The Encyclopedia of War. From Ancient Egypt to Iraq

514 Pages·2012·70.63 MB·English

by  Saul David

the encyclopedia of
WAR

SAUL DAVID
EDITORIAL CONSULTANT
the encyclopedia of
WAR
f r o m a n c i e n t e g y p t t o i r a q
CONTENTS
LONDON, NEW YORK, MELBOURNE,
MUNICH, AND DELHI
The Rise of Rome 30
Rome’s wars against the Samnites and the
DORLING KINDERSLEY Greek king Pyrrhus that establish Roman
Senior Art Editor Gadi Farfour Senior Editor Alison Sturgeon domination of Italy by the 3rd century BCE.
Designers Richard Horsford, Dean Morris Project Editors Tarda Davison-Aitkins
Elizabeth O’Neill, Amy Orsborne Ferdie McDonald, Andrew Szudek The Punic Wars 32
Cartography Encompass Graphics Ltd, Editor Patrick Newman Rome’s first ventures overseas. The titanic
Paul Eames, Simon Mumford, David Roberts Editorial Assistant Manisha Thakkar clashes between Rome and Carthage for
Picture Research Sarah and Roland Smithies Production Editor Tony Phipps WAR IN THE control of the western Mediterranean.
Creative Retouching Miranda Benzies Production Controller Rita Sinha
Creative Technical Support Managing Editors Camilla Hallinan ANCIENT WORLD The Gallic Wars 34
Adam Brackenbury, John Goldsmid and Debra Wolter Julius Caesar’s successful – and profitable –
Managing Art Editor Karen Self Associate Publisher Liz Wheeler
3000 – 500 campaigns in Gaul and his two military
Art Director Bryn Walls Reference Publisher Jonathan Metcalf BCE CE 10 expeditions to Britain.
TOUCAN BOOKS LTD. Introduction and timeline 12 ■ ASPECTS OF WAR: ENGINEERING 36
Senior Designer Mark Scribbins Senior Editor Hannah Bowen
Designers Nick Avery, Phil Fitzgerald, Editors Natasha Kahn, Donald Sommerville Wars in Sumer and Egypt 16 Roman Civil War 38
Thomas Keenes Anna Southgate The earliest recorded wars are fought in Rome is riven by power struggles between rival
Assistant Abigail Keen Managing Director Ellen Dupont
Mesopotamia. The great empire of Sargon of generals, notably the civil wars between Caesar
Akkade. The conquests of the Egyptian pharaohs. and Pompey, then Octavian and Antony.
AMBER BOOKS Octavian emerges as victor and emperor.
Assyrian Conquests 18
Design Manager Mark Batley Managing Editor James Bennett
Designers Joe Conneally, Rick Fawcett Editors Jacqueline Jackson, Cécile Landau The empire created by the Assyrians stretches ■ WITNESS TO WAR: 40
Nicola Hibberd, Brian Rust Anne McDowall, Constance Novis as far as Egypt. It falls to the Babylonians, who A DISTANT POSTING
Picture Research Terry Forshaw Publishing Manager Charles Catton in turn are conqured by Achaemenid Persia.
The Roman Empire 42
EDITORIAL CONSULTANT The Greco-Persian Wars 20 In the 1st and 2nd centuries CE the Roman
In the 5th century BCE, the Persian Empire Empire takes settled shape, but wars continue,
Saul David
makes two attempts to conquer Greece. The especially along its eastern borders.
Greek city-states unite to thwart the invasions.
CONSULTANTS
The Late Roman Empire 46
Lindsay Allen, Roger Collins, Adrian Gilbert (Directory), The Peloponnesian War 22 The wars that lead to the fall of the Roman
Richard Overy, David Parrott, Brendan Simms Complex conflict between Athens and its allies Empire in the West. Incursions by Huns,
and the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League. Goths, and Vandals.
