War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History: 1500 to Today

by Max Boot

Book Overview

A sweeping, epic history that ranges from the defeat of the Spanish Armada to the War on Terrorism, War Made New is a provocative new vision of the rise of the modern world through the lens of warfare. Acclaimed author Max Boot explores how innovations in weaponry and tactics have not only transformed how wars are fought and won but also have shaped the course of human events, from the formation of the first modern states, to the collapse of the Soviet...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1592402224
• ISBN13: 9781592402229
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Gotham Books
• Length: 624 Pages
• Weight: 2.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.9" x 6.6" x 9.5"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

RMA for the masses

A decade ago, the defense policy community was a buzz about an emerging "Revolution in Military Affairs" (RMA) - a discontinuous change in the nature of warfare generated by the information revolution whose potential was so clearly demonstrated by the overwhelming advantage that precision guided munitions and operational awareness conferred to US forces in the Gulf War of 1991. Today, the increasingly low-tech, irregular nature of the current Global War on Terror and, more recently, the frustrating experience of counterinsurgency in Iraq, have seemingly diminished the importance of the RMA and discredited its most vocal proponents. This is unfair and unfortunate as the notion of periodic, major transformational change in military technology and operational capabilities is certainly sound. Moreover, it is a concept that anyone serious about military history or international affairs ought to be familiar with and consider seriously. There is no better introduction to the topic than "War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History, 1500 to Today" by Max Boot. There are several reasons to recommend "War Made New." To begin with, author Max Boot is a superb talent and, in many ways, was the ideal person to write the first general overview of the RMA concept and a sampling of the many historical case studies that support the theory. As a long-time lead defense reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Boot possesses a sophisticated understanding of current defense policy and national security strategy. Better yet, he writes with the same engaging and lucid style of other defense journalists that have written best-selling full-length books, such as David Halberstam, Tom Ricks, and Neil Sheehan. Prior to "War Made New," the RMA had been a subject only written about by academics and policy wonks. This book should take the RMA and the classic RMA case studies to a mainstream audience. The book is broken up into five parts. The first three parts review distinct RMAs from the past half-millennium. In "The Gunpowder Revolution" Boot covers the dramatic increase in the destructive capacity of gunpowder weapons that emerged in the late 15th century, the tactical changes developed by the Dutch and perfected by Gustavus Adolphus during the Thirty Years' War to maximize the rate of fire and overall impact of hand-held and mobile artillery firepower, and the parallel creation and stunning growth of standing professional armies throughout Europe during the period that led to the first stage of western imperialism in the 18th century. The author uses the examples of the British defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588), two major battles of the Thirty Years War (1631-32), and a less familiar episode in British India (1803) to illustrate how and why technological, doctrinal, and organizational change had profound impact not just on the course of a battle, but the outcome of war, the development of societies, and the fate of history. The second part ad

Why the western civilization dominated

If you have read Jared Diamond's book, "Guns, Germs, and Steel", Max Boot's book "War Made New" is a must read to help further explain why western civilization came to dominate the world in the late 19th century. The book is well written and explains why major battles had the outcome they did. Not only are the battles explained but the social organization of the countries participating in the battle are also discussed, which helps explain that not only were the weapons used, a major cause for the resulting battle, but the social norm of the country played a major role in determining the battles outcome. Example, how could Japan go from a feudal country in the mid 19th century to a major naval power in the early 20th century, defeating Russia in a major naval engagement off the coast of Korea and Japan? Mainly by the Japanese society making a 90 degree turn in their thinking and actively pursuing industrialization. I highly recommend this book, not only for its history but also to help explain the world politics today. Jim

Weighty And Masterful

Max Boot's War Made New is a survey of the various military revolutions which have altered the course of warfare since the late 1400s. To illustrate his arguments he chooses certain battles, some well known but others more obscure, and describes them in great detail, but without bogging down in "technospeak" which so often leaves non-specialists out in the cold. Basically Boot's arguments boil down to this: Technology is always changing, and the countries which recognize this and learn to make use of the latest developments are invariably better off than their opponents, even if they are otherwise poorer, less populated, or worse off in other ways. Boot conveniently provides summaries of each segment of his book to help his readers review his main points and focus on his main argument. Probably the most valuable sections come at the end, where Boot analyzes the recent Iraq fiascos critically and points out the major mistakes made there. We are always preparing to fight the last war, but it is to be hoped that Boot's work is being read and taken seriously by those who are making war plans now.

