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Title: Warfare in the Eighteenth Century by Jeremy Black, John Keegan ISBN: 0-304-36212-3 Publisher: Sterling Pub. Date: September, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.75 (4 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Warfare in the Eighteenth Century
Comment: Readers familiar with Jeremy Black's work will recognize Warfare in the Eighteenth Century as another solid effort by the author. This book is richly illustrated and has several good maps to help aid the book's presentation. However, if not for the many illustrations and maps, the book might barely be half as long as it is. Black does not really challenge the reader with new theories, in fact this is essentially a continuation of theories set for in his earlier work, European Warfare, 1660-1815.
Many of Black's arguments are continuations of earlier studies and this does affect the overall effectiveness of the present work. He dazzles the reader with his knowledge of obscure (are largely insignificant) conflicts, particularly those between Europeans and natives from the new worlds, but this does not necessarily make his case. He flits between battles and opponents much the way a warbler flits between branches in a tree. He is always moving, but is not always going anywhere. He randomly expands his cases into the nineteenth century when it suits him to do so, and this further confuses the reader.
But Black is not pretentious about his objectives. They are relatively contained to discussions on technology's role in warfare and a variety of locations achieving basically the same types of accomplishments. He rarely strays from this theory, but since he already did this in European Warfare 1660-1815, it is largely irrelevant or at least redundant.
Yet his knowledge is impressive and the reader should come away with knowing a bit more than before they started the book. Given this, and the fact that this effort is much more readable than European Warfare, it is worth a look.
Rating: 2
Summary: I won't buy this book
Comment: Having read the other clear reviews on this book and also having browsed thru it myself, I can see that the author is probably attempting too much in trying to cover All warfare in the 18th century in this one book. He has made his task even more difficult by moving away from a Eurocentric view of global warfare. The problem of course is compounded by the fact that this would require a synopsis of warfare covering different geographical settings, different forces and logistics and different cultures. This is not achieved here.
I note with interest that this series will in the future cover other non-European warfare and colonial warfare and would prefer to save my money for these more promising offerings.
Rating: 4
Summary: A good try at a difficult topic
Comment: Jeremy Black wrote this work as part of the Cassell History of Warfare series edited by John Keegan. Unlike the other historians in the series who were assigned specific wars (i.e. WWI, WWII, American Civil War) or types of war (i.e. War in the Air 1914-1945, Napoleonic Wars) he had to cover a whole century on a global scale. He tackled this in an interesting fashion. Rather than focusing on battles or wars as many of his predecessors had done in their sweeping works (JFC Fuller's Military History, etc.) He tried to take a mixed strategy. He first looks at the nature warfare among the different civilizations. He organizes the first three chapters along these lines: 1. War without Europeans, 2. Europeans versus Non-Europeans, 3. Transoceanic Conflict between Europeans. The remaining chapters deal with the American Revolution (a global war), wars within Europe, the importance of naval warfare - which allowed nations to fight on a global scale, and the developing background for Napoleonic innovations. It is admittedly still eurocentric, but Black acknowledges this and still does provide one of the few popular descriptions of warfare outside of Europe for this time period. It should give the reader a curiosity to read more. His bibliography is quite good, although more academic - and deserves attention by the reader. The 2nd and 3rd chapters give credence to the notion that perhaps the first "world war" was actually fought by the French and English empires of the 18th century (by Barbara Tuchman?). Though the armies were not always large, operations were planned and mounted around the globe. The text does read smoothly and there are several nice illustrations and maps. It is not without some faults as noted by the other reviewers, but the author should be given credit for the "degree of difficulty" of his task. It is a good addition to the libraries of military history buffs who are interested in the horse and musket era. It isn't for the specialist American Revolution reader - not enough depth, but for those who are curious about that era, it will open your mind to considering that grand plans were plotted out in an era where it took weeks to months to position an army or fleet for operations.
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Title: History of Warfare: Warfare in the Seventeenth Century by John Childs, John Keegan ISBN: 0304352896 Publisher: Cassell Academic Pub. Date: August, 1901 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: The Napoleonic Wars (History of Warfare) by Gunther E. Rothenberg, John Keegan ISBN: 0304352675 Publisher: Cassell Academic Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Roman Warfare by Adrian Goldsworthy ISBN: 0304362654 Publisher: Cassell Academic Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Renaissance at War by Thomas F. Arnold, John Keegan ISBN: 0304363537 Publisher: Cassell Academic Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The American Civil War and the Wars of the Industrial Revolution (The History of Warfare) by Brian Holden Reid, John Keegan ISBN: 0304352306 Publisher: Cassell Academic Pub. Date: August, 1999 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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