The Cambridge History of Warfare

"Western nations - led by the United States - currently hold a strong advantage in almost all military confrontations. How did the 'Western way of war' become so dominant? This book, written by a team of eight distinguished military historians, provides an answer that runs from the origins in Classical Greece and Rome, through the Middle Ages (when enemies of the West almost triumphed) and the early modern period (when the West used military force to carve out extensive new territories, first in the Americas and Siberia and then around the coasts of Asia and Africa), down to the wars of the twenty-first century in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. The book stresses five essential aspects of the Western way of war: a combination of technology, discipline, and an aggressive military tradition with an extraordinary capacity to respond rapidly to challenges and to use capital rather than manpower to win. Although the focus throughout this book remains on the West, and on the role of violence in its rise, each chapter also examines the military effectiveness of its adversaries and the regions in which the West's military edge has been - and continues to be - challenged."--