A book I'd recommend is Russell E. Weigley's The Age of Battles: The Quest for Decisive Warfare from Breitenfeld to Waterloo. It tackles how warfare changed from the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) to the Napoleonic Era (1799-1815). Good, cheapish, and available.

/u/DonaldFDraper has reccomend the best possible book you could find on European Strategy, Weigley's The Age of Battles. Another of his books, The American Way of War, which explores American Military history from the Colonial Period to Vietnam.

If youre more interested in primary works, you could start with the classics. Carl von Clausewitz's On War is free, and is the book to read on military strategy. Sun Tzu's Art of War is both short, and also a classic. If youre interested in modern warfare, Heinz Guderian's Auchtung-Panzer! is a seminal work, which influenced German theory during World War Two. Guderian is also a decent historian himself!

But the classics at times can be ponderous. If you have any specific interests, I can recommend specific books. Also check out the Book List.

For the second half of the 20th century, John Boyd might be the most radical thinker. His biography covers a lot of air to air combat as well as new thoughts on mobile warfare.

I posted this some days ago in a similar question:

I'd recommend that in order to understand the subject better you actually read about doctrines, it will show you the tactics and strategies behinds and explain many things about why Side A did this as opposed to Side B when it was the obvious wrong choice. Let me explain, if my memory is correct he talks about Rommel's campaign in North Africa and clearly explains the concentration of armored units vs how British had their units scattered to support their infantry, see where I am coming from? That gives you a better holistic picture than a particular battle.

On to some books, I understand you're new to the subject:

• War in the middles ages, classic period in warfare history, by P. Contamine.

• Warfare in the classical world by JG Barry, the key here is the raise of the Greek phalanx, later improved by the Romans in their legions as well as the use of cavalry, archers and light infantry

• WWII, Eastern Front, try Panzer Battles by Maj Gen F W von Mellenthin on the use of German Panzer forces in the Soviet Union. I always recommend this before the more popular work "Panzer Leader" by Guderian. Von Mellenthin was a field commander as opposed to Guderian who was a Staff Officer, so the first lived it from the front line.

• Optional, more on a political side, but very important, since 20th century politics in the western world and the public opinion have influenced warfare strategy you may have "Vietnam: A History" by Stanley Karnow and "Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East" by Michael B. Oren

Last but not least a couple of my favorite ones for newcomers. Cannae is one of the classic battles of warfare history. You may be surprised but "The Ghosts of Cannae: Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic" by Robert L. O'Connell provides a vivid account of the 2 philosophies of war deployed by both Carthaginians and Romans as well as the use of light infantry, light and heavy cavalry by the Carthaginians, and certainly the battle itself and the famous envelopment. The book in fact with the fate of some Roman units in the aftermath but in fact the tactics are well described, you can abstract yourself from the other matter although the book is enjoyable anyway.

• "The American way of war" by by R F Weigley is a bit outdated but delivers a comprehensive summary American military thinking since the creation of the Republic.

• "The Fall of the Roman Empire: The Military Explanation" by Arther Ferrill, do not take it as the only explanation to the fall of the Roman Empire but describes very well the Roman strategy and how it evolved reacting to social changes and the threats in the frontiers as centuries went on, shifting from the popular legions to mobile reserves, the use of cavalry and the decline of training and equipment as foreign soldiers began to form the ranks.

There are many many more but this is my humble contribution. Some of these books won't be the best in their areas but provide a very good overview of what you may be looking for.

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