War in European History

Sir Michael Howard is Emeritus Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford. His publications include The Franco-Prussian War (1961), which won the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize, Grand Strategy, which was volume 4 in the United Kingdom History of the Second World War (1971) (Wolfson Foundation History Award, 1972), The Lessons of History (1991), and many others. He has held the Chair of War Studies at King's College, London, the Chichele Chair of War and the Regius Chair of Modern History at Oxford, and the Robert A. Lovatt Chair of Military and Naval History at Yale.

• Preface to the 2008 Edition ; 1. The Wars of the Knights ; 2. The Wars of the Mercenaries ; 3. The Wars of the Merchants ; 4. The Wars of the Professionals ; 5. The Wars of the Nations ; 6. The Wars of the Technologists ; Epilogue: The End of the European Era ; Notes ; Notes on Further Reading ; Index

I cannot think of a better book to put in the hands of someone setting out on the study of military history.