The Cambridge History of War: Volume 4, War and the Modern World Cambridge History of War Series

Volume IV of The Cambridge History of War offers a definitive new account of war in the most destructive period in human history. Opening with the massive conflicts that erupted in the mid nineteenth century in the US, Asia and Europe, leading historians trace the global evolution of warfare through 'the age of mass', 'the age of machine' and 'the age of management'. They explore how industrialization and nationalism fostered vast armies whilst the emergence of mobile warfare and improved communications systems made possible the 'total warfare' of the two World Wars. With military conflict regionalized after 1945 they show how guerrilla and asymmetrical warfare highlighted the limits of the machine and mass as well as the importance of the media in winning 'hearts and minds'. This is a comprehensive guide to every facet of modern war from strategy and operations to its social, cultural, technological and political contexts and legacies.

Introduction; Part I. The Industrialization of Warfare, 1850–1914: 1. The wars of mid century Hans van de Ven; 2. War, technology and industrial change, 1850–1914 Geoffrey Wawro; 3. War and imperial expansion Bruce Vandervort; 4. The non-western world responds to imperialism, 1850–1914 John P. Dunn; 5. War, society, and culture, 1850–1914: the rise of militarism Roger Chickering; 6. War-making and restraint by law: the formative years, 1864–1914 Jean Quataert; 7. The arms race: qualitative and quantitative aspects Antulio J. Echevarria II; Part II. The Era of Total War, 1914–45: 8. World War I Michael S. Neiberg; 9. Military captivity in two world wars: legal frameworks and camp regimes Iris Rachamimov; 10. Military occupations, 1914–45 Sophie De Schaepdrijver; 11. Homefronts: the mobilization of resources for total war Pierre Purseigle; 12. The search for peace in the interwar period Carole Fink; 13. Commemorating war, 1914–45 Jay Winter; 14. Military doctrine and planning in the interwar era Eugenia Kiesling; 15. The military and the revolutionary state Roger Reese; 16. World War II Gerhard Weinberg; Part III. Post-Total Warfare, 1945–2005: 17. Military occupations, 1945–55 Dennis Showalter; 18. The wars after the War, 1945–54 Odd Arne Westad; 19. Weapons technology in the two nuclear ages C. Dale Walton; 20. Conventional war, 1945–90 Williamson Murray; 21. Wars of decolonization, 1945–75 Anthony Clayton; 22. War and memory since 1945 Rana Mitter; 23. The era of American hegemony, 1989–2005 Mark Moyar.

Roger Chickering is Professor Emeritus of History at Georgetown University, Washington DC. He has published widely on German and European history, particularly on war and German society.
Dennis Showalter is Professor of History at Colorado College, where he specializes in comparative military history.
Hans van de Ven is Professor of Modern Chinese History at Cambridge University. He has written extensively on warfare in modern Chinese history and especially on China during the Second World War.