Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1500-2000 [Library Binding]

Micheal Clodfelter (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0786412046 | ISBN-13: 978-0786412044 | Publication Date: March 11, 2002 | Edition: 2

In the twentieth century alone, military deaths totaled over 35 million, including 29,700,000 slain in international wars and almost 6 million killed in civil wars.

This completely updated and revised edition of the acclaimed 1992 two-volume work (“belongs in the reference collection of almost every library”—ARBA) presents a record of casualties of modern warfare in the last four centuries. New information pushes back the beginning date to 1500 from the first edition’s 1680 and pushes 1992 out through 2000. Arranged roughly by century and then subdivided by world region, the entries proceed chronologically and vary from paragraph to chapter-length. Each entry provides the name and date of the conflict, precursor events, strategies and details, the outcome and its impact. A history of weaponry is easily traceable, as casualties mounted according to their improvement.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Clodfelter is the author of three books on military history and has also written this reference on military casualties, which was originally published in 1992. It has now been significantly revised and updated. Coverage has been expanded from the original dates of 1680 to 1992 to 1500 to 2000. The number of conflicts covered has increased from 820 to approximately 932. The bibliography has been expanded from approximately 268 citations to about 482. A random comparison of the original text of the two volumes shows cosmetic rewording. There are no photographs or illustrations in either edition, although both contain appropriately placed tables in the text.

This reference covers land, naval, and air conflicts ranging from wars to local riots, such as the Haymarket Riot. Entries are grouped by century and by region, then arranged chronologically. They vary from a paragraph for Ute War to many pages for major conflicts, such as the Vietnam War. All entries provide a historical description with statistical information on the conflict given in the text. Significant conflicts have a list of all major battles and casualties at the end of the entry. Assisting users is a large index listing conflicts, battles, ships, weapons, and persons. A check of the index noted a few omissions (e.g., M-16).

In some cases the bibliography cites older editions of references that have had statistical information updated in more recent editions, for example, Boatner's Civil War Dictionary (McKay), which was revised in 1988. Also, some well-known references on casualty figures for particular conflicts have not been cited. An example is The Toll of Independence: Engagements and Battle Casualties of the American Revolution (Univ. of Chicago, 1974), by Howard Peckham, the standard reference for casualties of the American Revolution. In addition, there are no citations to sources of information used within the text, and this is a serious shortcoming for scholars.

Warfare and Armed Conflicts, although not quite as far-reaching as some in its treatment of ancient history, has more overall coverage of conflicts and excels in modern coverage. It remains a useful statistical resource on warfare that should be considered for the reference collection by academic and large public libraries. RBB
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Micheal D. Clodfelter, a Vietnam veteran, has also written Vietnam in Military Statistics (1995, $68.50) and The Dakota War (1998, $42.50). He lives in Lawrence, Kansas.

Product Details

• Library Binding: 856 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company; 2 edition (March 11, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786412046
• ISBN-13: 978-0786412044
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.7 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,507,103 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The single best reference book on war, April 15, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1500-2000 (Library Binding)

As a scholar who has been collecting statistics on all civil wars fought from 1816 to 2000, I can heartily recommend this book to serious students seeking reliable figures on casualties, battles, and armies during the period under study. I paid [$$$] for a USED copy of the 1st edition and still feel the money was well-spent -- though for the casual reader, this book is simply far too expensive to justify. The format is a brief description of each war (with much more thorough sections on the big ones from a European/American perspective: 30 Years, World Wars, Napoleonic, Vietnam, etc), followed by lists of battles and statistics (for very minor wars, the only statistics he provides are some figures in the war descriptions). What makes his work especially valuable is that he generally does a very good job at digging up the most reliable estimates for use in this volume. This second edition expands a small amount of the 1648-1990 material that was in the first, but generally makes few revisions, instead opting to add new material for 1500-1648 and 1990-2000. The 1985-2000 material is nothing to write home about, but then again that's available in lots of other places and the 1500-1980 stuff is fantastic. If obscure wars interest you, or if you are a scholar researching war and peace, this book is really a must-have reference work. For anyone else, it's likely to be expensive overkill.

5.0 out of 5 stars WARFARE AND ARMED CONFLICTS: A STATISTICAL REFERENCE TO CASUALTY AND OTHER FIGURES, 1500-2000 2ND EDITION, January 13, 2011

By 

Robert A. Lynn "Militaryhistorywriter" (Orlando, Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1500-2000 (Library Binding)

WARFARE AND ARMED CONFLICTS: A STATISTICAL REFERENCE TO CASUALTY AND OTHER FIGURES, 1500-2000 SECOND EDITION
MICHAEL CLODFELTER
MCFARLAND & COMPANY, INC., 2002
HARDCOVER, $195.00, 856 PAGES, BIBLIOGRAPHY, INDEX


Clodfelter is the author of three books on military history and also has written this reference on military casualties, which was originally published in 1992. It has now been significantly revised and updated. Coverage has been expanded from the original dates of 1680 to 1992 to 1500 to 2000. The number of conflicts covered has increased from 820 to approximately 932. The bibliography has been expanded from approximately 268 citations to about 482. A random comparison of the original text of the two volumes shows cosmetic rewording. There are no photographs or illustrations in either edition, although both contain appropriately placed tables in the text.

This reference covers land, naval, and air conflicts ranging from wars to local riots, such as the Haymarket Riot. Entries are grouped by century and by region, then arranged chronologically. They vary from a paragraph on the Ute War to many pages for major conflicts, such as the Vietnam War. All entries provide a historical description with statistical information on the conflict given in the text. Significant conflicts have a list of all major battles and casualties at the end of the entry. Assisting users is a large index listing conflicts, battles, ships, weapons, and personalities. A check of the index noted a few omissions (e.g., M-16). If obscure wars interest you, or if you are a scholar researching war and peace, this book is really a must-have reference work.


Lt. Colonel Robert A. Lynn, Florida Guard
Orlando, Florida