Jack Coggins's work is dedicated to the development of military affairs of the leading world powers: Germany, Great Britain, France and Russia. The book talks about the use of military weapons during the Franco-Prussian, Russian-Japanese, Crimean and other large-scale armed conflicts. Much attention is paid to the First World War, as a catalyst for fundamental changes in the armed forces of Europe. Coggins identifies the most important stages in the formation of tactical and strategic principles of combat operations, talks about the role of aviation, artillery and types of weapons of the second half of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries.