Weigley Russell F. The Age of Battles: The Quest for Decisive Warfare from Breitenfeld to Waterloo

Indiana University Press, 1991. — 615 p.Argues that the seventeenth century was the first in which battles were waged, rather than raids and seiges, and discusses war's effectiveness as an extension of state policy. Weigley's The Age of Battles covers the era of European warfare starting with the emergence of Gustavus Adolphus in the Thirty Years War and ending with Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815. The author's main theme is that although this age of battles offered more hope for decisive outcomes as a result of a single battle, with expenditures in lives and resources commensurate with the intended goals, than any other era, the battles of this era nevertheless failed to deliver this decisiveness. Weigley also states these lesser themes: 1) The rise of military professionalism: talent vs. birth 2) The limitation that technology of the time placed on command and control 3) The necessity of a mobile arm (cavalry) for any hope of decision, and 4) Growing restrictions during the age of battles upon making war against non-combatants.