The Age of Battles: The Quest for Decisive Warfare from Breitenfeld to Waterloo

Weigley's The Age of Battles covers the era of European warfare starting with the emergence of Gustavus Adolphus in the Thirty Years War and ending with Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815. The author's main theme is that although this age of battles offered more hope for decisive outcomes as a result of a single battle, with expenditures in lives and resources commensurate with the intended goals, than any other era, the battles of this era nevertheless failed to deliver this decisiveness. Weigley also states these lesser themes: 1) The rise of military professionalism: talent vs. birth 2) The limitation that technology of the time placed on command and control 3) The necessity of a mobile arm (cavalry) for any hope of decision, and 4) Growing restrictions during the age of battles upon making war against non-combatants. As another reviewer has stated, the reader should judge for himself to what extent Weigley demonstrates his various themes. For my own purposes, as a military history enthusiast without military training or academic credentials, I found Age of Battles most valuable simply because it is a concise but elucidating history of this most colorful era of warfare. This period of gunpowder weapons, with combined cavalry and infantry, but before the appearance of rifled weapons, brought the art of war to its zenith after its rebirth in the seventeenth century. Although lagging the official renaissance by a couple of centuries, this renaissance had its own set of masters starting with Adolphus, then the Sun King's generals, Marlborough, Eugen, Frederick the Great, and finally culminating with Napoleon. Although clearly writing for academics and professionals, Weigley's engaging writing style nevertheless makes accessible to the general reader this most creative epoch of warfare in Europe.

This book is an excellent reference book for people who have an eclectic interest in European as well as military history. If one has a specialized interest in any of the wars Weigley chronicles this book places them in a larger diplomatic and techinal context. Besides the book's practicality it is also engagingly written and cogently argued. One more note, Weigley includes an admirable mission statement for military historians that their ultimate goal should be to chronicle war so as to promote peace.

This is an excellent book providing an interesting alternative viewpoint of historical events that have been reviewed extensively. The author writes with an engaging style which maintains the readers interest throughout the text. The only fault in this excellent book is the number of typographical errors in the text in one case leading to a small factual error. The Dauphine Estates General met at the town of Vizille not Virille as shown in the text.But still a very enjoyable book!

Russell Weigley, long established as the premier American military historian, has written a work that illustrates the necessity for the field commander to pursue complete victory over an adversary. This has long been a dream of military commanders, yet not until Gustavus Adolphus and his attempt to destroy his opponents at Breitenfeld, and his failure to move forward to Vienna, has the proverbial defeat been snatched from the jaws of victory. Weigley analyzes the failures, successes, and overall planning that became an essential part of post medieval warfare. His choice of particular battles and campaigns were carefully chosen to offer the greatest examples of military leaders opting for total, in lieu of negotiated partial victory. It is a necessary book for any student of military or political history, and it offers insights which may be compared to recent conflicts such as the Gulf War.