CONTRIBUTORS
Defeat of Athens and its eclipse as the
R. G. Grant with Simon Adams and Michael Kerrigan dominant power in Greece. The Warring States Period 48
Rival feudal states vie for domination of China.
DIRECTORY CONTRIBUTORS Conquests of Alexander 24 In the 3rd century BCE victory goes to the “First
Martin J. Dougherty, Michael E. Haskew, Hunter Keeter, The spectacular campaigns of Alexander the Emperor” Qin Shi Huangdi.
Chris McNab, David Porter, Robert S. Rice Great of Macedon. He subdues opposition in
Greece, then carves out a vast empire stretching The Three Kingdoms 50
PHOTOGRAPHY from Egypt to northern India. Fragmentation of China in the 3rd century CE
following the collapse of the Han dynasty.
Gary Ombler, Graham Rae ■ KEY BATTLE: ISSUS 26
■ GALLERY: HELMETS 52
Alexander’s Successors 28
First published in Great Britain as War in 2009
This edition published in 2012 The wars between Alexander’s generals to The Mauryan Empire 54
by Dorling Kindersley Limited decide who will inherit his empire. The spoils Chandragupta establishes north Indian empire.
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL are divided between three major dynasties. His descendant Ashoka renounces war.
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(cid:79) WITNESS TO WAR: 78 (cid:79) GALLERY: SWORDS 104 Korea Resists Invasion 128
WARRIOR SAINT Japan’s attempts to invade Korea in the 1590s
The End of the Byzantine Empire 106 are thwarted by the Korean navy under Yi Sun-sin.
Japan’s Gempei Wars 80 The terminal decline of the Byzantium,
The power struggle between the Minamoto successor to the Roman empire. The fall of (cid:79) WITNESS TO WAR: 130
and Taira clans in 12th-century Japan. Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. SAMURAI ARMOURER
Mongol Invasions 82 Manchu Conquests 132
WAR IN THE The vast empire created by Genghis Khan and Fall of the Ming dynasty and conquest of China
his successors. Settled city-dwellers have no by Manchu from the north in the 17th century.
MEDIEVAL WORLD answer to the fast-moving Mongol horsemen.
French Wars of Religion 134
500 – 1500 The Wars of Kublai Khan 86 The civil war between French Protestants and
56 Genghis Khan’s grandson completes the Catholics, sustained by political power struggles.
conquest of China, founding the Yuan dynasty.
Introduction and timeline 58 Further attempts at expansion end in failure. The Dutch Revolt 138
EARLY MODERN The United Provinces of the Netherlands fight
The Rise of Byzantium 62 The Conquests of Timur 88 for 80 years to win independence from Spain.
The reconquest of North Africa and Italy under The conquests and short-lived empire of WARFARE The rapid rise of Dutch sea power.
Justinian in the 6th century and the victories Timur, the self-styled “Scourge of God”.
of Heraclius over the Sasanid Persians. 1500 – 1750 The Anglo-Spanish War 140
Guelphs and Ghibellines 90 108 Naval battles between England and Spain in the
The Ascent of Islam 64 The struggles for control of Italy in the 12th late 16th century. A Spanish invasion attempt is
The great wave of conquests by the Arabs in and 13th centuries, from the wars of Frederick Introduction and timeline 110 called off following defeat of the Armada.
the first century after the founding of Islam. Barbarossa to the War of the Sicilian Vespers.
The Italian Wars 114 The Thirty Years War 142
Frankish Expansion 68 (cid:79) ASPECTS OF WAR: 92 French invasions of Italy lead to a personal Multi-sided conflict rooted in religious differences
Battles of Charles Martel, Pepin, and Charlemagne, MERCENARIES struggle between Francis I of France and and opposition to Habsburg domination. The
and the rise of the Carolingian dynasty. Emperor Charles V for dominance in Europe. fighting devastates Germany and Central Europe.
