Geography of War in the Post Cold War World

"Professor Patrick O’Sullivan has produced a thoughtful and far reaching study that successfully unravels the complex relationship between warfare and geography in the last decade of the 20th century. Rather than analyze the impact of geography upon warfare as exemplified by the military planners and historians, he also examines the influence of war upon geography. . . .He cogently traces the efforts of each civilization to defend their territory and population from invasion or encroachment. He reinforces his claims with concrete evidence ranging from the Roman Empire to the Gulf War and the conflict in the Balkans. . . . The author carefully analyzes why wars occur in certain areas, and examines the causes and effects of the wars between 1945 and 1989, including the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the ramifications for the rest of the world. . . . O’Sullivan surveys the evolution of geopolitics from the era of colonization through the new world order in the 1990s, as well as the development of geostrategy to stabilize the fractured states of the world. In the process, he carefully analyzes the role of naval, military, and nuclear strategy as well as land strategy, post Cold War strategy." Donald D. Horward, Ben Weider Eminent Scholar, Chair in Napoleonic History, Florida State University

"No other document duplicates his theses about geographical influences on the causes and effects of armed conflict throughout recorded history: regional patterns; reasons for shifts; relationships between physical settings and military power. Analyses include fresh looks at geopolitics followed by connections with military strategies, operational art, and tactics. The results are not only informative, but are lucid enough for neophytes as well as professionals to understand. Those who turn [O’Sullivan’s] pages consequently will reap maximum benefits in minimum time." Colonel John M. Collins, US Army (Ret.), Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow, National Defense University "This is a most impressive and timely book which, while covering the whole Post World War II era, also brings the geography of war right to date, up to the year 2000. It is a magisterial synthesis which is extremely well written and solidly researched. Analytically the book is quite a tour de force." Prof. Peter P. Garretson, Director, Graduate Program, The Florida State University

Table of contents:
Introduction
1. Warlike Traces in the Landscape
2. The Geography of War
3. War in the 1990s
4. The Geography of Political Violence
5. Geopolitics
6. Geostrategy
7. Battlescapes
8. The Military Impact of Geography
9. The Geographic Impact of the Military
10. Warriors and Victims
Bibliography; Index

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