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Human history and prehistory

Human history and prehistory
before Homo (Pliocene)

Three-age system prehistory
  • Stone Age

see also: Modernity, Futurology

History of War

Historiography of military history

Historiography is the study of the record of military conflict to gain an accurate assessment of conflicts that may prove difficult because of bias, even in ancient times and systematic propaganda in more modern times. For this reason military history is periodised, creating overlaying boundaries of study and analysis in which descriptions of battles by leaders may be unreliable due to the inclination to minimize mention of failure and exaggerate successes. Military historians use Historiographical analysis in an effort to allow an unbiased, contemporary view of records as the participants would have perceived the events.[3]
Some recent prominent military historians include Hans Delbrück (1848–1929), Charles Oman (1860–1946), B. H. Liddell Hart (1895–1970), Martin van Creveld, John Keegan, William Ledyard Rodgers, Lynn Montross, Cornelius Ryan, R. Ernest & Trevor N. Dupuy (1916–1995), George F.G. Stanley (1907–2002), John Terraine (1921–2003), Victor Davis Hanson and Jeremy Black.

[edit] Early historians

The documentation of military history begins with the confrontation between Sumer (current Iraq) and Elam (current Iran) c.2700 BCE near the modern Basra, and includes such enduring records as the Hebrew Bible. Other prominent records in military history are the Trojan War in Homer's Iliad (though its historicity has been challenged), The Histories by Herodotus (484 BC - 425 BC) who is often called "father of history".[5] Next was Thucydides whose impartiality, despite being an Athenian, allowed him to take advantage of his exile to research the war from different perspectives by carefully examining documents and interviewing eyewitnesses.[6] An approach centered around the analysis of a leader was taken by Xenophon (430 BC - 355 BC) in Anabasis, recording the expedition of Cyrus the Younger into Anatolia.
The records of the Roman Julius Caesar (100 BC - 44 BC) enable a comparative approach for campaigns such as Commentarii de Bello Gallico and Commentarii de Bello Civili.

[edit] Technological evolution

New weapons development can dramatically alter the face of war.
There were also horse archers, who had the ability to shoot on horseback – the Parthians, Scythians, Mongols, and other various steppe people were especially fearsome with this tactic. By the 3rd-4th century CE, heavily armored cavalry became widely adopted by the Eastern Roman Empire, Sassanids, Eastern Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms, etc.
War elephants were often deployed for fighting in ancient warfare. They were first used in India and later adopted by both the Persians and Alexander the Great against one another. War elephants were also used in the Battle of the Hydaspes River, and by Hannibal in the Second Punic War against the Romans.(The effectiveness of war elephants in a battle is a matter of debate)
In the First Punic War, the war between Carthage and Rome started with an advantage to Carthage because of their naval experience. A Roman fleet was built in 261 BC, with the addition of the corvus that allowed Roman soldiers onboard the ships to board the enemy ships. The bridge would prove effective at the Battle of Mylae, resulting in a Roman victory.
The Vikings, in the 8th century AD, invented a ship propelled by oars with a dragon decorating the prow, hence called the Drakkar. The 12th century CE Song Dynasty invented ships with watertight bulk head compartments while the 2nd century BCE Han Dynasty invented rudders and sculled oars for their warships.
A small English Civil War-era cannon
In the 10th century, the invention of gunpowder led to many new weapons that were improved over time. Blackpowder was used in China since the 4th century, but it was not used as a weapon until the 11th century.
Naval mines were invented in the 17th century, though they were not used in great numbers until the American Civil War. They were used heavily in the First World War and Second World War.
The first model of submarine was invented in 1624 by Cornelius Drebbel, which could go to depth of 15 feet (5 m). However, the first war submarine as we presently think of it was constructed in 1885 by Isaac Peral.
The Turtle was developed by David Bushnell during the American Revolution. Robert Fulton then improved the submarine design by creating the Nautilus (submarine).[14]
A 155 mm M198 howitzer firing a shell.
At the start of the World Wars, various nations had developed weapons that were a surprise to their adversaries, leading to a need to learn from this, and alter how to combat them. Flame throwers were first used in the first world war. The French were the first to introduce the armored car in 1902. Then in 1918, the British produced the first armored troop carrier. Many early tanks were proof of concept but impractical until further development. In World War I, the British and French held a crucial advantage due to their superiority in tanks; the Germans had only a few dozen A7V tanks, as well as 170 captured tanks. The British and French both had over several hundred each. The French tanks included the 13 ton Schnedier-Creusot, with a 75 mm gun, and the British had the Mark IV and Mark V tanks.[15]
World War II gave rise to even more technology. The worth of the aircraft carrier was proved in the battles between the United States and Japan like the Battle of Midway. Radar was independently invented by the Allies and Axis powers. It used radio waves to detect nearby objects. Molotov cocktails were invented by General Franco in the Spanish Civil War, directing the Nationalists to use them against Soviet tanks in the assault on Toledo. The atomic bomb was developed by the Manhattan Project and launched at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, ultimately ending World War II.