Crusades in Europe 94
Viking Raids and 70 Crusades against heretics – the Albigensians Spanish Conquests 116 (cid:79) KEY BATTLE: FIRST BREITENFELD 144
the Norman Conquest in France and the Hussites in Bohemia – and in the New World
The voyages and raids of the Scandinavian against the pagan peoples of the Baltic region. Spain gains a vast empire through its defeats The British Civil Wars 146
Vikings from the 8th century and the rise of of the Aztecs in Mexico and the Incas in Peru. Parliamentarians defeat Royalist supporters
the Normans as a major European power. Anglo-Scottish Wars 96 of Charles I in England, Scotland, and Ireland.
Confused conflict in which Scotland managed Mogul Conquests 120
The Rise of the Turks 72 to assert its independence from England in The initial conquests of Babur, followed by the The Anglo-Dutch Wars 148
The Turkish tribal warriors employed by Islamic the 14th century. tireless campaigns of Akbar, establish Mogul Three naval wars are fought for control of
rulers assert their independence, in particular rule across most of India. shipping and trade through the English Channel.
the Ghaznavids and the Seljuks. The Spanish Reconquista 98
The long series of wars in Spain and Portugal Ottoman Expansion 122 The Early Wars of Louis XIV 152
The First Crusades 74 that finally drove out the Muslim rulers Further Ottoman conquests under Suleiman A series of expansionist wars fought by France,
The capture of Jerusalem in 1099 and the from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492. the Magnificent and his heirs. Expansion is chiefly on the country’s eastern borders.
foundation of the crusader kingdoms. finally halted in the late 17th century.
(cid:79) KEY BATTLE: CRÉCY 100 The War of the Spanish Succession 154
Expulsion of the Crusaders 76 (cid:79) KEY BATTLE: LEPANTO 124 Dynastic accident threatens to give Louis XIV
from the Holy Land The Hundred Years War 102 control of Spain. A powerful alliance of other
Loss of Jerusalem to Saladin. Later crusades fail Sporadic outbreaks of war in the 14th and Wars of the Sengoku Era 126 European powers opposes French ambitions.
to win back lost territory. The last crusader 15th centuries over English kings’ claims A long period of civil wars in Japan ends
stronghold, Acre, falls in 1291. to the French throne. with the triumph of Tokugawa Ieyasu. (cid:79) GALLERY: DAGGERS 156
The Great Northern War 158 (cid:79) WITNESS TO WAR: 184 End of the US Civil War 236
Sweden fails in its attempt to dominate the THE KING’S RIGHT ARM As conflict becomes a war of attrition, the
Baltic. The rise of Russia under Peter the Great. greater industrial resources and superior
French Revolutionary Wars 186 manpower of the North eventually force
(cid:79) ASPECTS OF WAR: SUPPLIES 160 Alarmed by the French Revolution, the the Confederacy to surrender.
monarchies of Europe attempt to crush
The War of the Austrian Succession 162 the fledgling French Republic, but fail. Imperial Wars in Africa 238
In the war between Prussia and Austria, Britain Beginning with the French conquest of Algeria
backs Austria, while France and Spain support The Rise of Napoleon 188 THE DAWN OF in the 1830s, the European powers divide up
Prussia. Fighting between Britain and France Two successful campaigns in Italy and an almost the whole continent between them.
extends to India and North America. ambitious expedition to Egypt help bring the MECHANIZED Resistance to colonization by native peoples.
young Corsican general to power in France.
WARFARE Wars in China 240
Triumph of the Royal Navy 190 In the 19th century imperial China has to face
Throughout the Napoleonic Wars, Britain retains 1830 – 1914 a series of interventions by predatory foreign
command of the sea, blockading French ports 214 powers. It is also subject to vast popular
and winning the crucial battle of Trafalgar. uprisings such as the Taiping Rebellion.
