The History of Warfare

With all the talk and worry lately about the looming prospect of the United States going to war with Iraq, I thought a review corresponding to such current fads might be in order. After all, any study of history will often place events of wholesale, state-sponsored violence as significant, even critical, junctures on the road of human progress. Sometimes it seems that all of history is set upon, and interpreted through, the framework of this conflict. So it would make sense, that a magazine such as Military Heritage would be a valuable resource for preserving such knowledge. I have two recent issues in hand; the issues dated June and December 2002.

Military Heritage is published bimonthly. Purchasing a yearly subscription runs about $16.95. A two-year subscription (12 issues) is a bit more economical at a price tag of $29.95. These are both substantial discounts from the newsstand cover price of $4.99. Unfortunately, there is no website for this magazine, which one might peruse before subscribing to the printed version.

The magazine itself is finely printed piece. The high-gloss cover usually has some sort of painting or other illustration for the artwork. The body is somewhere in the range of 100 pages in length, and is laid out in a very formal manner, which gives the magazine a distinctive, encyclopedic air. The articles are laid out in a three columns wide format, and are complemented by photos, illustrations, and maps in a way that adds to the reader’s access. Advertising takes up less than half the book, but like the other artwork, is laid out in a very non-intrusive fashion. Advertisers are often book publishers, gaming software companies, art dealers, and such, pedaling their military history related products to enthusiasts.

The real meat and potatoes of Military Heritage is in the content. Like most magazines, a reader will find regular columns and features articles. The interesting thing about the regular columns is that, unlike most magazines which allocate maybe a full page to each column, the columns found in Military Heritage are practically full length articles themselves! Also, each column often includes an inset box that provides some suggested reading sources, should one wish to explore the topic a bit further. The regular columns include: Editorial, a short commentary from the magazine’s editor; Communiqué, letters from the magazine’s readers; Soldiers, an extensive biography of some military leader from the past; Weapons, a look at some of the pivotal technology that affected the outcome of import conflicts; Intelligence, an article about some of the people and methods used for gathering and protecting information; Militaria, a collectors column; Books - a book review column that covers the latest releases.

Given that the length and depth of information in this magazine’s columns are more substantial than an entire issue of many other publications, one could easily read these items be done with the magazine. However, the publishers of Military Heritage weren’t content at simply starting there. The feature articles, like the columns, are lengthy historical tracts about the people, places, and battles that have marked the history of warfare. They are not restricted to specific time periods, or geographical importance. You will find stories from the War of 1812, and ancient Greece in the same issue with an insightful article about 16th Century Japanese daimyo. The authors are typically professional historians with full university credentials. The writing style is at once, both informative and entertaining, almost like watching a documentary on The History Channel. Most of the accompanying artwork is illustrations meant to enhance the reader’s visualization of the topic. Articles on famous battles always include small maps detailing the geography of the battlefield and the movement of the opposing forces.

Overall, Military Heritage is a very substantial magazine that provides an amazing value. The amount of information contained in each issue belies both its price and physical dimensions. I would recommend this magazine to anyone who enjoys history, with special consideration to military buffs. Granted, I am personally somewhat averse to much of the common mythology of war and all its “glory”, but this magazine can disarm even a skeptic such as me. It tends not to place any sort of moral value, or political commentary on the necessity of war, focusing, to its merit, strictly on the historical realities of an institution that has shaped the human condition throughout the ages. If I had to take one exception, I might suggest that Military Heritage is a bit inappropriate for the title of this periodical, suggesting that “War History” of “History of Warfare” might be more accurate. But in any event, giving the magazine five stars is a severe understatement.