Military history

Military History is the study of armies, battles and soldiers, as well as strategies, tactics, technology and logistics of warfare. It includes the history of naval and air warfare.

Military history is sometimes disparaged as non-analytical narrative in which a popular writer provides little more than a chronology of generals and battles. Analysis of one hundred of the early 21st century's best military histories reveals that current military history goes well beyond such subject matter, incorporating social, cultural, and political history. Common areas of inquiry for contemporary historians include the impact of society, culture, and politics on a country's ability to wage war; the social, cultural, and political aftereffects of war; the society and culture of military organizations; and the relationship between military organizations and the communities from which they spring. While historians continue to devote considerable attention to the conventional militaries of Europe and the United States, many also are studying small armies, irregular forces, nonstate actors, civil wars, and non-Western armed forces. Within the military realm, historians frequently tackle subjects of much greater complexity than the generals-and-battles stereotype would suggest, to include the relationship between technological and human factors, the interdependency of land and naval warfare, and the influence of political direction on the military.

Bibliography

• Dupuy, R. Ernest and Trevor N. Dupuy. The Encyclopedia of Military History: From 3500 B.C. to the Present (1977), 1465pp; comprehensive discussion focused on wars and battles
• Grimsley, Mark. "Why Military History Sucks," Nov. 1996, War Historian.org, online at [1]
• Lee, Wayne E. "Mind and Matter—Cultural Analysis in American Military History: A Look at the State of the Field," Journal of American History, 93 (March 2007), 1116–42. Fulltext: History Cooperative and Ebsco
• Lynn, John A. "Rally Once Again: The Embattled Future of Academic Military History," Journal of Military History, 61 (Oct. 1997), 777–89.
• Moyar, Mark. "The Current State of Military History." Historical Journal 2007 50(1): 225-240. Issn: 0018-246x
• Seager II, Robert. Alfred Thayer Mahan: The Man and His Letters (Annapolis, 1977).
• Spector, Ronald H. "Teetering on the Brink of Respectability." Journal of American History 2007 93(4): 1158-1160. Issn: 0021-8723 Fulltext: [ 1. History Cooperative] and Ebsco

External links

• "Web Sources for Military History" by Richard Jensen guide to web sources for from ancient history to present day