“The War Chronicles: From Flintlocks to Machine Guns”, by Joseph Cummins

 

384 pages, Crestline Books, ISBN-13: 978-0785836650

The War Chronicles: From Flintlocks to Machine Guns by Joseph Cummins is part two of a two-part anthology about the history of war (the review for part one was published on April 5^th). What the author does, essentially, is summarize twenty-one influential wars between 1792 and 1988 and how they reshaped human history, focusing each time one or two of the more famous battles from each. Each war gets its own chapter, at roughly 20 pages apiece, give or take. Like the first volume in this two-part study, From Flintlocks to Machine Guns is best suited to beginners in military history or, perhaps, wannabe military historians who would like a quick-reference guide with which to look-up important facts and figures. To better facilitate this ease of use, the table of contents for volume two is also confined to one page, the prose is basic (though fairly clear), the text is supplemented with several relevant illustrations and, at less than 400 pages, is extensive enough to cover its stated timeframe in the full, if succinctly. From Flintlocks to Machine Guns is rather like a textbook in that it is organized, like volume one, into a series of regular features:

• Overview: a two page introduction to the war under discussion which includes a summary, abstract, chronology, vital stat box and often a dramatic painting;
• Chronicle: a two page short history of the war under discussion, a discussion that serves to anticipate much of the still-brief text that is to follow;
• Turning Point: the dramatic recounting of the pivotal battle in the war, each about eight pages long, which is also accompanied by the most dramatic of paintings;
• Commanders: short biographies of the most significant commanders of the war, typically a single one from each of the major antagonists;
• Dossier: a kind of miscellany that summarizes other aspects of the war, such as secondary battles, famous tactics, force composition, hardware, dramatic cultural traits and the like;

But it must be stressed that From Flintlocks to Machine Guns – like its companion work From Chariots to Flintlocks – is but an introductory work to 2+ millennia of warfare. This is more than a coffee table reference book, or would make an excellent reference book for any military history buff; it also would be an outstanding text book for an introductory military history survey course and would be a great addition to any school or community library. The War Chronicles: From Flintlocks to Machine Guns, like its companion volume, is an attractive and, for the right audience, useful introduction to military history.