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nola_throwaway53826 t1_j4vd8xz wrote

I am looking to start reading into military history that I am unfamiliar with. I've read a good deal on the World Wars, the American Civil War, the ancient Romans, and many others. I am looking to try and learn more about other conflicts that I know very little about. For instance, the Spanish American war. I know the highlights, but I am hoping that someone can recommend a good book going into the history on that. I am also interested in the French invasion and conquest of Algeria in the 1830's if anyone has any good books there.

If anyone has any recommendations about conflicts that they know about, but are not as widely known, I'd be interested in that as well.

I'd also be interested in any books on Imperial China and its conflicts as well. I can recommend one book there that I thought was interesting: Voices from the Ming-Qing Cataclysm. It's a collection of eyewitness accounts of the Qing conquest of Ming China. It can get into vivid detail about the sacking of cities, people trying to escape, the perils of road travel during the invasion and collapse of the government, it was very compelling.

One final book I will recommend on Imperial China is Emperor of China: Self Portrait of K'ang-Hsi. It's a collection of the documents by the Qing emperor K'ang-Hsi (sometimes read as Kangxi). Its well written, the prose is simple and easy to comprehend, and gives his thoughts on ruling, military affairs, meting out justice as an emperor, and more. Very interesting stuff.

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Irichcrusader t1_j4wri8u wrote

Any books on any lesser known conflicts? Think I can help with that:

- China's War with Japan 1937-1945 by Rana Mitter (currently reading this one right now)

- The Opium war by Julia Lovell

- The Boys of '67: Charlie Company's War in Vietnam by Andrew Wiest

- The Last Mughal, The fall of a Dynasty, Delhi 1857 by William Dalrymple

- Pol Pot: The History of a Nightmare by Philip Short (despite what's implied by the name, this one is closer to being a history of Cambodia in the lead up to and during the Khmer Rouge regime)

- The Korean War by Max Hastings

- Europe's Tragedy: A History of the 30 Years War by Peter H. Wilson (a fascinating, though ponderous book at times to get through)

- The Cage: The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers by Gordon Weiss

- Blood and Sand: Suez, Hungary, and the Crisis that Shook the World by Alex von Tunzelmann

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nola_throwaway53826 t1_j50i0dv wrote

These are all great suggestions, thanks. I think I'll start with with The Opium War, that one looks interesting. But I'll add each of these books to my list.

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No-Strength-6805 t1_j4wffft wrote

Crimea War by Orlando Figes ,A War of Frontier and Empire Phillipines American War 1899-1903 by David Silby

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nola_throwaway53826 t1_j4wjb7p wrote

Thanks for the suggestions. I have read several of Orlando Figes works before and they were pretty solid. His book on the Russian Revolution and the civil war, A People's Tragedy was a fantastic book on the topic.

I know almost nothing about the Philipine-American war, and that is definately an overlooked conflict. I'm looking forward to checking out that book.

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