Fields of Battle: Terrain in Military History(64 GeoJournal Library)

A multi-disciplinary approach to understanding how terrain has affected the outcome of warfare in history. Taking a broad sweep from mediaeval times, the English Civil Wars of the 17th century and the Napoleonic Wars of the 18th century, its primary focus is on the major battles and engagements of the century of warfare from 1850 to 1950. Examining the American Civil War, the Anglo-Zulu War, the Boer War, the Great War of 1914-1918, the Spanish Civil War and finally World War II, it takes a total terrain view. All aspects of terrain, including the cultural and spiritual significance of battle, the physical geography and geology of the battlefield and the growing discipline of battlefield archaeology are covered.

Table of Contents:
Terrain in Military History: An Introduction.- ‘Markings on the Land’ and Early Medieval Warfare in the British Isles.- Geology and Warfare in England and Wales 1450–1660.- Battles on Chalk: the Geology of Battle in Southern England during the First Civil War 1643–1644.- Terrain and Guerrilla Warfare in Navarre, 1808–1814.- Effective use of Terrain in the American Civil War: The Battle of Fredericksburg, December 1862.- Tullahoma: Terrain and Tactics in the American Civil War.- The Mountain is their Monument: An Archaeological Approach to the Landscape of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879.- Maps and Decisions: Buller South and North of the Tugela, 1899–1900.- The Thirty-Years War, 1914–1945: Mapping the Battlefields of the Past for the Construction of the European Future.- Terrain and the Gallipoli Campaign, 1915.- British, French, German Mapping and Survey on the Western Front in the First World War.- Terrain and the Messines Ridge, Belgium, 1914–1918.- Zero Hour: Historical Note on the British Underground War in Flanders, 1915–1917.- Mud Blood, and Wood: BEF Operational and Combat Logistico-Engineering during the Battle of Third Ypres, 1917.- Across the River: Interpreting the Battle of Ebro or Battlefields as a Didactic Resource.- Fortification of Island Terrain: Second World War German Military Engineering on the Channel Island of Jersey, a Classic Area of British Geology.- Piracy on the High Desert: the Long-Range Desert Group 1940–1943.- The Geology of the Battle of Monte Cassino, 1944.- Terrain as a Factor in the Battle of Normandy, 1944.- Airfield Country: Terrain, Land-Use and the Air Defence of Britain, 1939–1945.

Review :
"Fields of Battles is scholarly, enjoyable to read and certainly relevant for a wide range of academics and professionals. The book will be of interest to many geographers." (The Professional Geographer June (2003)