Five centuries of technology impacting on the art of war

Max Boot has written a fascinating account of the impact of technology on war over the past five centuries. In turn, although peripherally for the most part, Boot also examines the impact of war on various societies during the same period. Boot breaks the period down into four technological revolutions: gunpowder, the first and second industrial revolutions and finally the advent of the information age. To establish perspective, Boot begins with the campaign of France's Charles VIII to take Italy. The innovation was the creative use of artillery to batter down fortress walls. Boot' point is that though cannon had been around for a while, it was the innovative use of them that changed the face of warfare and, at the same time, the nature of Italian social structure by dooming the city-state. Boot is careful to point out that military technology is not the only factor to consider, but rather that the deployment of technology was not a certainty and that generally the first force to effectively implement technology revolutions generally gained dominance for some time. To illustrate his point, Boot uses twelve battles, most of them essentially forgotten by all except the student of history. Boot is a masterful writer. To illustrate the rise of the gunpowder age, he writes of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the battle of Breitenfeld and Lutzen and, most illuminatingly, the battle of Assaye in 1803. In the latter example, Boot shows how the adoption of gunpowder by the Europeans led in turn to its ability to colonize and dominate the planet. The impact of the First Industrial Revolution is illustrated in the 1866 battle at Koniggratz (which demonstrates the impact of railway logistics in allowing a formerly inferior power to become dominant); the battle at Omdurman in 1898, explaining again how the small forces of European powers could prevail when vastly outnumbered and the naval battle of Tsushima where Japan made it clear that the industrial revolution was not confined only to Europeans. The territory becomes more familiar with Boot's examination of the impact of the Second Industrial Revolution on military affairs. Here, the German attack on France in 1940, the Japanese attack against Pearl Harbor and the American aerial offensive against Japan in March, 1945 are examined. Only sixty years removed from the dramatic innovations of WWII, it is breathtaking to see how military affairs were influenced by the second industrial revolution with its inventions of airplanes, electronics and other technologies. One of Boot's best examples is how Germany, while weaker in terms of material in 1940, was able to better implement available technology. Boot uses the example of the aerial attacks on Japan to make another point: that technological advantage can pass swiftly from one society to another. Boot makes clear how dramatically the "Information Revolution" has changed the face of warfare. His last three examples are the Gulf War of 19

Enlightening and Well Written

War Made New is one of the best books I've read this year. The book covers the technological revolutions that have swept through military history in the last 500 years, beginning with the gunpowder revolution at the end of the Middle Ages that concentrated military power in the hands of kings, as the nobility largely could afford neither cannon nor the rebuilding that was necessary to keep medieval castles from being sitting ducks for those cannon. The first industrial revolution, beginning in the 19th century, brought far larger armies, thanks to much more rapid economic growth; more rapid movement and better command and control, thanks to railroads and the telegraph; more potent arms such as the Maxim and Gatling guns, and far more powerful battleships. The second industrial revolution brought, tanks, aircraft carriers, and heavy bombers. The information revolution of our own time brought smart bombs, stealth aircraft, and vastly improved communications. Each of these revolutions altered the balance of power in favor of those countries that were the first to exploit them effectively, such as the English defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 or the blitzkrieg tactics that overwhelmed France in 1940. American mastery of information technology allowed the 1991 Gulf War to be a cakewalk and yet, fifteen years later, what is, militarily, the only significant country in the world is struggling mightily against enemies in Iraq that are not even nation-states, for the new information technology and electronics can be exploited effectively and cheaply by them. And the United States military, especially the elephantine Pentagon bureaucracy, has been reluctant to develop the needed skills and expertise in counter-insurgency warfare. The military wants to fight tank battles when there are no more tanks left to fight. One of the lessons that Boot draws in this book is that, over and over again, the losers in the last war and inferior powers are far quicker to exploit the possibilities of new technology than are the victors and dominant powers. The English mastery of the new cannon-dominated naval warfare helped doom the Armada. The Germans after 1918 developed the new offensive capabilities provided by closely integrated armor and air power, while France assumed that defense, as it had been in World War I, was still king. And the United States, after Vietnam, profoundly changed its military culture for the better. Boot uses several battles as examples. Some of these, such as the Spanish Armada, are known to every school child. Others, such as the Battle of Königgratz (1866), which established Prussian dominance of the German-speaking world at the expense of Austria, have been largely forgotten. War Made New is one of those books that had me saying, "Ah hah, now I understand" over and over again.