Roger Chickering is Professor Emeritus of History at Georgetown University, Washington DC. He has published widely on German and European history, particularly on war and German society. Dennis Showalter is Professor of History at Colorado College, where he specializes in comparative military history. Hans van de Ven is Professor of Modern Chinese History at Cambridge University. He has written extensively on warfare in modern Chinese history and especially on China during the Second World War.

• Introduction; Part I. The Industrialization of Warfare, 1850–1914: 1. The wars of mid century Hans van de Ven; 2. War, technology and industrial change, 1850–1914 Geoffrey Wawro; 3. War and imperial expansion Bruce Vandervort; 4. The non-western world responds to imperialism, 1850–1914 John P. Dunn; 5. War, society, and culture, 1850–1914: the rise of militarism Roger Chickering; 6. War-making and restraint by law: the formative years, 1864–1914 Jean Quataert; 7. The arms race: qualitative and quantitative aspects Antulio J. Echevarria II; Part II. The Era of Total War, 1914–45: 8. World War I Michael S. Neiberg; 9. Military captivity in two world wars: legal frameworks and camp regimes Iris Rachamimov; 10. Military occupations, 1914–45 Sophie De Schaepdrijver; 11. Homefronts: the mobilization of resources for total war Pierre Purseigle; 12. The search for peace in the interwar period Carole Fink; 13. Commemorating war, 1914–45 Jay Winter; 14. Military doctrine and planning in the interwar era Eugenia Kiesling; 15. The military and the revolutionary state Roger Reese; 16. World War II Gerhard Weinberg; Part III. Post-Total Warfare, 1945–2005: 17. Military occupations, 1945–55 Dennis Showalter; 18. The wars after the War, 1945–54 Odd Arne Westad; 19. Weapons technology in the two nuclear ages C. Dale Walton; 20. Conventional war, 1945–90 Williamson Murray; 21. Wars of decolonization, 1945–75 Anthony Clayton; 22. War and memory since 1945 Rana Mitter; 23. The era of American hegemony, 1989–2005 Mark Moyar.

'This final volume of The Cambridge History of War poses perhaps a greater challenge to its editors than any of its predecessors, but they have met it with total success. The years it covers, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, have seen the greatest transformation in society in the history of mankind, and war has been transformed with it … It would be invidious to single out individual chapters for commendation. All are by well-chosen experts … but the real credit must go to the editors who planned the book, selected a team so uniquely well qualified to write it and provided an excellent bibliography.' International Affairs