War Since 1900 - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0500251630 ISBN 13: 9780500251638

Publisher: Thames & Hudson, 2010

Synopsis

The most wide-ranging and authoritative analysis of twentieth-century warfare ever published

War has been the great catalyst of change in the last century, bringing down empires, triggering revolutions, and transforming society. Here, distinguished military historians from the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, and France bring their collective knowledge and experience to bear on the cataclysmic events that have shaped the modern world.

The contributors fully convey and analyze the horror and drama of two world wars, the petty conflicts and civil wars of the 1920s and 1930s, the Cold War, wars of decolonization, and Middle Eastern wars after 1945. Their unique viewpoints add a fresh perspective: a German scholar and special adviser to the German Ministry of Defense on twentieth-century naval warfare; a French historian on France’s wars in Indochina and Algeria; and a retired British general on the Balkan, Iraq, and Afghan conflicts of the past two decades.

There are extensive lists of key events plus special features on technological innovations, from the tank to the nuclear bomb, from the submarine to the unmanned drone, and the illustrations include hundreds of photographs as well as specially commissioned maps and battle reconstructions.

240 color and 60 black-and-white illustrations

About this title

About the Author

Jeremy Black is Professor of History at the University of Exeter and is one of England’s most respected historians. Black is the author or editor of many books, including The Seventy Great Battles in History; Great Military Leaders and Their Campaigns; War Since 1900; and Elite Fighting Forces.

From Booklist

Graphically akin to Black’s The Seventy Greatest Battles in History (2006), this military history of the twentieth century supports each contributor’s chapter with maps, photographs and illustrations, and diagrams of the era’s signature weapons (e.g., the tank). The nearly 300 images do not, however, overwhelm texts that succinctly address the dozen time periods and the developments in naval and air power that Black uses to topically organize them. Apparently he instructed contributing historians to emphasize continuities and changes in the conduct of war, which is drastically different in 2010 than it was in 1914. Professional, volunteer forces now fight expeditionary-style wars for opaque aims; then, mass-conscript legions struggled for total victory over their enemies in WWI. By the 1990s, air power seemed to realize a century’s worth of strategic prophets’ promises but soon proved again to be less than decisive against insurgencies in undeveloped countries. Covering wars preceding and following WWI, the anticolonial conflicts of WWII’s aftermath, the cold war, and Middle East wars, Black’s visual introduction should grab both browsers and military-history mavens. --Gilbert Taylor

About this edition

• Publisher: Thames & Hudson
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0500251630
• ISBN 13: 9780500251638
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288
• Editor: Black Jeremy