The Story of Weapons and Tactics from Troy to Stalingrad

A fascinating look at changing military tactics over time with the development of modern weaponry. "The essence of the thing I have been trying to do in this book is not statement of a pattern of war; it is statement of a pattern of change in war. I have not been trying to establish the thesis that this, that, or the other is the essential feature of modern tactics; I have been trying to establish that modern tactics are changing, as modern weapons are changing, more rapidly than ever before; but that the lines on which they are changing parallel the lines of past change and should be to some extent predictable. And it is only if we can predict, foresee, the lines along which war is changing that we shall be able to establish a 'doctrine' of warfare, an integrated system of choice and design of weapons and retraining for new tactics, which will not merely rival the methods of our enemies, but will go beyond them, and be superior to them." Thomas Henry Wintringham (1898-1949) served in the R.F.C. and R.A.F. in France, 1916-1918; commanded the British International Brigade near Madrid, Feb. 1937; helped found the Osterley Park Training School for Home Guard, 1940; authored several books; acted as Military Correspondent for several publications. This edition includes the informative article "Ancient and Modern Artillery" from Harper's New Monthly Magazine, March 1855.