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44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sweeping in scope, excellent in presentation, August 4, 2001
This review is from: A History of Warfare (Paperback)
The book deserves a place among Keegan's other classics, "The Face of Battle" and "The Mask of Command". He has proved once again that he is the preeminent military historian in the world today, perhaps of all time. Because of the book's daunting scope--covering warfare from prehistoric times to the nuclear age--it is not overly specific. However, Keegan weaves the story of war with the story of human civilization very nicely, and proves that for most of our history, war has been our primary occupation. He denounce's Clauswitz' theory that war is merely the continuation of politics by showing it is something much more basic. War, according to Keegan is cultural. Wars may be fought for political reasons he says, but the driving force behind them is a nation's/people's culture. If you do not believe in this theory or are just a big fan of Clauswitz, this book is still a fascinating read because it connects the whole history of war in one relatively slim volume. This is a rare accomplishment, and it provides and excellent base of study for any time period of history. As for presentation, the book is divided into four main parts with interludes between them, discussing the major advances in military technology. Titled Stone, Flesh, Iron, and Fire, he mainly discusses the advance of weapons from bronze, to iron, to gunpowder, the rise and fall of the horse, and the institution of national armies as major turning points. The book can drag at some points, but on the whole is a quick read, though you may want to read some parts twice just because there is a lot of information here. In short this is a must own for any history buff!
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26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
How warfare has been practised through the centuries, July 3, 2004
This review is from: A History of Warfare (Paperback)
Like the best of Keegan's books, A History of Warfare starts with an overarching theme (Clausewitz's assertion that war is politics by another means) and then proceeds to frame his description of warfare from pre-history to present day. Those that see this book merely as a defutation of Clausewitz ignore the meat of the book, which is a smooth and lucid description of (past and current) methods and philosophy of warmaking. Most interesting is probably the notion that the western (originally Greco-Roman) ideal of decisive battle is an abberation. In fact, natural (primitive) war involves many safeguards and rituals to prevent high casualties. That is not to say that conquest is not possible in primitive war - Aztecs, Monguls, and Turks all managed to set themselves up as permanent rulers in conquered lands. However, casualties are light and there is no shame in retreat in this type of warfare. Keegan then proceeds over ground well-travelled by military historians - how the evolution of European power has led to Western military hegemony since the 17th century. For my money, Hanson's Carnage and Culture (from which Keegan quotes) is a more interesting and provocative read, but Keegan is convincing and fresh in his slant on the same topic. The only negative aspect of the book, for me, is the theme - that of debunking Clausewitzian theory. It seems to me that, in fact, Keegan has proven (not disproven, as he claims) that Clausewitz's basic assertion, "War is politics by other means" is true. It feels like Keegan is bending the definitions of war and politics to serve his philosophy, and that a Clausewitz apologist could fudge definitions of war and politics to re-prove Clausewitz's assertions. For example, is not the Aztec method of warfare - emphasising the capture of prisoners to be later used in ritual sacrifice - entirely consistent with advancing their theological political system, which requires pacifying their gods with such sacrifices? Granted, Keegan does use many more examples and details to show that warfare is only Clausewitzian if the people prosecuting the war (i.e. WWI) believe it. Natural warfare is not, and warfare in the age of nuclear weapons cannot be if human civilisation is to survive.
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40 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Here I may tread lightly, October 3, 2000
This is probably a polarizing work of military history. Either you will love or hate it. I applaud the author for his unique "chronology" of warfare, but his emphasis on themes and interrupting interludes (mini-chapters between main sections) breaks up all continuity. The themes also of necessity overlap each other, but he fails to draw the connections, the threads of continuity if you like. What really devalues the work is this: the author engages in a philosophical/anthropological/social scientific debate with Clausewitz's sentence that war is the continuation of politics (he leaves out the rest of the statement, "by other means"). In fact, the author goes so far afield in his argument for "culture of war" as opposed to "nature of war" the reader is left wondering what all the fuss is about. Are not culture and politics two sides of the same coin? If not, then they certainly are members of the same currency. No one has proven that stateless societies lack "polity" though some have tried. Whenever two are gathered, someone gains "something" over the other. That is political. Besides the failure to fully define terms such as culture, politics, warfare, he also misrepresents arguments and ignores the fact that Clausewitz's _On War_ was never completed by the author. All must recognize that he was in the process of revising and rewriting when he died. So, to avoid falling into the same trap the author did, I will leave the gallant Prussian and move on to my other objections. There are some errors of interpretation (understandable) and fact (less so). The atomic bomb was NOT designed to end wars without commitment of manpower on the battlefield as the author contends. The A-bomb was another weapon, which potentiality we only discovered after its use. Not until a decade later did nuclear weaponry come to take its place first among equals in military establishments, at least in the U.S. I believe that there will never be a world without conflict, hence never a world without war. The author has been on this theme at least from _The Face of Battle_. So I wish he'd give it up. One last foray into politics: modern day peacemaking and peacekeeping IS political, not humanitarian. President Clinton did not commit U.S. forces to combat in Somalia, Kosovo, and other numerous noncombat situation for humanitarian reasons (though the liberal media would like you to think so). It was politics, domestic politics perhaps, but politics none the less. Finally, there is a subtle realism about page 250 that the author is running out of space, but that chronologically he is still not past the fall of Rome. The themeatic pace heats up and the reader is shuffled through 1500 years of warfare with an unsatisfying feeling of free fall. In these last pages we learn, incorrectly, that the Vietnames notion of "protracted warfare" only started in 1948 after Mao's victory; that the Chinese Civil War was from 1948-1950 (irreconcilable with the previous statement); that U.S. Marines were responsible for the victories at Iwo Jima (understandable given the Mt Suribachi propaganda) and Okinawa (less so. Army and Navy forces all contributed their share to the victory); and giving Guderian credit as the father of German panzer forces rather than a father. Given these factual errors, the author fails to attach further significance to warfare in the gunpowder age that includes guerilla, terrorist, ethnic hatred/revenge, armored, and air. Only the specter of the nuclear bomb continues to shadow us. So the book ends leaving the reader wondering what it was all about. If you want an anthropoligical or social scientific survey of why primitive man took up weapons and continues to do so today, this is your book. If you want a History of Warfare, keep looking.
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