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Title: Technology and War: From 2000 B.C. to the Present by Martin Van Creveld, Martin L. van Crevald ISBN: 0-02-933151-X Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: January, 1989 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3 (1 review)
Rating: 3
Summary: Half Cocked
Comment: It has been suggested that several professional historians could live a comfortable and durable professional life working only on correcting the historical mistakes foisted upon the public by Martin Van Creveld. While I personally believe that this is a mild overstatement of the facts, I understand the reasoning behind the sentiment. However, it is perhaps unwise to criticise Van Creveld too harshly. His work undoubtedly brings attention to the field, and with attention flows the filthy lucre that supports legitimate historians in their search for the truth in history.
This book procedes from a single concept, that technology permeates war. Van Creveld's goal in this book is to explore the role that technology has played in the development and transformation of war. Van Creveld wants to explore not just the weapons of war, but the whole of technology as it interacts with war. Although he specifically denies that the book is organized chronologically, this is in fact how the text is arranged. There are four parts to the book, and each part contains five chapters.
In part one, "The Age of Tools from Earliest Times to 1500 AD" the five chapters are "Field Warfare," "Siege Warfare," "The Infrastructure of War," "Naval Warfare," and "Irrational Technology." The unifying concept identified by Van Creveld as the reason for this division is that the motive power behind most technology in this period was the muscles of animals and men. The first two chapters are fairly self explanatory in their titles. "The Infrastructure of War," according to Van Creveld, includes writing, cartography, and logistics. In "Naval Warfare" he focuses upon the weapons used aboard fighting ships and the method of propulsion (oars) used in purpose designed ships. The final chapter, "Irrational Technology" explores those weapons of the period that appear illogical in their design, either by over decoration or extreme size.
Part two, "The Age of Machines, 1500-1800" roughly coresponds with the Military Revolution. Again the first three chapters are "Field Warfare," "Siege Warfare," and "The Infrastructure of War." The last two chapters in this section are "Command of the Sea," and "The Rise of Professionalism." Curiosly, Van Creveld barely notes the existance of the Military Revolution as such. The issue I own is the second, "Revised and Expanded" edition which received copyright in 1991. Timing is therefore not an issue. Although he mentions several of the same concepts, the rise of the artillery and the resulting changes in fortress design, he uses slightly different terminology when he does this. For example, the artillery fortress is called "the italian design" not "trace italienne." Van Creveld acknowledges neither Roberts' original thesis nor Parker's refinement to the concept. Van Creveld does not use footnotes or endnotes in this book. Instead there is a bibliographic essay at the end of the work. None of the material he used appear to be primary source.
Part three, "The Age of Systems, 1830-1945" changes the first two chapters to "Mobilization Warfare," and "Land Warfare." This conceptual shift allows Van Creveld to introduce the larger "system" of national infratructure as a war making technology. The chapter on "Command of the Air" attempts to recount the history of air warfare from the use of balloons all the way through the end of WWII in fourteen pages. He similarly tries to describe the changes in sea warfare from pre-monitor sailing ships through Essex Class aircraft carriers in eighteen pages. The attempts fail.
However, redeeming these shortcomings, one of the best chapters of the book follows these two overambitious portions. "The Invention of Invention" is a chapter which is probably worth a book length examination. Though Van Creveld assigns only seventeen pages to the concept, it does show that at least in some areas he is moving into new territory. His blurring of the line between military history and the history of technology is at its best in this chapter.
The final part, "The Age of Automation, 1945 to Present" covers the smallest period of time. Ironically, it appears that even Van Creveld realizes that even this smaller chunk of time contains too much material to adequately treat within the space allotted. In this portion of the book, the chapters largely divorce from material technology and foucus upon systems and concepts. The first chapter, "Computerized War," deals with the explosion of information in modern war, and the various technological and doctrinal solutions developed to overcome and utilize the information. Chapter seventeen is a short treatsie on "Nuclear War" that one gets the impression he only included because he knew critics would castigate him if he ignored the subject. The chapter "Integrated War" is actually quite decent.
Still, overall I wouldn't buy this book a second time.
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Title: The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300-2050 by MacGregor Knox, Williamson Murray ISBN: 052180079X Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 27 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U. S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940 by Stephen I. Schwartz ISBN: 0815777736 Publisher: The Brookings Institution Pub. Date: 30 June, 1998 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: The Advisors: Oppenheimer, Teller, and the Superbomb (Stanford Nuclear Age Series) by Herbert F. York ISBN: 0804717141 Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr Pub. Date: June, 1989 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Future War: Non-Lethal Weapons in Twenty-First-Century Warfare by John B. Alexander ISBN: 0312267398 Publisher: Griffin Trade Paperback Pub. Date: 11 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force and Society Since A.D. 1000 by William H. McNeill ISBN: 0226561585 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: September, 1984 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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