The Allure of Battle A History of How Wars Have Been Won and Lost

History has tended to measure war's winners and losers in terms of its major engagements, battles in which the result was so clear-cut that they could be considered "decisive." Marathon, Cannae, Tours, Agincourt, Austerlitz, Sedan, Stalingrad--all resonate in the literature of war and in our imaginations as tide-turning. But were they? As Cathal J. Nolan demonstrates in this magisterial and sweeping work, victory in major wars usually has been determined in other ways. Even the most legendarily lopsided of battles did not necessarily decide their outcomes. Nolan also challenges the hoary concept of the military "genius," even of the Great Captains--from Alexander to Frederick and Napoleon--mapping instead the descent into total war.

The Allure of Battle systematically recreates and analyzes the major campaigns among the Great Powers, from the Middle Ages through the 20th century, from the fall of Byzantium to the defeat of the Axis powers, tracing the illusion of "short-war thinking," the hope that victory might be swift and conflict brief. Such has almost never been the case. Even one-sided battles have mainly contributed to victory or defeat by accelerating erosion of the other side's defenses, resources, and will.

Massive conflicts, the so-called "people's wars," beginning with Napoleon and continuing until the end of World War II, have been more fundamentally determined by prolonged stalemate and attrition, wars in which the determining factor was not tactical but industrial.

Nolan's masterful book places battles squarely and mercilessly within the context of the wider conflict in which they took place. In the process it help corrects a distorted view of their role in war, replacing popular images of "decisive battles" with somber appreciation of the sacrifice and endurance necessary to victory. Accessible, provocative, exhaustive, and illuminating, The Allure of Battle will spark fresh debate about the history and conduct of warfare.

Cathal Nolan is Associate Professor of History and Executive Director, International History Institute, Boston University.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
List of Maps and Illustrations
Introduction
Chapter I: Battle in History
Chapter II: Battle Retarded
Chapter III: Battle Remembered
Chapter IV: Battle Reformed
Chapter V: Battle with Reason
Chapter VI: Battle Restored
Chapter VII: Battle Decisive
Chapter VIII: Battle Defeated
Chapter IX: Battle Exalted
Chapter X: Battle of Annihilation
Chapter XI: Annihilation of Battle
Chapter XII: Annihilation of Strategy
Chapter XIII: Annihilation of Nations
Chapter XIV: Annihilation of Mercy
Chapter XV: Annihilation at Sea
Chapter XVI: Annihilation of Illusions
Conclusions
Glossary