The Encyclopedia of Military History from 3500 B.C. to the Present, 2nd Revised Edition [Hardcover]

Richard Ernest Dupuy (Author), Trevor N. Dupuy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1986

Here, in one massive volume, is a complete reference guide to the world's military history from ancient times to the present.

In this Second Revised Edition, the authors have expanded the earlier edition to cover the Iran-Iraq war, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the wars in Lebanon and the Falkland Islands, giving up-to-date, comprehensive coverage of military history. "Military history' is not only the description of wars and combat operations in general, but also of the concurrent growth of military arts... tactics, strategy, and weaponry.

Each major military event and its effect on world history is covered in an exciting, concise, and complete manner.

Each chapter opens with a succinct essay summarizing the highlights of the period...outstanding leaders, unusual developments, tactical and strategical trends... placing each major operations in its political and social perspective. A continent by continent assessment of wars and battles follows the background description of analysis.

Over 250 maps and illustrations of weapons and fortifications.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1524 pages
• Publisher: Harper & Row Publishers; 2nd Revised edition (May 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061812358
• ISBN-13: 978-0061812354
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 2.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #932,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must read for the military enthusiast, July 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The encyclopedia of military history from 3500 B.C. to the present (Hardcover)

This is a very robust book covering military history up to the end of the Viet Nam war. It is broken down into chronological snipets that are grouped by locale. At just over 1,300 pages, it paints a good picture of the battlefield primarily at the strategic level. The authors did include a good deal of tactics as well as new technology also. This is a great book for research of military history.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Military History Reference, November 16, 2007

By 

William Welsh (Virginia, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Encyclopedia of Military History from 3500 B.C. to the Present, 2nd Revised Edition (Hardcover)

This book is worth its weight in gold. It's best selling point, I believe, is that it offers a tight chronological narrative of warfare from Ancient to Modern Times (into 20th century) that really can't be found elsewhere. What's more, virtually every battle or siege, even obscure ones that don't show up in military history surveys, are covered. The book shares one drawback with historical sources in general in that the numbers given for the size of armies and casualties aren't totally reliable. But that is the case for the study of military history--for some clashes--even up to and including World War II.

The authors concede in the preface that it is difficult to divide military history by centuries. But they use that time span to provide a detailed discussion of the advances in weaponry and strategy and tactics during that period. An excellent detail of the book is that those passages include excellent explanatory line drawings. Alas, I just wish they had provided some line drawings of battles. But what would you expect from a book that requires more than 1,500 pages to convey its materials? The authors don't waste a single page of the book in a frivolous way. It's a serious work of military history and a crucial invesment for the historian or military enthusiast.