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Author: John Keegan
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 John Keegan is an intellectual. While he's writing about a brutal subject like warfare, he approaches it from an anthropological and psychological angle. He also manages to put everything in its historical context.
I'll admit that this wasn't the easiest book for me to read at first. In fact, after getting about 150 pages into it earlier this year, I put it down. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I picked the book back up and finished it.
I'm very glad I did.
A History of Warfare is John Keegan's narrative of the evolution of war starting with prehistoric times all the way up to the mid 20th Century. Keegan relates each new discovery and evolution to other events in history and culture, as well as warfare.
World War II is the war that Americans and British have the most familiarity with. Keegan recognizes this and only dedicates a little over a dozen pages out of nearly 400 to the war. This is a breath of fresh air to those looking for military history that didn't happen in the near past.
Warfare tactics created and adopted by cultures
Keegan is a story-teller. In this history, he tells of not only how war has evolved, but also how the reasoning for war has changed throughout the ages. Each culture is touched on from the Eastern Islanders to the Greeks to the Huns and so on. As different civilizations come into the spotlight, they bring new tactics in killing, defense, and reasoning. Some cultures are very effective and dominate the stage such as the Mongols who created an empire that lasted more than 100 years. But always, other civilizations find ways to copy, adapt, or eliminate the new methods of war.
Since prehistoric time, man learned he could kill at a distance using spears or arrows. This style of fighting lasted until the Greeks created the phalanx requiring opposing armies to get close and personal in battles. The arrows of armies would be rendered ineffective as they were blocked by the shields of the Greeks. They had no other choice but to fight the Greeks up close and personal.
Castles were the most powerful defense throughout the middle ages, but became easy to tear apart when cannons were introduced. As a result new methods for building castles were introduced that help nullify the cannon's impact.
The Thirty Years' War saw the combination of musketeers and pikemen fighting side by side. The musketeers shot at troops from a distance while the pikemen protected the musketeers from calvary. The two classes of fighters were eventually merged by the creation of the bayonet.
The stories of warfare evolution such as these is the most fascinating aspect of this book.
Fantastic Overview of Warfare, but not the best reference book
One point that may irritate some in this book is Keegan is a ranter who habitually gets onto tangents. This was part of what made me put the book down at first, but after a break, I learned to love the writing style. There is a sense of a historical time line as Keegan walks us through his chapters of Stone, Flesh, Iron, and Fire, but he will make comparisons and bring up anecdotes from other time periods where he sees appropriate. What the reader gets is a an overall view of history and how specific events influenced other periods in history.
Someone looking for specific dates and statistics will become frustrated in this book as well. The book is structured like a novel. The statistics are listed throughout, but not every battle lists number of troops, casualties, etc. Keegan gives enough information for the reader to get an understanding of the time period and tactics used. So while the reader may learn that the most common imported item to French ports during World War I was horse fodder, he will not find the number of those killed in the Battle of the Somme.
What this book will give you is a firm understanding of all the major shifts in warfare tactics, which cultures initiated them, and what was the result. I have yet to find a book that takes aim at such a broad subject as this and creates something that flows so well.
For those looking to learn more, Keegan offers an exhaustive bibliography which I have used to buy more books. |
