This is a reasonably interesting read. In contrast to ‘conventional’ military history the book does not chart warfare as a series of battles or wars, but instead focuses on the infrastructure needed to support war, and the cost in money and lives. Naturally, this period is expensive in both.

The Old Regime being a period my history is a little sparse in, I found War and Society fairly interesting, if not only because it prefaces a series of changes I did start to look at more closely. The Age of Revolution was when New Zealand was colonised, and when nationalism-proper made it first appearance in Europe, both of which were subjects of my thesis. After reading War and Society I found that I better understood how and why warfare shaped the Age of Revolution, and the sorts of socio-politics nationalism attempted to address.

So all up, interesting. And recommended if you’re a history buff. Discovering that the British financial system was devised to ensure the nobility could borrow money to fund wars (without dependence on Jewish financiers) was one factoid I took away.