Each chapter includes a quick-reference summary, a timeline, an overview of the war, essays on its principal leaders, a series of short, often offbeat features on aspects of the conflict, and a detailed account of a pivotal battle.

The Greco-Persian War -- The wars of Alexander the Great -- The Punic Wars -- The Barbarian inavsions -- The Muslim conquests -- The Reconquista -- The Norman Conquest -- The Crusades -- The Mongol conquests -- The Hundred Years War -- The American Revolution -- The French Revolutionary War -- The Napoleonic wars -- The Taiping Rebellion -- The U.S. Civil War -- World War I -- The Russian Civil War -- The Chinese Civil War -- World War II -- The Arab-Israeli War -- The Vietnam War -- The Soviet-Afghan War.