The essays in this volume analyze war, its strategic characterisitics and its political and social functions, over the past five centuries. The diversity of its themes and the broad perspectives applied to them make the book a work of general history as much as a history of the theory and practice of war from the Renaissance to the present. "Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age" takes the first part of its title from an earlier collection of essays, published by Princeton University Press in 1943, which became a classic of historical scholarship. Three essays are repinted from the earlier book; four others have been extensively revised. The rest--twenty-two essays--are new.

The subjects addressed range from major theorists and political and military leaders to impersonal forces. Machiavelli, Clausewitz, and Marx and Engels are discussed, as are Napoleon, Churchill, and Mao. Other essays trace the interaction of theory and experience over generations--the evolution of American strategy, for instance, or the emergence of revolutionary war in the modern world. Still others analyze the strategy of particular conflicts--the First and Second World Wars--or the relationship between technology, policy, and war in the nuclear age. Whatever its theme, each essay places the specifics of military thought and action in their political, social, and economic environment. Together the contributors have produced a book that reinterprets and illuminates war, one of the most powerful forces in history and one that cannot be controlled in the future without an understanding of its past.

Some warriors are drawn to the thrill of combat and find it the defining moment of their lives. Others fall victim to fear, exhaustion, impaired reasoning, and despair. This was certainly true for twentieth-century American ground troops. Whether embracing or being demoralized by war, these men risked their lives for causes larger than themselves with no promise of safe return. This book is the first to synthesize the wartime experiences of American combat soldiers, from the doughboys of World War I to the grunts of Vietnam. Focusing on both soldiers and marines, it draws on histories and memoirs, oral histories, psychological and sociological studies, and even fiction to show that their experiences remain fundamentally the same regardless of the enemy, terrain, training, or weaponry. Peter Kindsvatter gets inside the minds of American soldiers to reveal what motivated them to serve and how they were turned into soldiers. He recreates the physical and emotional aspects of war to tell how fighting men dealt with danger and hardship, and he explores the roles of comradeship, leadership, and the sustaining beliefs in cause and country. He also illuminates soldiers' attitudes toward the enemy, toward the rear echelon, and toward the home front. And he tells why some broke down under fire while others excelled. Here are the first tastes of battle, as when a green recruit reported that "for the first time I realized that the people over the ridge wanted to kill me, " while another was befuddled by the unfamiliar sound of bullets whizzing overhead. Here are soldiers struggling to cope with war's stress by seeking solace from local women or simply smoking cigarettes. And here are tales of combatavoidance and fraggings not unique to Vietnam, of soldiers in Korea disgruntled over home-front indifference, and of the unique experiences of African American soldiers in the Jim Crow army. By capturing the core "band of brothers" experience across several generations of warfare, Kindsvatter celebrates the American soldier while helping us to better understand war's lethal reality--and why soldiers persevere in the face of its horrors.

The American Revolution is most often identified by the famous battles in the northern states, but roughly eighty percent of the war was fought in the South. The Partisan War examines the details of the southern campaign of the Continental army from 1780 to 1782 under the command of General Nathanael Greene, who employed the support of South Carolina backcountry men who often engaged in "partisan warfare"--what later generations would refer to as irregular or guerilla tactics. In this concise volume, author Russell F. Weigley traces the course of the war in South Carolina from the fall of Charleston in 1780, to the Battle of Eutaw Springs and the end of effective British military operations in the South Carolina interior in 1781, and finally to the British surrender and evacuation of Charleston in 1782. Along the way Weigley also details the battles of Camden, King's Mountain, and Cowpens, as well as many of the small engagements and skirmishes that comprised much of the war in the South. He also introduces readers to famed partisan leaders Thomas Sumter and Francis Marion. Readers will emerge with a clearer sense of the significance of South Carolina's role in the American Revolution and the intensity of the fighting that took place there.

"The crowning achievement of one of America's most distinguishedmilitary historians." -- Lincoln Prize jury

"Readerswill find much to debate in this book -- including... its affirmation that, becauseof emancipation, 'the Civil War calls for a rethinking of the attitude... that waris always futile, that its rewards never match its cost, that any conflict [must be]immediately decisive and virtually without loss of American lives.'" -- Gary W.Gallagher

A Main Selection of the History Book Club

"One ofthe most interesting, important, and ambitious books about the conduct, and perhapsthe ultimate futility, of war." -- Gunther E.Rothenberg

"[A] highly scholarly and wonderfully absorbingstudy." -- John Bayley, The London Review of Books

"WhatRussell F. Weigley writes, the rest of us read. The Age of Battles is a persuasivereminder that even in the age of 'rational' warfare, one can honestly wonder why warseemed an unavoidable policy choice." -- Allan R. Millett, The Journal ofAmerican History

..". a strong and stimulating book. It has no rival in either scopeor quality. For libraries, history buffs, and armchair warriors, it is a must. Forpolitical science students, career diplomats, and officers in the armed services, its reading should be required." -- History

"Aparticularly timely account." -- Kansas City Times

"Itreads easily but is not a popularized history... nor does the book become a historyof battles.... Weigley's analyses and interpretations are searching, competent, anduseful." -- Perspective

"The publication of Eisenhower's Lieutenants is an event of significancein American military writing.... admirable... clearly the product of exhaustive, painstaking research." -- The New York Times Book Review

..". thebest account we have of the World War II campaigns from Normandy to the Elbe." --American Historical Review

..". precisely informative and broadlyrewarding." -- Kirkus Reviews

..". an outstanding and highlyrecommended work." -- Journal of American History

..". by the deanof American military historians... " -- Washington PostBookworld

CONTENTS
Preface

PartOne: The Armies

Part Two: Normandy

Part Three: France

Part Four: The Disputed MiddleGround

Part Five: Germany

Epilogue
Notes andSources
Index