I syv såkaldte 'bøger', hver indeholdende et antal kapitler, gennemgås 1: Perserkrigene (de græske styrker, våben og taktik - den persiske hær - slaget ved Marathon - Thermopylæ - Artemision - slaget ved Salamis - slaget ved Plataea) 2: Grækerne på højdepunktet (grækernes taktik frem mod Den peloponnesiske Krig - Perikles' taktik - lejesoldater - ændring af den eksisterende taktik i det fjerde århundrede - Xenofons teori - Epaminondas) 3: Makenonerne (det makedonske militærsystem - Alexander og perserriget - slaget ved Granicus-floden - slaget ved Issus - slaget ved Gaugamela - slaget ved Hydaspes-floden - Alexander som hærfører - Alexanders efterfølgere [diadochi] (rivaliserende generaler, familie og venner)) 4: Oldtidens Rom (riddere og falanks - den fleksible falanks - romersk eksercits, overlevelse i felten og disciplin - Pyrrhus - Den første puniske Krig) 5: Den anden puniske Krig (Slaget ved Cannae - Den anden puniske Krigs grundlæggende statetiske problem - optakten til krigen set i bakspejlet - Rom får overtaget - slaget ved Zama-Naraggara og enhedstaktikken - Hannibal og Scipio) 6: Romerne som verdensherrer (romerne og makedonerne - den professionelle hær: kohortetaktikken - centurionerne - Mithriades - romerne og partherne) 7: Cæsar (det helvetiske felttog - Ariovistus - undertvingelsen af belgierne - Vercingetorix - den romerske krigsførelse mod barbarene - borgerkrig i Italine og Spanien - felttoget i Grækenland - slaget ved Pharsalus - borgerkrigen sidste felttog - elefanterne).

This engrossing anthology gathers together a remarkable collection of writings on the use of strategy in war. Gérard Chaliand has ranged over the whole of human history in assembling this collection—the 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 Cortés, 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 concepts—elements reflecting the nature of a society—have 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 history—the 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

" . . . a concise, highly readable survey of pre- 19th-century warfare." —Choice "A remarkable tour de force covering a vast span of time, different cultures, warfare by land and sea." —Gunther Rothenberg A history of war and warfare from ancient to early modern times, Larry Addington's new book completes his survey of the patterns of war in the Western world. It explains not only what happened in warfare but why war in a certain time and culture took on distinct and recognizable patterns.

A work of historical, comparative sociology examining the evolution of infantry tactics in the American, Australian Canadian, British, French, German, and Italian armies from the First World War to the present. It addresses a key question in the social sciences of how social solidarity (cohesion) is generated and sustained.

Gabriel examines 18 ancient army systems, examining the organizational structure and weapons employed and the degree to which cultural values and imperatives shaped the form and application of military force. The tactical doctrines and specific operational capabilities of each army are analyzed to explain how certain technical limitations and societal/cultural imperatives affected the operational capabilities of ancient armies. Cross-cultural and cross-historical connections ground the analysis in the larger historical context of the ancient world. •Sumer and Akkad •The Armies of the Pharaohs •The Hittites •The Mitanni •Armies of the Bible •The Iron Army of Assyria •Chinese Armies •Persia and the Art of Logistics •The Greeks •Carthaginian Armies •Armies of India •Rome •The Iberians, Celts, Germans, and Goths •The Army of Byzantium •The Vikings •The Arab Armies •The Japanese Way of War •The Mongols •The Ottomans This book also provides an introductory overview of war in the ancient world, from 2500 B.C.E. to 1453 C.E., as well as an examination of the evolution of modern warfare from 1453 to 2002 C.E.

Winner of the Pushkin House Russian Book Prize Winner of the University of Southern California Book Prize Honorable Mention, Reginald Zelnik Book Prize “Fascinating and perceptive.” —Antony Beevor, New York Review of Books “Stand aside, Homer. I doubt whether even the author of the Iliad could have matched Alexis Peri’s account of the 872-day siege which Leningrad endured.” —Jonathan Mirsky, The Spectator “Powerful and illuminating...A fascinating, insightful, and nuanced work.” —Anna Reid, Times Literary Supplement “Much has been written about Leningrad’s heroic resistance. But the remarkable aspect of [Peri’s] book is that she tells a very different story: recounting the internal struggles of ordinary people desperately trying to survive and make sense of their fate.” —John Thornhill, Financial Times “A sensitive, at times almost poetic examination of their emotions and disordered mental states. It both contrasts with and complements the equally accurate official Soviet portrait of a stalwart population standing firm in the face of evil and in defense of Soviet ideals.” —Robert Legvold, Foreign Affairs In September 1941, two and a half months after the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, the German Wehrmacht encircled Leningrad. Cut off from the rest of Russia, the city remained blockaded for 872 days, at a cost of almost a million lives. It was one of the longest and deadliest sieges in modern history. The War Within chronicles the Leningrad blockade from the perspective of those who endured it. Drawing on unpublished diaries, Alexis Peri tells the tragic story of how young and old struggled to make sense of a world collapsing around them. When the blockade was lifted in 1944, Kremlin officials censored publications describing the ordeal and arrested many of Leningrad’s wartime leaders. Some were executed. Diaries—now dangerous to their authors—were concealed, shelved in archives, and forgotten. The War Within recovers these lost accounts, shedding light on one of World War II’s darkest episodes while paying tribute the resilience of the human spirit.

Translation of: Geschichte der Kriegskunst im Rahmen der politischen Geschichte.

When did war begin? Standard military accounts tend to start with the Graeco-Persian wars, laying undue emphasis on the preeminence of Greek heavy infantry. But, as this strikingly original and entertaining book shows, the origins of war can be traced back not to the Iron Age, or even to the Bronze Age, but to the emergence of settled life itself nearly 10,000 years ago. The military revolution that occurred then?the invention of major new weapons, the massive fortifications, the creation of strategy and tactics?ultimately gave rise to the great war machines of ancient Egypt, Assyria, and Persia that dominated the Near East until the time of Alexander the Great.It is Arther Ferrill's thesis that in the period before Alexander there were two independent lines of military development?a Near Eastern one culminating in the expert integration of cavalry, skirmishers, and light infantry and a Greek one based on heavy infantry. When Philip and Alexander blended the two traditions in their crack Macedonian army, the result was a style of warfare that continued, despite technological changes, down to Napoleon.This newly revised edition presents detailed and copiously illustrated accounts of all the major battles on land and sea up to the fourth century b.c., analyzes weapons from the sling to the catapult, and discusses ancient strategy and tactics, making this a book for armchair historians everywhere.