggles between nomadic and sedentary peoples, and of the conflicts between Christianity and Islam. With the invention of firepower, a relatively recent occurrence in the history of warfare, modes of organization and strategic conceptselements reflecting the nature of a societyhave been key to how war is waged.

Unparalleled in its breadth, this anthology will become the standard work for understanding a fundamental part of human historythe conduct of war.

This anthology is not only an unparalleled corpus of information and an aid to failing memory; it is also and above all a reliable and liberating guide for research. . . . Ranging from the origins to the nuclear age, it compels us to widen our narrow perspectives on conflicts and strategic action and open ourselves up to the universal. from the Foreword

G?rard Chaliandis an internationally known specialist on strategy. Since 1960 he has been a participant-observer of guerrilla movements throughout Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. He teaches at the Ecole Sup?rieure de Guerre in Paris. He has previously taught at the Ecole Nationale d'AdminlÃS