3rd Edition
Introduction to Global Military History 1775 to the Present Day
Introduction to Global Military History provides a lucid and comprehensive account of military developments around the modern world from the eighteenth century up to the present day.
Beginning with the background to the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary wars and ending with the recent conflicts of the twenty-first century, this third edition combines fully up-to-date global coverage with close analysis not only of the military aspects of war but also its social, cultural, political and economic dimensions and repercussions. The new edition includes a fully revised chapter on conflicts during the eighteenth century, updated coverage of events post-1990 and increased coverage of non-Western conflicts to provide a truly international account of the varied and changing nature of modern military history.
Covering lesser-known conflicts as well as the familiar wars of history and illustrated throughout with maps, primary source extracts and case studies, it is essential reading for all students of modern military history and international relations.
List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter 1. The world of war in the eighteenth century
Introduction
Assessing significance
Publications and experimentation
Tasks for assessment
Naval power
Power projection
Outcomes and choices
The West and the rest
The American War of Independence, 1775–83
War between the USA and Native Americans
Europe before the French Revolution
The French Revolutionary Wars, 1792–9
The Rise of Napoleon
Asian conflicts in the 1780s and 1790s
Conclusions
Chapter 2. Empires rise and fall 1800–30
Introduction
The rise of Britain
Napoleon
The war of 1812
The Latin American Wars of Independence
Europe after Napoleon
Developments elsewhere
Conclusions
Chapter 3. Moulding states, 1830–80
Introduction
The aims of conflict
The impact of technology
The Taiping Rebellion
The American Civil War
The Wars of German Unification
Latin America
Conclusions
Chapter 4. Building empires 1830–1913
Introduction
Western imperialism
American expansion
Naval power
Non-Western states
East Asia
1789–1913 in review
Chapter 5. World War One, 1914–18
Introduction
Background
Opening campaign
Conflict within Europe
Warfare outside Europe
War at sea
Closing campaign
Conclusions
Chapter 6. Between two world wars
Introduction
Post-war conflict
Civil war in China
Elsewhere outside the West
The British Empire in the 1930s
The USA
Naval developments
Air power
The Japanese in China, 1931–41
The Spanish Civil War
German rearmament
Conclusions
Chapter 7. World War Two, 1939–45
Introduction
Opening campaigns, 1939–41
Soviet Union attacked, 1941
War in the Pacific, 1941–2
Axis attacks held, 1942
The Battle of the Atlantic, 1939–45
Beating Germany, 1943–4
D-Day, 1944
Defeating Germany, 1944–5
Defeating Japan, 1943–5
Air power, 1939–45
War and society
Why the Axis lost
Conclusions
Chapter 8. Wars of decolonisation 1945–94
Introduction
The late 1940s
The Malayan Emergency
France in Indo-China
France in Algeria
Britain and decolonisation
Portugal and decolonisation
Elsewhere in Africa
Conclusions
Chapter 9. The Cold War
Introduction
The Chinese Civil War
The Korean War
The Vietnam War
Confrontation in Europe
Planning for Armageddon
The Afghan War
The Cold War at Sea
The last stages of the Cold War
Conclusions
Chapter 10. Wars between non-Western powers, 1945–90
Introduction
Border wars
Intervention wars
South Asia
The Middle East
Arab-Israeli wars
Latin America
Rebellions
Coups
Force and the state
Conclusions
Chapter 11. War in the 1990s
Introduction
The Gulf War, 1990–1
American operations
Somalia and Haiti
Chechnya
The Former Soviet Union
Yugoslavia
Non-Western conflicts
Conclusions
Chapter 12. War in the 2000s and 2010s
Introduction
The War on Terrorism
The Revolution in Military Affairs
Attempted Revolutions in Military Affairs
War in Iraq
War in Afghanistan
Expenditure
Africa
Syria
War and disorder
Conclusions
Chapter 13. Conclusions
Introduction
Technology
The West versus the rest
Fitness for purpose
Cultural interpretations
Conclusions
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Jeremy Black is Professor of History at the University of Exeter, UK. He is the author of over 100 books, especially on warfare, and is or has been on a number of editorial boards including the Journal of Military History, the journal of the Royal United Services Institute, Media History, the International History Review and History Today, and was editor of Archives.
