The Oxford Handbook of Warfare in Asia

Within the global history framework, books written on warfare frequently focus on West Europe and the United States of America. Asian militaries are too often understood or measured in terms of the 'West', with scholars contending that bureaucratic polities, standing armies, and decisive sieges were mostly absent in Asian history. Warfare in Asia is generally portrayed as a 'flower war,' involving skirmishing, pillaging, and plundering backed by "magic", cultural conservatism, and political intrigues. However, the history of warfare in Asia is far more complex than that. States with sophisticated bureaucratic fabric and standing armies first evolved in Mesopotamia. Disciplined heavy infantry, which constituted the core of so-called Western warfare, emerged in the Middle East. Decisive battles were waged by armies in China, South Asia and West Asia long before the emergence of Classical Greece. Hence, a study of the Asian militaries in their own right is necessary, and The Oxford Handbook on Warfare in Asia endeavours to do this. Warfare in Asia highlights the important features of warfare as it developed in Asia during the last 2500 years. "Warfare" in this volume is defined broadly and includes both conventional and unconventional campaigns: at one level it involves the way various societies conceptualised it; at another, it means how organised violence has been influenced by geography, politics, culture, and economics and its societal impact. This handbook is geared towards understanding the instrumental nature of war, the variety of warfare that has existed in history, and the evolving character of warfare in Asia.

About the Author

Kaushik Roy is Guru Nanak Chair Professor in the Department of History, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. He was a Global Fellow at Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Norway till January 2022. Previously, he was associated with Visva Bharati University at Santiniketan, West Bengal India and Presidency College, Kolkata, India. He was also a Junior Fellow at the Centre for Contemporary Studies at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. Roy was also ICCR Visiting Professor in 2013 at Aarhus University, Denmark. Roy specialises in Eurasian military history. He has worked extensively on both conventional and unconventional wars of pre-modern, early modern and present eras. Dennis Showalter, Professor Emeritus of History at Colorado College, USA, died on 30 December 2019. Showalter specialised in German military history but is credited for shaping the study of military history worldwide. He had written extensively on the wars of Frederick the Great, the German Wars of Unification, World War I, and World War II. Showalter also taught at different organisations like the United States Air Force Academy, the United States Military Academy, and the Marine Corps University. Besides teaching, Showalter also participated in various projects associated with the US government.