[edit] Periods of military history

The influence of technology on military history, and evident Eurocentrism are nowhere more pronounced than in the attempt by the military historians to divide their subject area into more manageable periods of analysis. While general discipline of history subdivides history into Ancient history (Classical antiquity), Middle Ages (Europe, 4th century - 15th century), Early modern period (Europe, 14th century - 18th century), Modern era (Europe, 18th century - 20th century), and the Post-Modern (USA, 1949–present), the periodisation below stresses technological change in its emphasis, particularly the crucial dramatic change during the Gunpowder warfare period.
Periodisation is not uniformly applied through time and space, affirming the claims of Eurocentrism from regional historians. For example what might be described as ancient warfare is still practised in a number of parts of the world. Other eras that are distinct in European history, such as the era of Medieval warfare, may have little relevance in East Asia.

[edit] Ancient warfare

Such items were also considered signs of posterity or virtue, and thus were likely to placed in tombs and monuments to prominent warriors. And writing, when it existed, was often used for kings to boast of military conquests or victories.
Notable militaries in the ancient world included the Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Ancient Greeks (notably the Spartans and Macedonians) , Indians (notably the Magadhas, Gangaridais and Gandharas), Early Imperial Chinese (notably the Qin and Han Dynasties), Xiongnu Confederation, Ancient Romans, and Carthaginians.
The fertile crescent of Mesopotamia was the center of several prehistoric conquests. Mesopotamia was conquered by the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Persians. Iranians were the first nation who introduced cavalry into their army.[17]
Egypt began growing as an ancient power, but eventually fell to the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Arabs.
The earliest recorded battle in India was the Battle of the Ten Kings. The Indian epics Mahabharata and Ramayana are centred around conflicts and refer to military formations, theories of warfare and esoteric weaponry. Chanakya's Arthashastra contains a detailed study on ancient warfare, including topics on espionage and war elephants.
In China, the Shang Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty had risen and collapsed. This led to a Warring States Period, in which several states continued to fight with each other over territory. Philosopher-strategists such as Confucius and Sun Tzu wrote various manuscripts on ancient warfare (as well as international diplomacy).
The Warring States era philosopher Mozi (Micius) and his Mohist followers invented various siege weapons and siege crafts, including the Cloud Ladder (a four-wheeled, protractable ramp) to scale fortified walls during a siege of an enemy city. The warring states were first unified by Qin Shi Huang after a series of military conquests, creating the first empire in 'China.'
His empire was succeeded by the Han Dynasty, which expanded into Central Asia, Northern China/Manchuria, Southern China, and present day Korea and Vietnam. The Han came into conflict with settled people such as the proto-Korean Gojoseons, and proto-Vietnamese Nanyue. They also came into conflict with the Xiongnu (Huns), Yuezhi, and other steppe civilizations.
The Peloponnesian War then erupted between the two Greek powers Athens and Sparta. Athens built a long wall to protect its inhabitants, but the wall helped to facilitate the spread of a plague that killed about 30,000 Atheninans, including Pericles. After a disastrous campaign against Syracuse, the Athenian navy was decisively defeated by Lysander at the Battle of Aegospotami.
Meanwhile, Rome was gaining power, following a rebellion against the Etruscans. At the three Punic Wars, the Romans defeated the neighboring power of Carthage. The First Punic War centered around naval warfare. The Second Punic War started with Hannibal’s invasion of Italy by crossing the Alps. He famously won the encirclement at the Battle of Cannae. However, after Scipio invaded Carthage, Hannibal was forced to follow and was defeated at the Battle of Zama, ending the role of Carthage as a power.
In 54 BCE the Roman triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus took the offensive against the Parthian Empire in the east. In a decisive battle at Carrhae Romans were defeated and the golden Aquila (legionary battle standards) was taken as trophy to Ctesiphon. The result was one of the worst defeats suffered by the Roman Republic in its entire history.
Romans, whose armies consisted mainly of heavy infantry and only smaller cavalry contingents until then, after this defeat learnt the importance of cavalry from Iranians and eventually introduced it into their army, just as nearly a thousand year earlier the first Iranian to reached the Iranian Plateau introduced the Assyrians to a similar reform.[17] However, the improvement of the quality of their cavalry coincided with a decline in the quality of their infantry. During the decline of the empire, the Romans relied on "barbarians" to serve in their military as federates, as well as independent "barbarian" kingdoms and their armies to defeat invaders such as the Huns.
The successors of Caesar — Octavian and Mark Anthony, also fought a civil war with Caesar's assassins (Senators Brutus, Cassius, etc.). Octavian and Mark Anthony eventually fought another civil war between themselves to determine the sole ruler of the Rome. Octavian emerged victorious and Rome was turned into an empire with a huge standing army of professional soldiers.
By the time of Marcus Aurelius, the Romans had expanded from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to Mesopotamia in the east and controlled Northern Africa and Central Europe up to the Black Sea. However, Aurelius marked the end of the Five Good Emperors, and Rome quickly fell to decline.