Introduction and timeline 216
(cid:79) KEY BATTLE: TRAFALGAR 192 Plains Indian Wars 242
The Crimean War 220 In vain attempts to stop encroachment on
Napoleon’s Imperial 194 Britain and France go to war to support the their hunting grounds, the Plains Indians clash
THE AGE OF Triumphs in Europe declining Ottoman empire against Russian repeatedly with the US Cavalry.
Napoleon’s astonishing run of victories against expansion. A focal point of the war is the siege
REVOLUTION Austria, Russia, and Prussia, starting in 1805. of the Russian Black Sea port of Sevastopol. (cid:79) GALLERY: MUSKETS AND RIFLES 244
The Peninsular War 198 (cid:79) ASPECTS OF WAR: MEDICINE 222 The Zulu Wars 246
1750 – 1830
164 French takeover of Spain is resisted by Spanish Formidable, well-organized warriors, the Zulus
guerrillas and the British under Wellington. Wars of Italian Unification 224 inflict a humiliating defeat on the British at
Introduction and timeline 166 The 19th-century wars in which Piedmont’s Isandlwana, but then submit to superior force.
(cid:79) ASPECTS OF WAR: 200 House of Savoy acquires the Austrian and Papal
French and Indian War 170 COMMUNICATIONS territories in Italy, as well as Sicily and Naples, The Second Boer War 248
The war in North America between Britain and conquered by Giuseppe Garibaldi. Britain sends a huge army to South Africa
France results in France’s loss of Canada. Napoleon’s Downfall 202 to crush the determined bid by the Boers
Napoleon’s fortunes never recover from the The Rise of Prussia 226 to preserve their independence.
The Seven Years War 172 disastrous campaign in Russia in 1812. His Bismarck’s plan for a united Germany under
Frederick the Great’s Prussia survives against a escape from Elba and final defeat at Waterloo. Prussian leadership comes a step closer after (cid:79) WITNESS TO WAR: VELDT DIARY 250
powerful alliance of Austria, Russia, and France. a crushing victory over Austria.
Britain fights mainly against France at sea. (cid:79) GALLERY: ARMOUR 204 Spanish-American War 252
Franco-Prussian War 228 In this one-sided war, the US has little difficulty
(cid:79) KEY BATTLE: LEUTHEN 174 (cid:79) KEY BATTLE: WATERLOO 206 Prussia’s victory over the French leads to in taking Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippine
the fall of Napoleon III in France and the Islands from Spain.
Britain’s Wars in India 176 The War of 1812 208 creation of a German empire.
The British East India Company wins control of The US and Britain fight an inconclusive war The Russo-Japanese War 254
Bengal in the Seven Years War, then goes on on land and sea. American attempts to invade Mexican Wars 230 Japan defeats Russia in Manchuria both on land
to fight Mysore, the Marathas, and the Sikhs. the British colony of Canada fail. Mexico fights two disastrous wars, the first against and at sea. First victory in modern times for a
Texan rebels, the second against the US. These non-European country over a European power.
The American Revolution 178 South America’s Wars of Liberation 210 result in the loss of vast swathes of territory.
In protest against laws and restrictions imposed With Spain distracted by events in Europe, (cid:79) KEY BATTLE: TSUSHIMA 256
by Britain, the American colonists fight and win Simón Bolívar and other leaders overthrow Start of the US Civil War 232
a war of independence, assisted by France. Spanish imperial rule in South America. Secession of Southern states unleashes civil War in the Balkans 258
war. Early Confederate successes in the eastern The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 and the
The Wars of Catherine the Great 182 The Greek War of Independence 212 theatre do not lead to a decisive victory. two Balkans Wars of 1912–13 and 1913.
Russia’s wars against the Ottoman Turks and Greeks win independence from the Ottomans Bulgaria falls out with its allies over division
Sweden in the late 18th century. with the help of Russia and Western powers. (cid:79) KEY BATTLE: GETTYSBURG 234 of the territory taken from the Ottomans.
