Abstract

Why Wars Happen is a groundbreaking inquiry into the crucial yet surprisingly understudied question of why wars occur. Jeremy Black, one of Britain's foremost military historians, presents an interdisciplinary study that draws on subjects such as history, political science, and international relations and marshals a vast range of material with global examples spanning from the fifteenth century to today.

Black examines several major modern wars in their historical contexts, taking into account cultural differences and various conflict theories. He analyzes the three main types of war—between cultures, within cultures, and civil—and explores the problems of defining war. Black's investigation inspires fascinating questions such as: Do wars reflect the bellicosity in societies and states, or do they largely arise as a result of a diplomatic breakdown? How closely is war linked to changes in the nature of warfare, the international system, or the internal character of states? Black also considers contemporary situations and evaluates the possible course of future wars. Offering a valuable and thought-provoking analysis on the causes of war and conflicts, Why Wars Happen will interest historians and readers of military history alike.

Professor Black's book can be commended strongly as a text which incisively examines the causes of war(s) across the modern period with due attention to historical and cultural context.' – David Weigall, Department of History, Anglia University 'This is a bold and innovative approach to a well-established question. Its principal merit is that it does not restrict itself to examining a few selected case studies or a limited time span, but attempts to survey one and a half millennia of world conflict within a tight analytical framework and compact format.' – Peter Wilson, Department of History, Newcastle University
Jeremy Black is professor of history at the University of Exeter. His many books include Britain since the Seventies, Why Wars Happen, and Maps and Politics, the last copublished with the University of Chicago Press.