This Book by Mariya Ivanova was exeptionaly helpful while writing my bachelor thesis. It provides great insight in to the subject of warfare in the late neolithic and early bronze age. It is unfortunatly written in german and rather expensive. But if you can get it and understand german i highly recommend it.

The West: Encounters & Transformations, Combined Volume (4th Edition) by By Brian Levack, Edward Muir, and Meredith Veldman is a great book focusing on "the changing nature of the West—how the definition of the West has evolved and has been transformed throughout history". It looks at culture through beliefs, ideas, technologies, and peoples, both outside the West and within it.

Terrorism: A History by Randall Law is a great book that looks at terrorism from ancient Assyria to present (post-9/11) and discusses what is used and how/why it is used. It doesn't just focus on terror in the Middle-East, but also discusses topics including the Klu Klux Klan and Algeria (under French colonization).

Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference by Jane Burbank and Frederick Cooper. The book starts with ancient Rome and China, but continues across Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Africa. This book discusses Empire, not just through the military, but through culture, economy, and religion.

A History of Russia by Nicholas V. Riasanovsky and Mark D. Steinberg is focused on Russia, but looks at the formation and continuation of Russia from its time as Kievan Rus through the Soviet Union to present. It's not just a military focus, but includes political, international, economic, social, and cultural history as well.

I'm not sure what type of history (except military in general) that you are interested in, but these books (though some are expensive) can give you a general idea of some of the major historical topics/themes/ideas. As it happens, I have all of these books and would be more than willing to give them to you. Bear in mind that I am in Canada so shipping might be an issue.

If you're looking for original sources some places to start would be: [Maurice's Strategikon] (http://books.google.com/books?id=ihDmbG-BhXsC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false), a manual for 4-5th century Byzantine armies. [The Cavalry Commander] (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0210%3Atext%3DCav.%3Achapter%3D1) By Xenophon.

Edited for formatting

Here is a bibliography I drew up for another post, the period covered is the Middle Ages in Western Europe, in a loose chronological order:

Guy Halsall, Warfare and Society in the Barbarian West, 450-900 (London and New York, 2003).

Bernard S. Bachrach, Merovingian Military Organization, 481-751, (Minneapolis, 1972) | Early Carolingian Warfare: Prelude to Empire, (Pennsylvannia, 2001) | Warfare and Military Organization in Pre-Crusade Europe, (London, 2002).

David S. Bachrach, 'Charlemagne and the General Staff', The Journal of Military History, 66:2 (Apr., 2002), pp. 313-357 | Warfare in Tenth-Century Germany, (Woodbridge, 2012).

John France, Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades, 1000-1300, (London, 1999).

C. Warren Hollister, Anglo-Saxon Military Institutions On The Eve of the Norman Conquest, (Oxford, 1962).

John D. Hosler, Henry II: A Medieval Soldier at War, 1147-1189, (Leiden and Boston, 2007).

(eds) C. Given-Wilson, A. Kettle, L. Scales, War, Government and Aristocracy in the British Isles, c.1150-1500, (Woodbridge, 2008).

Andrew Spencer, 'The comital military retinue in the reign of Edward I', Historical Research, 83:219 (Feb. 2010), pp.47-59.

(eds) A. Curry and M. Hughes, Arms, Armies and Fortifications in the Hundred Years War, (Woodbridge, 1994).

(ed.) C. Allmand, War, Government and Power in Late Medieval France, (Liverpool, 2000).

(ed.) D. Dunn, War and Society in Medieval and Early Modern Britain, (Liverpool, 2001).

Also see the fantastic De Re Militari (the academic medieval military society) for a fantastic selection of articles, reviews, and introductions of academic books.

I liked A History of Military Thought: From the Enlightenment to the Cold War by Azar Gat. It is the one-volume edition of Gat's trilogy on modern military thought. The three books cover: Machiavelli to Clausewitz (book 1), the 19th century (book 2), and fascist and liberal visions of War (book 3). It's a bit of a shame the book is fully Western-centric, but it does an awesome job of giving a comprehensive view of Western military thought through the last few centuries.