This is the first book of its kind to attempt a multi-disciplinary approach to understanding how terrain has affected the outcome of warfare in history. Taking a broad sweep from mediaeval times, the English Civil Wars of the 17th century and the Napoleonic Wars of the 18th century, its primary focus is on the major battles and engagements of the century of warfare from 1850 to 1950. Examining the American Civil War, the Anglo-Zulu War, the Boer War, the Great War of 1914-1918, the Spanish Civil War and finally the Second World War, it takes a total terrain view. All aspects of terrain, including the cultural and spiritual significance of battle, the physical geography and geology of the battlefield and the growing discipline of battlefield archaeology are covered.

The current volume stems from the international Terrain in Military History Conference held...at the University of Greenwich in January 2000" - Pref. Includes maps of: Battlefield Sites in England and Wales - the War of the Roses and Anglo-Scots Border War; Battlefield Sites in England and Wales - the Bishop's War and Civil Wars; Location of Military Actions in Central, Southern England during the Civil Wars - Aldbourne, Newbury, Cheriton, Roundway Down, and Lansdown; Campaign Maneuvers of the Opposing Armies in September 1643, Culminating in the First Battle of Newbury; Geology of the Area of the Battlefield of the First Battle of Newbury; First Battle of Newbury, 20 September 1643; Campaign Maneuvers of the Opposing Armies in October 1644, Culminating in the Second Battle of Newbury; Geology of the Area of the Battlefield of the Second Battle of Newbury; Second Battle of Newbury, 20 October 1644; Geology of the Area of the Battlefield of the Battle of Cheriton; Battle of Cheriton, 29 March 1644; Geology of the Area of the Battlefield of the Battle of Roundway Down; Battle of Roundway Down, 13 July 1643; Battle Sites within the Navarre Region; Northern Virginia Theater, Showing Richmond, Washington, Warrenton, Culpeper, and Port Royal; [Fredericksburg]; [Eastern Tennessee]; Tullahoma Battlefield; Chickamauga Battlefield; Zululand and Major Sites; Isandlwana Battlefield; [Colenso and Vicinity]; Gallipoli Peninsula and the Dardanelles (6); Allied Invasion Plans for the Gallipoli Peninsula, April 1915 and August 1915; Village of Thiepval; [Roeux]; [Fonquevilliers, Somme]; Western Front, 1914-1918; Passchendaele Ridge in Relation to Ypres; Messines Ridge with German Front Line of October 1915; October 1916 and September 1918 Trench Lines; All Trench Positions for the Messines Ridge, 1915-1918; Spacing of Mines beneath the Significant Strongpoints in the German Frontline; Flanders Front, 1917; Ypres Salient on the Morning of 9 October 1917, Showing the General Area of Assault and Main Road and Rail Communications; Specific Attack Frontage Allotted to 66th and 49th Divisions on the Morning of 9 October 1917; Channel Islands, Showing Their Closer Proximity to France than England, and the Main Routes from England of Ships Assembled for the D-Day Amphibious Landings in Normandy; Bedrock Geological Map of Jersey; Jersey, Showing the Main Pleistocene Deposits; Jersey, Showing Distribution of Holocene Deposits; Jersey, Showing the Relief, Together with Annual Rainfall; Jersey, Indicating Sites of British-built 13th to 19th Century Fortifications; [German Coastal Fortifications]; Channel Islands; Jersey, Showing Sites of German Coastal Artillery Batteries, 1945; Jersey, Showing Main German Infantry Defence Areas, 1945; Jersey, Showing Deployment of 105 mm K331(f) Coastal Defence Guns and Casemate Types, 1945; Jersey, Showing Deployment of 47 mm Pak K36(t) Anti-tank Guns and Casemate Type, 1945; Jersey, Showing Sites of Pre-war Granite-block Sea Walls and of Concrete Anti-tank walls of German Construction; Jersey, Showing German Minefields, 1945; Jersey, Showing Positions of Storage Tunnels; Jersey, Showing German Command/Control Centres, 1943; Jersey, Showing Sites of Beaches and Quarries Used by the Germans as Sources of Aggregate, and Narrow Gauge Railway Systems Developed to Transport these Materials; Northeast Sahara, Showing the Libyan Desert; [Italy]; Gustav Line (3); Cassino Area; Lake Lirino; Crossing Points North of the Town of Cassino; Route Taken by Troops Making the Final Assualt on the Abbey; Normandy Battlefield; Area around Caen and the British Operations in 1944; Distribution of Airfields in the United Kingdom during the Second World War, 1939-1945; RAF Wymeswold, Leicestershire; Airfield Country, 1945; Potential for Airfield Development.

Terrain in Military History: An Introduction /Peter Doyle & Matthew R. Bennett -- 'Markings on the Land' and Early Medieval Warfare in the British Isles / Kerry Cathers -- Geology and Warfare in England and Wales 1450-1660 / Trevor Halsall -- Battles on Chalk: the Geology of Battle in Southern England during the First Civil War 1643-1644 / Trevor Halsall -- Terrain and Guerrilla Warfare in Navarre, 1808-1814 / Shell Kimble & Patrick O'Sullivan -- Effective use of Terrain in the American Civil War: The Battle of Fredericksburg, December 1862 / Judy Ehlen & R. Abrahart -- Tullahoma: Terrain and Tactics in the American Civil War / Walter Earl Pittman -- The Mountain is their Monument: An Archaeological Approach to the Landscape of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 / Tony Pollard -- Maps and Decisions: Buller South and North of the Tugela, 1899-1900 / Martin Marix Evans -- The Thirty-Years War, 1914-1945: Mapping the Battlefields of the Past for the Construction of the European Future / Edmon Castell & Sonia Roura -- Terrain and the Gallipoli Campaign, 1915 / Peter Doyle & Matthew R. Bennett -- British, French, German Mapping and Survey on the Western Front in the First World War / Peter Chasseaud -- Terrain and the Messines Ridge, Belgium, 1914-1918 / Peter Doyle, Matthew R. Bennett, Roy Macleod & Louise Mackay -- Zero Hour: Historical Note on the British Underground War in Flanders, 1915-1917 / Franky Bostyn -- Mud Blood, and Wood: BEF Operational and Combat: Logistico-Engineering during the Battle of Third Ypres, 1917 / Rob Thompson -- Across the River: Interpreting the Battle of Ebro or Battlefields as a Didactic Resource / Edmon Castell & Lluis Falco -- Fortification of Island Terrain: Second World War German Military Engineering on the Channel Island of Jersey, a Classic Area of British Geology / Edward P.F. Rose, W. Michael Ginns & John T. Renouf -- Piracy on the High Desert: the Long-Range Desert Group 1940-1943 / James Underwood, Jr. & Robert F. Giegengack -- The Geology of the Battle of Monte Cassino, 1944 / John A. Ciciarelli -- Terrain as a Factor in the Battle of Normandy, 1944 / Stephen Badsey -- Airfield Country: Terrain, Land-Use and the Air Defence of Britain, 1939-1945 / Ron N.E. Blake.