History of War by Andrew Wiest

History of War by Andrew Wiest

Mankind has waged warfare for as long as hunters have been able to wield deadly weapons: rock paintings dating back 10,000 years show hunter-gatherers in Spain fighting with bows and arrows. The history of humankind is in part the history of warfare, as peoples and states have sought to impose themselves on each and protect their own interests, fighting for land, resources and influence. Arranged chronologically, History of War offers a broad overview of the most important wars, battles and campaigns from the Bronze Age to the present, with extensive coverage of the key developments in military technology along the way. Learn about the fabled Siege of Troy, and the Bronze Age weapons deployed at the time; understand how William of Normandy broke the Anglo-Saxon shield wall at Hastings with the clever use of feint cavalry tactics, and in so doing, won himself a kingdom; marvel at the final fall of the Eastern Roman empire, when Mehmet II’s Ottoman troops finally stormed the walls of Constantinople in 1453; follow the three-day battle at Gettysburg, where the Union army halted Lee’s Confederate advance north and turned the war in favour of the federal government; see the success of the tank as a spearhead of lightning tactics, deployed so effectively by Germany during the invasions of Poland, France and Russia in World War II; and understand the uses of drones in modern warfare, and their ability use stealth tactics to destroy tanks, artillery and fixed enemy positions. History of War provides a sumptuous, pictorial guide to the most significant wars, battles and campaigns in world history, from the Bronze Age to the 21st Century.

Andrew Wiest is University Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Southern Mississippi and Founding Director of the university's Dale Center for the Study of War and Society. He is the 2026 winner of Samuel Elliot Morrison Prize from the Society of Military History. He is author of many books including The Illustrated History of World War I and The Boys of '67, and co-author of Campaigns of World War II: The Pacific War, The Illustrated History of the Vietnam War and Strategy and Tactics: Infantry Warfare.