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John Keegan

A History of Warfare Paperback – November 1, 1994

by John Keegan (Author)

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The acclaimed author and preeminent military historian John Keegan examines centuries of human conflict. From primitive man in the bronze age to the end of the cold war in the twentieth century, Keegan shows how armed conflict has been a primary preoccupation throughout the history of civilization and how deeply rooted its practice has become in our cultures.

"Keegan is at once the most readable and the most original of living military historians . . . A History of Warfare is perhaps the most remarkable study of warfare that has yet been written."--The New York Times Book Review.

Print length

432 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Vintage
Publication date

November 1, 1994
Dimensions

5.2 x 1 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

9780679730828
ISBN-13

978-0679730828
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Perhaps the most remarkable study of warfare that has yet been written."--The New York Times Book Review
"A masterpiece...This is one of those rare books which could still be required reading in its field a hundred years from now."--The New Yorker

From the Publisher

"Perhaps the most remarkable study of warfare that has yet been written."--The New York Times Book Review
"A masterpiece...This is one of those rare books which could still be required reading in its field a hundred years from now."--The New Yorker

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0679730826
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage; First Paperback Edition (November 1, 1994)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780679730828
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0679730828
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.2 x 1 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #234,424 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #12 in Firearms Weapons & Warfare History
- #368 in Ancient Roman History (Books)
- #565 in Military Strategy History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
252 ratings

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John Keegan

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John Keegan's books include The Iraq War, Intelligence in War, The First World War, The Battle for History, The Face of Battle, War and Our World, The Masks of Command, Fields of Battle, and A History of Warfare. He is the defense editor of The Daily Telegraph (London). He lives in Wiltshire, England.

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Customer reviews

5 star		72%
4 star		21%
3 star		3%
2 star		1%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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SPFJR

John Keegan‘s Best Book

Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2021

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If I had to recommend one John Keegan book to a history fan without knowing anything else about his taste, this is the one I would pick. Why? It’s all his best stories and facts from an entire career of research that didn’t fit the narrative structure of any of his other books.

I heard Mr. Keegan discuss this book in an interview once and he said two things that stuck with me that are relevant to share with you.
1. I’ve read a lot about military history in a long career of research for writing my other books. This book is full of all the interesting things I know about military history that didn’t get used in another book. (Translation: it’s full of GREAT material!)
2. Every book I’ve ever written had a structure to it. So I overdid it here with my thesis about Clausewitz. I thought I needed a thesis for the book and I realize now that I should have been comfortable with a less structured book instead of trying to force fit a structure onto it.

When you read reviews that knock him for all the Clausewitz in this book don’t be too concerned. It’s easy to ignore any sentence containing that word now that you know.

3 people found this helpful

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T. Rowe

War: The Big Picture

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2018

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This book tries to cover a lot of territory from ancient tribal warfare to the nuclear bomb and post colonial rebellions. The book looks at social and technological aspects of warfare. Its long chapters with titles such as Stone, Flesh, Iron, and Fire loosely center around those topics. It is nearly impossible to separate them from one another.

The big takeaway from the book for me is how limited war really is. We put social limits on war such as not allowing women and children to participate. (Yes, there are exceptions.) There are technological limits such as how accurate a firearm can be. And there are logistical limits based on how can an army keep its fighters supplied with food, water, and munitions.

Of particular interest to me were the social and logistical limits. In primitive societies, it seems war is very ritualized and limited as to when, where, and how it is fought. Thus large scale death is avoided. Logistical limits seemed to limit the size of any fast growing, large scale empire such as the Huns or Alexander the Greats movement. It was also interesting to see how these limits can be somewhat thwarted, at least for a time, by the willingness of combatants to fight such as the Confederacy holding out against the United States in the American Civil War.

The only problem I had with the book was largely my own expectations. I would expect it go to go one way, and it would go another. Therefore, I was struggling with the text. I normally embrace this kind of challenge to my thinking, but for some reason, it just irritated me. I think I felt as if I was missing some important information. This book could have easily been twice the length and still not have been comprehensive enough for me. Maybe that was the real challenge I had with the book.

If you are interested in learning more about war, I would recommend this book.

5 people found this helpful

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Jaroslav Tuček

Excellent

Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2015

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Well-researched and skillfully delivered, A History of Warfare follows humanity's warmaking tendencies from the tribal times up to the nuclear-weapons realities of the Cold War. Keegan picks representative civilizations in each era and shows how their culture/environment shaped their concept of war and the way it was carried out (eg. the mobile cavalry of ancient steppe-nomads or the tight formations and the pitched battle to death of the classical Greeks).

