The Compact Timeline of Military History

This book presents an overview of world military history in all its many aspects, beginning with a summary of warfare in the context of weapons development. Running through the core of the book is a chronological Timeline of Military Events – wars, campaigns and battles – from earliest times to the present. Facing this are illustrated sections expanding upon, and providing background to, the facts in the chronology, with: biographies of the principal commanders and leaders, weapons, from spears and swords to artillery and ballistic missiles, armor, from shields and breastplates to battle tanks, fortification, castles and siege warfare, aircraft, from balloons to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, plus maps of selected battles. Completing the book is a comprehensive A–Z reference guide to two thousand of the Great Battles of History.