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• The many faces of war
• Many worlds of war
• Horses and hoplites
• The glory of empire, 336 BC-AD 651-- Ideology and warfare, 500-c. 1200
• The Steppe supremacy, c. 1200-1683
• Discipline, c. 1683-c. 1860
• The military revolution
• Industrial killing
• Culture and warfare in the age of total war, 1919-1945
• A new age of war.

This expansive book surveys the history of warfare from ancient Mesopotamia to the Gulf War in search of a deeper understanding of the origins of Western warfare and the reasons for its eminence today. Historian John France explores the experience of war around the globe, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. His bold conclusions cast doubt on well-entrenched attitudes about the development of military strength, the impact of culture on warfare, the future of Western dominance, and much more. Taking into account wars waged by virtually all civilizations since the beginning of recorded history, France finds that despite enormous cultural differences, war was conducted in distinctly similar ways right up to the Military Revolution and the pursuit of technological warfare in the nineteenth century. Since then, European and American culture has shaped warfare, but only because we have achieved a sense of distance from it, France argues. He warns that the present eminence of U.S. power is much more precarious and accidental than commonly believed. The notion that war is a distant phenomenon is only an illusion, and our cultural attitudes must change accordingly.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Acknowledgements List of illustrations List of maps In the beginning The Papal Monarchy and the Invention of the Crusade The First Crusade Crusade and Expansion in the Early Twelfth Century Crusade, Expansion and Check 1144-92 The Zenith of the Crusading Movement, 1192-1254 Progress and Miscalculation 1254-1337 Failure and Fragmentation 1337-1444 Towards a New World 1444-1714 Perspectives
• Appendix I Chronology of events
• Appendix II List of rulers.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The Crusades and the Expansion of Catholic Christendom, 1000-1714 is a fascinating and accessible survey that places the medieval Crusades in their European context, and examines, for the first time, their impact on European expansion. Taking a unique approach that focuses on the motivation behind the Crusades, John France chronologically examines the whole crusading movement, from the development of a `crusading impulse' in the eleventh century through to an examination of the relationship between the Crusades and the imperialist imperatives of the early modern period. France provides a detailed examination of the first Crusade, the expansion and climax of crusading during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and the failure and fragmentation of such practices in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Concluding with an assessment of the influence of the Crusades across history, and replete with illustrations, maps, timelines, guides for further reading, and a detailed list of rulers across Europe and the Muslim world, this study provides students with an essential guide to a central aspect of medieval history.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• 1. The roots of victory--
• 2. War in the West--
• 3. Campaigns, generals and leadership--
• 4. Preparations and prelude--
• 5. The size of the crusader army--
• 6. The first enemy: the Turks of Asia Minor--
• 7. The second enemy: the siege of Antioch--
• 8. The siege of Antioch: crisis and delivery--
• 9. The siege of Antioch: victory--
• 10. Divisions--
• 11. Jerusalem: triumphant ending--
• 12. Perspectives-- select bibliography-- Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The success of the First Crusade, and its capture of Jerusalem in 1099, has been conventionally explained in terms of its ideological and political motivation. This book looks at the First Crusade primarily as a military campaign and asks why it was so successful. Modern writing about the crusade has tended to emphasise the moral dimension and the development of the idea of the crusade, but its fate was ultimately decided on the field of battle. Victory in the East looks at the nature of war at the end of the eleventh century and the military experience of all the contending parties in order to explain its extraordinary success. It is the first such examination, taking into account all other factors but emphasising the military.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)