About the Author

General David Petraeus is a retired United States Army general and widely respected as a leading warrior intellectual. He is currently a Partner in a major investment firm and chairs that firm's Global Institute. He previously served for 37 years in the US Army, culminating his time in uniform with 6 consecutive commands as a general officer. Following a Senate confirmation by a vote of 94-0, he served as Director of the CIA.

Andrew Roberts took a first in modern history from Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. He is a fellow of the Institute of Napoleonic Studies and has lectured on Napoleon in America, Canada and Britain. Along with Colonel John Hughes-Wilson of the Corps of Battlefield Guides, he conducts annual tours to Waterloo under the auspices of Tours with Experts.

Reviews

BOOK OF THE YEAR IN: ASPECTS OF HISTORY, THE CRITIC, OCTAVIAN, AND MODERN WAR INSTITUTE SHORTLISTED FOR THE MILITARY HISTORY MATTERS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD ‘How has warfare evolved in the eight decades since 1945? And what might it look like in the future? These are the questions posed by the authorial dream team of David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts: respectively a distinguished former US general and spy chief, and one of Britain’s finest military historians. This brilliant history shows how the wars of the future may go. Elegantly written and persuasively argued, Conflict is a hugely important book that explains why wars are still being fought and lost, what we can learn from them, and how we can protect ourselves from malign actors in the future’ DAILY TELEGRAPH, FIVE-STAR REVIEW ‘Charts just about every war fought in Europe, the Middle East and Asia since the defeat of the Nazis… [a] compendious narrative… has all the more force in light of Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza’ FINANCIAL TIMES ‘Timely, engaging and instructive, Conflict is the best one-volume study of conventional warfare in the nuclear age. It sets a new benchmark in understanding modern war’ WALL STREET JOURNAL ‘The pairing of Roberts with Petraeus is an engaging choice… They spend little time imagining a world without war, or even a world with less war. Their book – like Clausewitz’s canonical text – is a primer for today’s strategists, brimming with lessons about leadership, counter-insurgency, and intelligence. It’s a guide to effectively prepare for and win wars of the future, to achieve perpetual peace through perpetual strength’ NEW STATESMAN