The Patterns Of War Through The Eighteenth Century

"This important work . . . synthesizes the evolution of warfare from 1775 to the present." —Military Review A thorough revision of a highly successful text, this new edition provides a comprehensive picture of the evolution of modern warfare. From reviews of the first edition: "There is nothing else in print that tells so much so concisely about how war has been conducted since the days of Gen. George Washington." —Russell F. Weigley "A superior synthesis. Well written, nicely organized, remarkably comprehensive, and laced with facts." —Military Affairs

" . . . 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.

Placing eighteenth-century warfare in a truly global context, Jeremy Black challenges conventional accounts and offers a reappraisal of debates in Western and Asian history. This concise, up-to-date survey assumes little prior knowledge and provides cutting-edge historical insights into a crucial period of world history.

The reviews of the first edition include: There is nothing else in print that tells so much so concisely about how war has been conducted since the days of Gen. George Washington. - Russell F. Weigley. A superior synthesis. Well written, nicely organized, remarkably comprehensive, and laced with facts. - Military Affairs. A thorough revision of a highly successful text, this new edition provides a comprehensive picture of the evolution of modern warfare. Addington discusses developments in strategies and tactics, logistics and weaponry, and provides detailed discussions of important battles and campaigns. His book is an excellent introduction for both students and the general reader. A companion volume, The Patterns of War through the Eighteenth Century, provides an overview of war and warfare in the West from ancient times to the early modern era.

Worldwide warfare might seem like a twentieth-century development, but the colonial empires of Europe fought wars around the globe in the eighteenth. With domains spreading to the Americas and across the Pacific Ocean to Asia, a great power such as France could find itself fighting simultaneously against England's Hanoverian king in northern Germany, in the waters of the English Channel, and on the grounds of what became Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jeremy Black explains not just the wheres and whys of those wars, but also the hows. The Age of Enlightenment on the battlefield. Diversity of tactics and weapons used around the globe. After the death of Louis XIV, French hegemony yielded to French decline and the French Revolution. Shifting balance of power sets the stage for the rise of Prussia. The American Revolution witnesses the origins of guerilla warfare.

A brief survey of the evolution of warfare during World War II, by the author of America’s War in Vietnam. Drawn from the second edition of Larry H. Addington’s The Patterns of War Since the Eighteenth Century, this e-book short discusses the evolution of warfare during World War II. Addington highlights developments in strategies and tactics and logistics and weaponry, providing detailed analyses of important battles and campaigns. It is an excellent introduction for both students and the general reader. Praise for The Patterns of War Since the Eighteenth Century “There is nothing else in print that tells so much so concisely about how war has been conducted since the days of Gen. George Washington.” —Russell F. Weigley “A superior synthesis. Well written, nicely organized, remarkably comprehensive, and laced with facts.” —Military Affairs

This monograph is the ninth offering in the Combat Studies Institute's (CSI) Global War On Terrorism (GWOT) Occasional Papers series. The author, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and CSI historian, has produced a study that examines the evolution and continued applicability of the corpus that constitutes the law of war. As background, he provides a theoretical framework and the development of the law within Western and, specifically, U.S. Army doctrine and regulation. He then presents a case study of the British suppression of the Mau Mau insurgency between 1952 and 1960 in Kenya, a conflict with particular resonance today. Some of the more relevant characteristics of the conflict include the clash between Western and non-Western cultures and an initially asymmetric fight between conventional security forces and loosely organized, poorly equipped insurgents. It makes no claim that every lesson learned by the British during that counterinsurgency operation can be directly applied by the United States to the challenges of the GWOT, but this analysis does offer some insight about applying the law of war to an unfamiliar, non-Western environment. The genesis of this study is the public discourse asserting the possibility that the GWOT may require new rules and new law-of-war prescripts. This important discussion is fraught with complexities and long-term implications; the moral force in warfare is incredibly significant and any changes to the legal framework in place must be very carefully considered. Do we follow the law of war to the letter, do we remain consistent with the principles of Geneva, or do we approach the conflict as a new challenge requiring fundamental revisions to the law? According to the author, law-of-war violations are neither necessary nor excusable for successful prosecution of military operations in any environment, and because the law of war in its current form is more than adequate to face the new GWOT challenges, it does not warrant revision.