Review

General Books

In this brief volume Black examines the broad spectrum of Western warfare from theAmerican Revolution to the British occupation of Egypt and challenges what he says are the prevailing views about this era. Panoramic in scope, the book provides an overview of Western conflict extending from Europe to colonial possessions and to the Americas. The author includes descriptions of symmetrical war—struggles between sovereign states—and asymetrical war—civil wars, counter-insurgency operations, various types of punitive operations, and wars of conquest waged throughout the world by the West. He also offers a brief summary and analysis of naval warfare in order to show the full range of operations, strategy, tactics, and technological advances that took place. Black's thesis is that the traditional, single model of interpretation, involving the concept of a linear progression to modernity, fails to describe adequately the complex nature of Western warfare during is period.	1
For the most part, the author supports his argument well. First, he makes a good case against the acceptance of unitary models. He shows how the Western nations—Europe and its colonial heirs such as the United States—had to adapt their armed forces to the various types of conflict encountered and to what extent they were successful. Because of their formidable navy and insular position, the British, for example, concentrated on maintaining a small but well-trained army designed to protect their imperial interests and to intervene only when necessary in Continental affairs. Other powers developed their armed forces for both colonial environments and the conventional battlefield. Still others had to face the rigors of various types of internal conflict and therefore had to adapt accordingly. Although much of the period, especially after 1815, was dominated by imperial commitments, Black points out that there was little carryover from the military experiences and lessons of colonial fighting to preparation for the battlefields of Europe. Secondly, the author demonstrates that conflicts such as the American Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and the American Civil War cannot be considered especially modern for several reasons. One is that elements of their modernity can be found earlier in wars or in peacetime reforms. For example, he points out, as have other scholars, that Napoleon benefited from the numerous changes in tactics, strategy, and organization developed during the ancien régime. He doubtless added some innovations and above all brought to the battlefield his own leadership skills, but he did not create his war machine from whole cloth. Also, according to Black, the novelties that appeared in the major conflicts of this period did not fundamentally alter the nature of warfare waged by the West. He contends that not until the latter part of the nineteenth century did the technological, economic, demographic, political, social, and doctrinal changes come together which produced the type of warfare waged by the West between 1914 and 1945.	2
Several topics stand out because of their inclusion or because of their treatment by the author. His analysis of naval matters during this period is concise and affords the reader an opportunity to see how these related to developments in land warfare. Although Black's descriptions of conflict in Latin America suffer from brevity, they provide enough information to stimulate the reader to want to learn more about a topic largely ignored in general military histories. As for the German Wars of Unification, the author focuses in greater depth on how the Prussians, in particular, contributed to a fundamental change in the military culture of the West: the development of a general staff that attempted to provide a systematic and rational approach to the whole process of warfare.	3
The central weakness of the book, and one that should be of concern to history teachers and students, is in its overall presentation, which is quite ambitious for a volume of fewer than two hundred pages. Black provides too many brief descriptions of campaigns, wars, and other types of conflict without clearly connecting them to his thesis. Some appear more as afterthoughts, and even the conclusion is peppered with new examples. For the general reader, his information is overwhelming and unenlightening; for the expert, it is unnecessary. Black's study may be useful to history teachers who have an overall grasp of the military history of the period—as well as of that which followed—but most students will find it difficult to digest.	4
All Saints Episcopal School, Fort Worth, Texas William J. Fanning, Jr.

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