Battle: Understanding Conflict from Hastings to Helmand

Graeme Callister and Rachael Whitbread's book explores the critical factors that determine the outcome of battles, including armies, societies, leadership, terrain, weapons, supplies, rules of war, and strategic thinking and tactics. It traces the evolution of warfare over time, examining the changing influence of the social, political, technological, and physical landscape on the field of battle. By exploring the wide range of interconnected factors, the authors broaden the study of military history from a narrow focus on isolated episodes of conflict.

Format: Hardback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 16 September 2022
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Ltd

The outcome of battles is determined by a complex interplay of critical factors, which include the leadership of commanders, the terrain over which the armies fight, the weapons they use, the supplies they depend on, the rules of war, and the strategic thinking and tactics of the time. Graeme Callister and Rachael Whitbread, in their book "Battle: The History of Warfare," seek to answer these questions and demonstrate the breadth of factors that need to be taken into account to truly understand battle.

The book traces the evolution of warfare over time, exploring the changing influence of the social, political, technological, and physical landscape on the field of battle. The authors examine how the motivation of the combatants and their methods of fighting have changed, and they illustrate their conclusions with vivid, carefully chosen examples from across a range of Western European military history, including the Norman Conquest, the Hundred Years War, the Wars of Religion, the Napoleonic Wars, and the world wars, and beyond.

By exploring the wide range of interconnected factors that influence the results of battles, the authors broaden the study of this aspect of military history from a narrow focus on isolated episodes of conflict. Their original and thought-provoking writing will be fascinating reading for all students of warfare.

In conclusion, the outcome of battles is determined by a complex interplay of critical factors, which include the leadership of commanders, the terrain over which the armies fight, the weapons they use, the supplies they depend on, the rules of war, and the strategic thinking and tactics of the time. Graeme Callister and Rachael Whitbread's book "Battle: The History of Warfare" provides a comprehensive and insightful exploration of these factors, broadening the study of this aspect of military history and making it fascinating reading for all students of warfare.

Weight: 610g
Dimension: 241 x 165 x 31 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781399080989