The Encyclopedia of Military History From 3500 B.c. to the Present

Book Description

An updated and revised version of this classic compendium of the military history of the world.

Customer Reviews:

The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History.......2007-01-21

I can't really add much more than has already been written, but I agree wil the reviewers who call this work comprehensive or complete. This book covers so much it thoroughly deserves all the positive comments already said about it. This is another gem that is out of print, and I wish I had bought it when it was available. This book should be revised and re-released at some point, as it has too much to offer to let it become an obscure library reference section book. Wars will never end, so there will always be a reason and a need to revise it and put it on the market once again.

Pages worn from use.......2004-06-05

This book makes superb companion reading to other history, or stands alone as a fun browser.

A couple of criticisms:

I have found a couple of instances in which the authors accepted their source material's claims uncritically and without reference. Numbers used by Herodotus, for example, are passed on in the book in a couple of places whereas these numbers are highly disputed among military historians and certainly are wrong. To Dupuy and Dupuy's great credit, they often give fantastic context and this is a very minor problem.

The bibliography cites works in English, German and Spanish. I presume them to read original works in French as well. Consequently, their treatment of East Asian military history is much weaker than their treatment of European military history. Nonetheless, I have not found another encyclopedia on East Asian military history that rivals this work.

A Treasure.......2002-07-29

I have owned this book, Harper Encyclopedia of Military History, for a number of years and have yet to come across a text of military history exceeding the former in sheer volume of information. Harper is essentially 1500 plus pages of a timeline covering events from 3100 BC to the beginning of the 1990s. Interspersing this timeline are articles analyzing military developments and personalities within each era of coverage. What makes Harper so comprehensive is its detailed inclusion of events beyond Europe. Regions of the world that would customarily recieve scant to no attention in more Eurocentric works dealing with this topic are focused upon with a dramatic vigor that sheds light on leaders and wars unfamiliar to the West.(Given the prevalent ignorance of history, Western leaders and wars may be just as unfamiliar to a disconcertingly large segment of the Western world). This book is a great reference for anyone desiring a concise, year by year account of military operations in any time period. Harper is a tremendous, tireless resource for scholars and military history aficionados in general.

An excellent and very complete research book.......2002-03-17

You sometimes find yourself reading a book on History or even Historical Fiction. They mention a battle or a General. Where do you find more about it?

This is an excellent and very complete research book.

The BIG Picture.......2001-10-06

Any understanding of history, especially anthropological history (i.e. the history of peoples) must have at its core a grasp of organized, mass violence. For it was the victors of those sometimes periodic, other times incessant, spasms of violence who told the story of the battles and who preserved the culture which spawned the combatants. The genesis, history, and culture of the Carthagenian Empire is obscure because the emergent Roman Empire completely immolated Carthage hundreds of years before the advent of Christ during the Punic Wars. The authors of this comprehensive, thoroughly engrossing chronology detail the story of the Punic Wars - and each and every other armed conflict from the dawn of history through to the 1990's. This reviewer is unaware of any other single-volume work which comes even close to this achievement.

The Encyclopedia of Military History is organized by chapters which cover each major era of military development. Each chapter contains an introductory section which outlines the broad development of weapons, military doctrine, and tactics during these eras. Particular emphasis is placed on the Greek and Roman systems and thereafter the military technologies and doctrines of the emergent european nation states and their colonies. After each chapter's broad introduction, the authors delve with intricate detail into the military campaigns of each era using a dual column per page format which packs dense amounts of information onto each page. Engrossing, if concise, histories of each war, campaign, and battle are organized chronologically and geographically (i.e. those fought in Eastern Europe, Western Europe, the Americas, the Far East, Near East, Africa, etc.).

It is difficult to fault this book. To pack any more detail would reqire an unyieldy, multivolume work. Certain multicultural types might complain about flinty coverage of their favorite cultures (e.g. warring clans in Africa or the Far East) but the mere fact that this Encyclopedia covers such relatively minor conflicts at all is somewhat suprising.

Anyone with any interest in history will be absolutely enthralled with the combination of broad scholarship and detailed retelling of the world's military history found here.

Average customer rating:

A must read for the military enthusiast

The Encyclopedia of Military History from 3500 B.C. to the Present
Richard Ernest Dupuy , and Trevor N. Dupuy
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
Military Science | History | Subjects | Books
Science | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books
History | Encyclopedias | Reference | Subjects | Books
Military | Encyclopedias | Reference | Subjects | Books
General | Reference | Subjects | Books
General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Military History of West-World (From the American Civil War to the End of World War II)

Brassey's Encyclopedia of Military History and Biography

A Military History of the Western World: From the Earliest Times to the Battle of Lepanto (Da Capo Paperback) Vol. 1

The Reader's Companion to Military History

On War (Oxford World's Classics)

ASIN: 0061812358

Customer Reviews:

A must read for the military enthusiast.......1999-07-11

This is a very robust book covering military history up to the end of the Viet Nam war. It is broken down into chronological snipets that are grouped by locale. At just over 1,300 pages, it paints a good picture of the battlefield primarily at the strategic level. The authors did include a good deal of tactics as well as new technology also. This is a great book for research of military history.

The Encyclopedia of Military History From 3500 B.C. to the Present

Average customer rating:

The Encyclopedia of Military History From 3500 B.C. to the Present
Richard Ernest Dupuy
Manufacturer: Harper & Row
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover