Firepower is an absorbing and stimulating study of methods of winning wars. Firepower does not invariably mean what comes out of the barrel of a gun; it comprises everything from morale to tactics, strategy to logistics, and subversion to diplomacy. Written by the leading military historian Philip Warner, Firepower examines weapons from slings and poisoned arrows to their modern counterparts - rockets and chemical weapons. Many weapons now thought to be ultra modern were derived from less sophisticated versions to use in pre-Christian and medieval times. Some of the secrets of early terror weapons such as 'Greek fire' which could burn on water and stick to stone, have been lost, but the author makes shrewd assessments of their constituents and power. The book describes the evolution of aircraft, tanks, underwater craft, and even the art of secret communication. The narrative is illustrated by accounts from soldiers with personal experience of clearing minefields, engaging in hand to hand combat and pitting human skills against electronic devices. Motivation is shown to be one of the most important factors in the history of warfare, and is closely allied to training. The book includes a wide survey of modern weapons and their systems, explaining those available in the armouries of the NATO forces and the then Warsaw Pact countries. All this is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the wars and skirmishes which take place in many parts of the world today; by its knowledgeable, sober assessments, the book tends to be reassuring rather than alarmist. Firepower is a comprehensive survey which avoids technical jargon and is written in a clear, vigorous style. It will interest the expert and amateur alike. Philip Warner is a former senior lecturer at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and author of forty books in the field of military history and biography. He joined the army after graduating from Cambridge in 1939 and served in the Far East throughout Would War II. The book includes an extensive picture gallery and author biography and bibliography.

A substantial amount of work has been carried out to explore the military systems of Western Europe during the early modern era, but the military trajectories of the Asian states have received relatively little attention. This study provides the first comparative study of the major Asian empires' military systems and explores the extent of the impact of West European military transition on the extra-European world. Kaushik Roy conducts a comparative analysis of the armies and navies of the large agrarian bureaucratic empires of Asia, focusing on the question of how far the Asian polities were able to integrate gunpowder weapons in their military systems. Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400-1750 offers important insights into the common patterns in war making across the region, and the impact of firearms and artillery.

Nearly 45 countries are at different stages of developing robotic weapons or lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS). The United States, for example, has recently test launched its robotic vessel Sea Hunter, a self-driving, 132-foot ship designed to travel thousands of miles without a single crew member on board. As reported, the vessel has the capability to detect and destroy stealth diesel-electric submarines and sea mines. However, though the militaries of the developed countries are in a race to develop LAWS to perform varied functions on the battlefield, a large section of robotic engineers, ethical analysts, and legal experts are of the firm belief that robotic weapons will never meet the standards of distinction and proportionality required by the laws of war, and therefore will be illegal. This book provides an insight into lethal autonomous weapon systems and debates whether it would be morally correct to give machines the power to decide who lives and who dies on the battlefield.