Jeremy Black - War and the World: Military Power and the Fate of Continents, 1450-2000

An attempt to write a global history of warfare in the modern era. Jeremy Black, here presents a wide-ranging account of the nature, purpose and experience of war over the last half millennium. Investigating both land and sea warfare, Black examines weaponry, tactics, strategy and resources as well as the political, social and cultural impact of conflict. He takes issue with established interpretations, not least those that emphasize technology, and directly challenges the view that European military and naval forces were dominant throughout the period. European mastery at sea did not inevitably translate into equivalent success on land, he argues, and indeed many non-European military systems were formidable in their own right. Black investigates the regional political military inpact of, for example, Babur and the Mughals in 16th-century India and the Manchu conquest of China in the following century. The book argues that, in the 18th century - the focal point of Europes military revolution - the international military balance shifted decisively. Economic growth and maritime exploration turned navies into aggressively effective instruments of power and fuelled the obsession for territorial acquisition which dominated the great powers throughout the 19th century. Linking debates on early modern history with those of more recent centuries, War and the World should be reading for students of global history and constitutes a re-examination of the role of war in the progress of nations.