Conflict

Conflict is the international bestseller praised for being ‘a rigorous and thoughtful study of what has happened on battlefields over the past eight decades’ by The Times and described as ‘a hugely important book … elegantly written and persuasively argued’ by the Daily Telegraph.

Fully updated to include new material on the Israel/Gaza conflict, Conflict offers both a sweeping history of the evolution of warfare up to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and a penetrating analysis of what we must learn from the past to navigate an increasingly perilous world.

In this deep and incisive study, General David Petraeus, the former CIA director who commanded the US-led coalitions in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and the prize-winning historian Andrew Roberts explore over seventy years of conflict. They draw significant lessons and insights from their fresh analysis of the past. Petraeus and Roberts illustrate how often critical mistakes have been repeated, and examine the challenge, for statesmen and generals alike, of adapting to new weapon systems, theories, and strategies.

Among the conflicts examined are the Arab-Israeli wars, the Korean and Vietnam wars, the two Gulf wars, the Balkan wars in the former Yugoslavia, and both the Soviet and Coalition wars in Afghanistan, as well as guerrilla conflicts in Africa and South America.

Conflict culminates with a bracing look at Putin’s disastrous invasion of Ukraine, serving as yet another case study in the tragic results that occur when leaders refuse to learn from history. It also provides an assessment of the nature of future warfare. Filled with sharp insight and the wisdom of experience, Conflict is not only a critical assessment of our recent past, but also an essential primer of modern warfare. It provides crucial knowledge for waging battle today as well as for understanding what the decades ahead will bring.