Temptation to Battle

Nolan, Cathal J.  The Allure of Battle: A History of How Wars Have Been Won and Lost.
          New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.  ISBN: 978-0-19-538378-2

Are you looking for a military history examining how the idea of "decisive battle" has shaped politicians, military commanders, and scholars actions and writings.  Cathal Nolan provides just such a history in The Allure of Battle.

Nolan opens The Allure of Battle with a defense of military history in general and the role of battles as specific events in his introduction.  He then, in Chapter 1, sets the role of battle, especially the concept of "decisive battle" in a historical context.  He also discusses how scholars and humanists portrayed the role of battle versus what the historical record shows regarding the role of battle.  Chapters 2 to 16 provide a summary of the role of  battle in various historical periods beginning with the Hundred Years War and ending with World War II. Some chapters provide more details of particular battles/campaigns than others, but all the chapters have enough detail for a general reader to follow Nolan's arguments on how battles influenced the winning of wars.

The Allure of Battle is a sweeping look at battle in a historical setting and the number of pages in the book provides Nolan enough depth to flesh out his argument and give details to support it.  The coverage of lesser known campaigns/wars such at the Seven Years War or the campaigns of Louis 14 of France and the Duke of Marlborough provides insight often given short shift in standard military histories.  Unfortunately, Nolan does not include the English Civil War, the American Civil War, and non-European wars/campaigns/battles that do not include a European combatant.  However, the reader of military history will find much to ponder in Nolan's The Allure of Battle.