The Changing Face of War

The most important Israeli historian' - Sunday Telegraph To understand the present, one must study the past. Where did twentieth-century warfare come from? How did it develop out of its nineteenth-century predecessor? How did it reach the point where, at one time, the forces that waged it were capable of overrunning entire continents? When did those forces peak, why did they start to decline, and how did they reach the present impasse? One of the most influential experts on military history and strategy has now written his magnum opus, an original and provocative account of the past hundred years of global conflict. The Changing Face of War is the book that reveals the path that led to the impasse in Iraq, why powerful standing armies are now helpless against ill-equipped insurgents, and how the security of sovereign nations may be maintained in the future. The Changing Face of War is a short history of war over the last century, and, in studying this period, it attempts to answer these questions. It also addresses another important question - Why are regular, state-owned, armed forces now coming second to bedraggled, ill-organized, terrorists? Martin Van Creveld is Professor of History at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and he is one of the best-known experts on military history and strategy. He has written 17 books which have been translated into 14 languages, including Supplying War, Command in War and The Transformation of War.