This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to the strategic history of the past two centuries, showing how those 200 years were shaped and reshaped extensively by war.

The late Colin S. Gray was Professor of International Politics and Strategic Studies at the University of Reading, UK, and a professional strategic theorist and defence analyst. His 30 books include Modern Strategy (1999), Another Bloody Century (2005) and The Strategy Bridge (2010).

James J. Wirtz is Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, USA. He is co-editor of Strategy in the Contemporary World 7th edition (2022) and author of Understanding Intelligence Failure: Warning, Response and Deterrence (2017).

Introduction: Strategic History PART I: THEORY OF WAR 1. Themes and Contexts of Strategic History 2. Carl Von Clausewitz and The Theory of War PART II: THE FRENCH AND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONS 3. From Limited War to National War: The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Way of War 4. The Nineteenth Century, I: A Strategic View 5. The Nineteenth Century, II: Technology, Warfare and International Order PART III: WORLD WAR I AND THE TWENTY-YEAR ARMISTICE 6. World War I, I: Controversies 7. World War I, II: Modern Warfare 8. The Twenty-Year Armistice, 1919-39 9. The Mechanization of War PART IV: WORLD WAR II 10. World War II in Europe, I: The Structure and Course of Total War 11. World War II in Europe, II: Understanding the War 12. World War II in Asia-Pacific, I: Japan and the Politics of Empire 13. World War II in Asia-Pacific, II: Strategy and Warfare PART V: THE COLD WAR 14. The Cold War, I: Politics and Ideology 15. The Cold War, II: The Nuclear Revolution PART VI: OUR CONTEMPORARY AGE 16. War and Peace After the Cold War: An Interwar Decade 17. 9/11 and the Age of Terror 18. The Age of Acceleration and the Rise of Great Power Competition Conclusion: War, Peace and International Order