[edit] Medieval warfare

When stirrups came into use some time during the dark age militaries were forever changed. This invention coupled with technological, cultural, and social developments had forced a dramatic transformation in the character of warfare from antiquity, changing military tactics and the role of cavalry and artillery.
Similar patterns of warfare existed in other parts of the world. In China around the fifth century armies moved from massed infantry to cavalry based forces, copying the steppe nomads. The Middle East and North Africa used similar, if often more advanced, technologies than Europe.
In Japan the Medieval warfare period is considered by many to have stretched into the nineteenth century. In Africa along the Sahel and Sudan states like the Kingdom of Sennar and Fulani Empire employed Medieval tactics and weapons well after they had been supplanted in Europe.
The Islamic Arab Empire began rapidly expanding throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia, initially led by Khalid ibn al-Walid, and later under the Umayyads. While their attempts to invade Europe by way of the Balkans were defeated by Byzantium and Bulgaria,[18] the Arabs expanded to the Iberian Peninsula in the west and the Indus Valley in the east. The Abassids then took over the Arab Empire, though the Umayyads remained in control of Islamic Spain.
The Mongols under Genghis Khan, Ogedei Khan, Mongke Khan, and Kublai Khan conquered most of Eurasia. They took over China, Persia, Turkestan, and Russia. After Kublai Khan took power and created the Yuan Dynasty, the divisions of the empire ceased to cooperate with each other, and the mongol empire was only nominally united.

[edit] Gunpowder warfare

This all brought an end to the dominance of armored cavalry on the battlefield. The simultaneous decline of the feudal system — and the absorption of the medieval city-states into larger states — allowed the creation of professional standing armies to replace the feudal levies and mercenaries that had been the standard military component of the Middle Ages.
Over the period of The long 18th-19th centuries all military Arms and Services underwent significant developments that included a more mobile Field artillery, the transition from use of Battalion Infantry drill in close order to open order formations and the transfer of emphasis from the use of bayonets to the rifle that replaced the Musket, and virtual replacement of all types of cavalry with the universal Dragoons, or mounted infantry.

[edit] Industrial warfare

Conscription was employed in industrial warfare to increase the amount of soldiers that were available for combat. This was used by Napoleon Bonaparte in the Napoleonic Wars.

[edit] Modern warfare

In modern times, war has evolved from an activity steeped in tradition to a scientific enterprise where success is valued above methods. The notion of total war is the extreme of this trend.[citation needed] Militaries have developed technological advances rivalling the scientific accomplishments of any other field of study.[citation needed]
Major operations by the Germans at the Battle of Verdun and by the British and the French at the Battle of the Somme were carried out, and new technology like tanks and chlorine gas were used. Following the USA's entrance into the war, the Germans and their allies were eventually defeated.
World War II ensued after Germany's invasion of Poland, forcing Britain and France to declare war. Germany quickly defeated France and Belgium, later aided by Italy. A hasty evacuation occurred at Dunkirk to save the Allied army from complete disaster. The Germans then attacked USSR and marched to take over the Soviet resources, but were thwarted.
Worsening relationships between wartime Allies developed into the Cold War, reaching a climax during the Cuban Missile Crisis at the same time as the Sino-Indian War. Hostilities never actually occurred, though the US-backed UN forces did engage against the communist states in the Korean War and the Vietnam War.