The Future of War: A History

Freedman (Strategy), professor emeritus of war studies at King’s College London, takes aim at how generations of historians, military analysts, politicians, and journalists have tried to anticipate the unknowable: the contours of the next major conflict involving political superpowers or regional actors. In the annals of crystal ball gazing, Freedman points out, most soothsayers have been way off. Prior to WWI, instead of massive armies coming to blows, European nations engaged in colonial exploits in undeveloped lands. Some asserted that growing economic prosperity meant that countries would have little need to fight over resources. But after WWII, an apocalyptic view of future warfare took hold; the development of nuclear weapons merely dialed up this tendency, even as some parties asserted that the bombs would serve as deterrents. More recently, 21st-century prognosticators are predicting cyberwar; robot and drone fighting forces; potential clashes between the U.S., China, or Russia; and conflicts sparked by climate change–fueled events such as drought and famine. As chroniclers catalog the myriad ways that the next war could explode, Freedman unsurprisingly concludes that war “has a future.” Freedman’s work makes for well-informed, if dire, reading, and the book’s audience is probably limited to hardcore conflict enthusiasts. (Oct.)