The approach has the downside of not offering a truly comprehensive history - for example, of all the post-ancient African civilizations, the book covers the Zulus of Shaka only. However, it succeeds in demonstrating well the author's thesis that war is the natural extension of human culture. I wish however that Keegan had focused more on developing this thesis rather than on frequently attacking von Clausewitz (~war as the extension of politics), which got a bit tiring toward the end.

20 people found this helpful

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Jason S. Taylor

Very good, but...

Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2012

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The main fault of this book is it's obsession with disproving Clausewitz' statement that war is an extension of politics. Unfortunately the author seems to be redefining politics in a manner which is rather esoteric and not explaining the meaning. Almost all wars between or within cultures past the "pre-state" level(which requires a definition of state; certainly Ancient Mesopotamian, Persian, and Chinese rulers had networks of professional administrators which can be called states and would be recognizably similar to those of the eighteenth century)begin for reasons involving the contest for authority over other humans. Many wars among "pre-state" cultures do as well as well as those between "pre-state" and "post-state" cultures. As said contest for authority is in fact a common definition of "politics" it is enough to say that war almost always involves politics and from the point of view of politicians it is in fact often an extension of politics. The best one can say about that point is that the counterpoint that the original political reason often gets lost in the excitement of war and war becomes it's own purpose; or is it perhaps better said that the politics can change in the midst of a war? In any case this question is not the most important or interesting part of the book.

What makes this book great is not it's theme which is in fact rather dull. It is the exploration of the many means of different cultures for making war. It is an encyclopedic exploration of war as it relates to different human cultures including the most obscure and it's descriptions are fascinating. The things we learn about humanity are amazing. The argument against Clausewitz unimportant.

This is why I in fact consider this book worth five stars. Not because of it's "Clausewitz was wrong" theme which was rather boring and ill-argued anyway. It is because of what we learn about warriors all around the world and the author would have been better concentrating on that. Keegan is like a lawyer whose plea is fascinating but whose client is absolutely dull. For this reason I have wanted this book on Kindle for ages and it is indeed worth what I paid.

16 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Mjolnir

Deceiving title

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 27, 2017

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If the reader is looking for a more or less chronological analysis of the technical, tactical and strategical developments in the field of warfare through human history, he will be disappointed with this book. A more truthful title would be ANTHROPOLOGY OF ARMED CONFLICT, being a highly speculative interpretation of second-hand received historical facts. If the questions that Keegan asks himself -how right was Clausewitz defining war as a continuation of politics... how Clausewitzean is this or that specific conflict... how purely European is the phalanx-style of battling... what is the source of human aggressivness...- appeal the interest of the reader, he won't feel that the reading of the book is a waste of time. Otherwise, he won't find it enriching at all.

5 people found this helpful

JONAH8208

An Important Book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 1, 2015

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This (in my opinion) is more a dissertation to provoke debate and discussion than an standard military history book. It discusses military history throughout the ages from a Clausewitzian viewpoint and the way war is prosecuted by different cultures at various points in history. Its an interesting and thought provoking book, its conclusions are interesting and I would say for anyone reading History in general at a university level this book is a must read. The insight and analysis of why and how various cultures fight shows why warfare has always been (and still is) a hugely important driver of society, possibly more influential than anything else on all our lives. I think that although all the theories in this book have been aired before by the author and others this pulls it all together and delivers a very useful and informative read ..... and some questions for further research.

One person found this helpful

H. Callaghan

Impressive academic text that should interest anybody

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 4, 2000

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Extremely literate, well-constructed consideration of the history of warfare, which advances the argument that contrary to von Clausewitz's mis-quote, "War is the continuation of policy by other means", that war is actually culturally determined, often irrational, and the subsuming of it as an almost legal means of the advancement of global policy is not only undesirable but potentially terrifying.
Also fascinating were the insights into Oriental idioms of warfare, the role of technology in battle, and the consideration of the anthropology of war amongst so-called "primitive" peoples. Keegan speaks about "primitive" war without really examining the ideology behind calling the peoples involved "primitive", which is probably my single quibble.
In all respects, however, the scholarship has the vast breadth that a history of world warfare requires and the style is readable while being eminently authoritative.
I think any thoughtful person would find this book interesting.

3 people found this helpful

Viktor Horváth

Great overwiev of everything about military in the last 10 millennia

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 15, 2021

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The first few dozens of pages are all about what was Klausewitz wrong about, which was a littlo too tedious for me. Don't be put off, though: after a slow start it gets just simply fascinating, presenting you the big picture and lots of tiny interesting details at the same time. A must-read for anyone interested in history, either professionally or as a hobby.

One person found this helpful

Graham Coia

Comprehensive

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 30, 2022

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Bought as a gift for my brother, he absolutely loved it - and he's read a few to compare it to, lol.
Well written and put together book for military minds.

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