The Spanish Civil War 284 South Asian Wars 332
In a rehearsal for World War II, Franco’s Conflict between India and Pakistan.
Nationalists backed by Germany and Italy The Tamil separatist movement in Sri Lanka.
defeat Soviet-supported Republicans.
The Arab-Israeli Conflict 334
(cid:79) ASPECTS OF WAR: PROPAGANDA 286 The wars of 1948, 1967, 1973, and hostilities
that have continued to the present day.
World War II Begins 288
ERA OF THE Germany’s lightning campaigns conquer CONFLICTS AFTER The Falklands War 336
Poland, Denmark and Norway, France and the Britain sends a large seaborne task force to
WORLD WARS Low Countries, Yugoslavia and Greece. Initial WORLD WAR II recapture the islands from the Argentinians.
success of the invasion of USSR in 1941.
(cid:79) GALLERY: MACHINE GUNS 338
1914 – 1945 1945 – PRESENT
260 World War II: 290 306
The Turning Tide Wars in Afghanistan 340
Introduction and timeline 262 America’s entry into the war, Allied success in Introduction and timeline 308 From the Soviet invasion of the 1980s, through
North Africa, and Soviet victory at Stalingrad. the Taliban era, to the ongoing conflict of today.
Outbreak of World War I 266 US troops fight in Tunisia and the invasion of The Cold War 312
European powers line up for a long-awaited Sicily. Italy surrenders and changes sides. The confrontation between US and USSR Gulf Wars 342
war. In France, Germans are halted at the following World War II. The nuclear arms race. Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. The First Gulf War
Marne, but defeat Russia at Tannenberg. (cid:79) KEY BATTLE: STALINGRAD 292 of 1991 following Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait.
The Chinese Civil War 314
World War I: Stalemate 268 World War II: The Battle 294 Victory of Mao’s Communists over Jiang Jieshi’s (cid:79) ASPECTS OF WAR: 344
on the Western Front of the Atlantic Nationalists is completed in 1949. ETHICS OF WAR
Neither side can break the stalemate. At the The threat of Germany’s surface raiders is
Somme and Verdun hundreds of thousands of neutralized, but the U-boat campaign against The Korean War 316 Post-Communist Wars 346
lives are lost but offensives come to nothing. British and US merchant shipping puts the First Cold War conflict. US and UN troops face Regional conflicts that followed the collapse
Allied war effort in grave peril. Communist forces of North Korea and China. of Communism in Yugoslavia and the USSR.
World War I: The Wider War 270
The progress of the war on other fronts, World War II: The War in the Air 296 Decolonization in Southeast Asia 318 The Occupation of Iraq 348
principally the Eastern Front, the Balkans, Axis and Allied bombing campaigns against Wars of independence in French Indochina, the After swiftly deposing Saddam Hussein, US and
Gallipoli, the Middle East, and Italy. civilian populations as well as strategic targets. Dutch East Indies, British Burma, and Malaya. UK have less success in countering insurgency.
The Battle of Britain and the Blitz. The bombing
World War I: Air and Sea Battles 272 of Dresden. Germany’s V-weapons. (cid:79) KEY BATTLE: DIEN BIEN PHU 320
Germany’s U-boat campaign and the battle of DIRECTORY
Jutland. Dogfights over the trenches. German World War II: The Fall of Hitler 298 The Vietnam War 322 352
airships and bombers attack London. Allied landings in Normandy and the liberation Massive, but ultimately unsuccessful, involvement
of France. Hitler resists almost to the bitter of US in war between North and South Vietnam. A comprehensive directory of wars,
World War I: The Defeat of 276 end as the Soviets invade Germany from battles, and military statistics from
Germany Poland, and the Western Allies from across (cid:79) WITNESS TO WAR: 324 ancient to modern times.
