Essential Militaria: Facts, Legends, and Curiosities about Warfare Through the Ages

Collected here for the first time is a fascinating and compulsively readable assortment of facts, figures, lists, and other various curiosities about warfare throughout history, from ancient times to modern-day combat. Find out in which of General Patton's past lives he was a caveman (his first life was supposedly as a prehistoric mammoth hunter), what the six worst reasons for going to war in history are (French pastries, animal fat, and losing a soccer match are all culprits), why Iraqis aren't the first to appear on playing cards (World War II leaders were on cards in Belgium-Hitler was The Joker), who has the largest military budgets (the United States and Russia), and which countries military expenditures are largest in relation to gross domestic product (the United States slips to forty-third, while North Korea tops the list). For anyone who bought a copy of the best-selling Schott's Original Miscellany, or has an interest in military facts and figures, Essential Militaria is the perfect gift for the armchair general.