The nation that will insist upon drawing a broad line of distinction between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking by cowards.
-- Sir William Francis Butler
Conflict is central to human history. It is often the cause, course and consequence of social, cultural and political change. Military history therefore has to be more than a technical analysis of armed conflict. War in the Modern World since 1815 addresses war as a cultural phenomenon, discusses its meaning in different socities and explores the various contexts of military action.