Massive German offensives of early 1918. The the Rhine. Soviet forces take Berlin. PRISONER IN VIETNAM
War in the Ancient World 354
Allies’ greater resources and the arrival of US
troops in the line determine the war’s outcome. (cid:79) WITNESS TO WAR: 300 Revolutionary Wars in Latin America 326
War in the Medieval Era 372
WARTIME ODYSSEY Castro in Cuba, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and
(cid:79) GALLERY: ARTILLERY 278 frequent US intervention in the region’s conflicts. Early Modern Warfare 394
World War II: The War with Japan 302
The Russian Civil War 280 Japan’s raid on Pearl Harbor and conquest of African Wars of Independence 328 The Age of Revolution 416
Bolsheviks defeat White Army and other anti- the Philippines and Southeast Asia. US fights Uprisings against European rule, notably in French
The Dawn of Mechanized Warfare 436
revolutionary forces, but lose war with Poland. back at Midway and Guadalcanal. Algeria. Portugal vainly tries to keep its colonies.
Era of the World Wars 456
The Sino-Japanese War 282 World War II: The Defeat of Japan 304 Post-colonial Africa 330
Japan launches a full-scale invasion of China. US and Allies slowly win back territory occupied Long-running struggles for power in many new Conflicts since World War II 478
After swift initial conquests and victory at by Japan. Total defeat of Japanese navy. Atomic African states, in particular Angola and Congo.
Wuhan in 1938, the war becomes a stalemate. bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Other civil wars and genocidal ethnic conflicts. Index and Acknowledgments 498
Foreword
“It is well that war is so terrible – we would grow too fond of it”,
wrote the great Confederate general Robert E. Lee in 1862, thus
neatly encapsulating the two conflicting emotions that war has
always stirred in the human breast: repulsion and fascination.
War has always been with us as a violent method of resolving
disputes. The earliest communities fought each other for control of
food and land. But war in its strictest definition is the state of armed
conflict between nations or states, or between groups within the
same state (otherwise known as civil war). The first recorded wars
between organized armies were fought by the city-states of Sumer
in the third millennium BCE. Since then, states have habitually used
war as a means of achieving their political ends when all peaceful
options have been exhausted. War, according to the Prussian
military theorist Clausewitz, “is nothing but the continuation of
politics by other means”.
Scarcely a generation passes in any nation without some exposure
to war. Between 1500 BCE and 1860 CE there were in the known
world, on average, thirteen years of war to every one year of peace.
Virtually all frontiers between nations, races, and religions have
been established by wars, and most previous civilizations and
empires have expired because of them. The history of the world
is primarily the history of war.
The carnage of the 20th century – two world wars and numerous
instances of genocide – and the advent of nuclear weapons have
made conflict between the major powers both undesirable and
unthinkable. Yet for some combatants war has always had its
attraction. “Comradeship”, wrote a US veteran of World War II,
“reaches its peak in battle.” In truth, war brings out the best and
worst of people. It mobilizes our resources of love, compassion,
courage, and self-sacrifice, but also our capacity for hate,
xenophobia, brutality, and revenge.
One of the strengths of this impeccably researched, well-written and
beautifully illustrated volume is that it covers more than 5,000 years
of warfare – from the Sumerians to the modern day – in such a
multi-faceted way. It shows how armies were organized, and
equipped; how battles, campaigns, and wars were won and lost; and
how technology has gradually changed the face of battle from brutal
hand-to-hand encounters with axes and swords to the use of
impersonal computer-guided weaponry today. It also looks at war
from the perspective of politicians, generals, ordinary soldiers, and
civilians. And it charts the attempts – not always successful – to
regulate war and make it less brutal.
Is there such a thing as a “just” war? Thomas Aquinas thought so,
and those who fought for the Allies in World War II would surely
agree. Wars are sometimes a necessary evil – to topple dictators,
curb aggression, and protect the weak. If a nation is unwilling
to fight in what it believes is a just cause, it will not deter others
from going to war.
SAUL DAVID, 2009