Military history
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Military history is the recording (in writing or otherwise) of the events in the history of humanity that fall within the category of "conflict." This may range from a dispute between two tribes that come to blow over a plot of land, to a world war.
It differs somewhat from the history of war with military history focusing on the people and institutions of war-making while the history of war focuses on the evolution of war itself in the face of changing technology, governments, and geography.
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Purpose of military history
Military history has a number of purposes. One main purpose is to learn to fight and prevent wars more effectively. Another is to create a sense of tradition which is used to create cohesive military forces.
Military historians
- Thucydides (460 BC - 395 BC)
- Julius Caesar (100 BC - 44 BC)
- Hans Delbrück (1848-1929)
- Charles Oman (1860-1946)
- Basil Liddell Hart (1895-1970)
- John Keegan (1934)
Types of warfare
There are a number of ways to categorize warfare. One categorization is conventional versus unconventional, where "Conventional" warfare involves well-identified, armed forces fighting one another in a relatively open and straightforward way without weapons of mass destruction. "Unconventional" refers to other types of war which can involve raiding, guerrilla, insurgency, and terrorist tactics or alternatively can include nuclear, chemical, or biological warfare.
All of these categories usually fall into one of two broader categories: High intensity and low intensity warfare. High intensity warfare is between two superpowers or large countries fighting for political reasons. Low intensity warfare involves counterinsurgency, guerilla warfare and specialized types of troops fighting revolutionaries. See also: asymmetrical warfare.
Military unit types by era
Antiquity
Medieval
- See also: Medieval warfare.
- Artillery
- Cataphract
- Condottieri
- Fyrd
- Horse archer
- Janissary
- Knight (see also: Chivalry)
- Longbow
- Crossbow
- Pikeman
- Samurai
- Sipahi
- Fortification
Modern
- Ammunition
- Armory
- Conscription
- Grenadier
- Sappers and Miners
- Marine
- Aviation
- Musketeer
- Rifleman
- Special Forces
- Naval Combatant
- Global Information Grid
- Active Electronically Scanned Array
- Network-centric warfare
- Supercomputer
- Space warfare
- Cyberwar
Classified by region
- Australia
- Canada
- China
- France
- Germany
- India
- Iran
- Japan
- Korea
- Philippines
- Rome
- Soviet Union
- Spain
- United States
- United Kingdom and constituent countries
Classified by region and era
Reporting of military events
Miscellaneous military history
Related topics
- Colonialism
- Historical reenactment
- History
- Imperialism
- List of battles
- List of invasions
- List of missions, operations, and projects
- List of wars
- Prisoner of war
- Prisoner-of-war camp
- Battledress
- Militaria
- War
- Wargaming
- Weapons
External links
- Houghton Mifflin's Reader's Companion to Military History (http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/mil/html/mh_000105_entries.htm)da:Militærhistorie
de:Kriegsgeschichte fr:Histoire militaire hr:Vojna povijest he:היסטוריה צבאית ms:sejarah ketenteraan sl:vojna zgodovina sv:Militärhistoria