"This first-rate survey should appeal to general as well as academic readers. The focus on irregular, internal, and asymmetric war, ranging from local insurgencies to imperial expeditions, is a welcome shift from the standard western-centric emphasis on campaigns and battles. The inclusion of such "out of area" conflicts as the War of the Pacific adds a valuable perspective. And the footnotes by themselves are worth the purchase price as a bibliography." —Dennis Showalter, Colorado College "Jeremy Black has given us a masterful overview of the period 1800-1914, not just for the West but for the world as a whole, analyzing the role of military power as an agent of change in history, and historical experience as an agent of change for armies and navies. Black considers the domestic significance of armed forces as well as their international role, using the concept of tasking to take a fresh approach to his topic." —Lawrence Sondhaus, University of Indianapolis "Jeremy Black offers an alternative reading of military history, eschewing the linear teleology of most modernization theses in favour of explanations based on contingency and a multi-track approach placing western development alongside that elsewhere in the world. The result is a refreshingly clear, crisp and succinct overview of warfare from the end of the eighteenth century until the First World War." —Peter Wilson, University of Hull