Mankind has always been in conflict. Without war, there would be no peace, no stability, and no safety. Men go to war to defend, or acquire, territory that they see as rightly theirs; to defend, or impose, beliefs that they hold as fundamental truths. In 2000 years, while the causes of battle have hardly changed, the conduct of battle has changed and developed apace. Technology advances and weaponry becomes ever more powerful, and military thinking shifts again and again. This is a review of the continuous process of change, from AD 9 through to the Gulf War. By analysis of some 30 significant battle confrontations, Bryan Perrett shows just how advanced we now are in the art of warfare.