This book explores a new way for students of International Relations to look at war, peace and world orders throughout European history. Its specialist historians argue that the predominant 'realist' paradigm that focuses on states and their self-interest is not applicable to the largest period of European history because states either did not exist or were only in the making. Instead, they argue, we have to look through the eyes of historical entities to see how they understood the world in which they lived, The authors use a wide range of case studies, focusing in subjects as diverse as the ancient Greek concept of honour, the persecution under Communist regimes during the Cold War to explore the ways in which people in different societies at different times perceived and felt about war and peace in the world around them.

Contents:
1. Introduction: methodology of this project Beatrice Heuser and Anja V. Hartmann 2. History and International Relations theory Andreas Osiander Part I - War and peace in classical antiquity Introduction Hans van Wees and John Rich 3. War and peace in ancient Greece Hans van Wees 4. Greeks and Persians: West against East Simon Hornblower 5. Warfare and external relations in the middle Roman Republic John Rich 6. Roman-Carthaginian Relations: From co-operation to annihilation Ruth Stepper Part II - War, peace and faith in the Middle Ages Introduction Julian Chrysostomides and Beatrice Heuser 7. Byzantine concepts of war and peace Julian Chrysostomides 8. Collective identities, war and integration in the Early Middle Ages Berhnard Zeller 9. Warfare in the Middle Ages Jan Willem Honig 10. The crusading movement Jonathan Riley-Smith 11. War, peace and national identity in the Hundred Years' War Anne Curry Part III - War and peace in early modern Europe Introduction Anja V. Hartmann 12. Wars of religion: The examples of France, Spain and the Low Countries in the sixteenth century Aline Goosens 13. Identities and mentalities in the Thirty Years' War Anja V. Hartmann 14. Interstate war and peace in Early Modern Europe Heinz Duchhardt Part IV - The era of ideological wars Introduction Beatrice Heuser 1 5. The revolutionary period, 1789 - 1802 Marc Belissa and Patrice Leclercq 16. From Volkskrieg to Vernichtungskrieg: German concepts of warfare, 1871-1935 Robert T. Foley 17. Enemy image and identity in the Warsaw Pact Michael Ploetz 18. Conclusions Anja V. Hartmann and Beatrice Heuser