1. Band of Brothers - Ambrose
2. Pegasus Bridge - Ambrose
3. Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - Shirer
4. D-Day - Ambrose and Beevor
5. Stalingrad - Beevor
6. Berlin the Downfall 1945 - Beevor

Civil War:

1. Civil War - A Narrative - Foote
2. The Killer Angels - Shaara
3. Lee's Lieutenants - Freeman
4. Battle Cry of Freedom - McPherson
5. Gettysburg - Sears

Others:

Nicholas and Alexandra - Massie
Peter the Great - Massie

If you are interested in Chinese history, check out this book:



Hong Xiuquan was a struggling academic and in a (presumably opium-induced) vision realizes he is Jesus's older brother and a son of God. Starts off on the street with no followers ---- fast forward a few years and he has conquered a half dozen large cities, has a standing army of over 1/2 a million troops, 2,000 wives, wealth, etc.

He would've overturned the last Chinese dynasty and conquered all of the competing warlords altering the course of modern Chinese history forever if the British hadn't stepped in to protect their opium interests.

Its a good read imo.

On the military channel they always a documentary called "The First World War" its like ten parts and i guess its based on a book but ive never read it but have seen all the episodes a dozen times atleast, if you can find it as a collection i strongly recomend it

EDIT: I think you guys misunderstood. I wasn't asking for your top 5 favorite war books. I also wasn't all that interested in the wars I saidd I already know a little bit about, those are actually the ones I am LEAST interested in reading about, since those are the ones that I already learned about in history class. So, the ones I am the LEAST interested in were Vietnam, WWII, WWI, American Civil War, and American Revolution. Not the other way around.

All I was asking for is this:

Mandatory:

[SIZE=5]1.) List your top 5 favorite wars of all time[/SIZE] (NOT to be confused with top 5 favorite war books of all time. I'm asking what the most interesting/unique/thrilling/etc actual wars of all time were in your opinion. Not the books about those wars, I mean the actual wars themselves in terms of what happened in the wars. So, I'm saying like, post your top 5 favorite wars, the actual wars themselves I mean, not the books about them)

Optional:

2.) List your favorite book(s) that are about the war(s) that you posted in your top 5 favorite wars of all time list

This part is optional, unlike the mandatory/required section above. You can, if you want, post your favorite books about the wars you listed in the section above (they are not allowed to be about wars that you didn't list in your top 5 favorite wars of all time list). This part is optional/not required, only do it if you happen to know good books about the wars in your top 5 wars of all time list that you listed in the section above.

Basically, I'm saying, like, let's say none of your top 5 favorite war BOOKS are about your top 5 favorite wars. In that case, you should not list ANY books at all. I am more interested in which the best wars to read about are than I am in what your favorite war books are. Most of the best war books are about the wars that I am the least interested in (Vietnam, WWII, WWI, American Civil War, and American Revolution). Thus, I'm saying, like, most likely your favorite war books are about those wars. But, your favorite actual wars (not to be confused with war BOOKS) might not be any of those wars, rather, some other wars other than WWII/WWI/Civil War/Vietnam/American Revolution.

Do you see what I'm saying.

I'm trying to figure out what the best 5 wars are to read about. NOT what the best 5 war books are (given that the best 5 war books are most likely all going to be about the wars I am the LEAST interested in reading about due to already having read a lot about those wars already)

Sigh, I dunno if you guys get what I'm asking for sigh

books are for sheep. you really should be watching alex jones vids instead.

 

Originally Posted by Milkman Andy

Most Interesting Wars

1. Civil War
2. World War 2

basically this. WWII was basically the craziest shit evar, Civil War was prob the most critical time in the history of our country, and such a bloodbath too.

 

Originally Posted by ajedrez

basically this. WWII was basically the craziest shit evar, Civil War was prob the most critical time in the history of our country, and such a bloodbath too.

That's the thing though, I'm not necessarily interested in what the craziest shit in "the history of our country" is. I'm interested in what the craziest shit in the history of the world was. And, I'm pretty sure there were a LOT of wars, in other parts of the world over the past few thousands years that were WAYYYY way way way way better/more interesting/thrilling/unique/exciting/etc than the American Civil War was.

The reason I asked only history majors/history buffs to respond is that the people who aren't history majors/history buffs usually always respond with "American Civil War, Vietnam, WWII, WWI, American Revolution". These are precisely the wars I am LEAST INTERESTED in learning more about, because, they are the ones that we spent 99.99999999999999999999999999999% of the time on in history class in the american school system.

Instead, I am interested in finding which the ACTUAL best wars ever were, and I VERY very strongly doubt they just happened to be those 5 wars. If you ask the avg american who only knows about those 5 wars and no other wars, then yea, obv that's gonna be their answer, but, that's ghey, that's not what I'm looking for. What I mean is, people who are actually history majors who learned about ALL the hundreds and hundreds of different wars that happened around the world in the past few thousand years are probably aware of some way more hardcore/interesting wars than those ones that would be much more interesting for me to read about, given that I know nothing about those wars (some of which were far more epic than the American Civil War etc), if you see what I'm saying.

Please, history majors/buffs who know about ALL the hundreds of different wars that happened in the history of the world (not to confused with just the history of America which is only a tiny fraction of all the wars that have happened ever) please post the top 5 best wars ever. Thanks

I'm more interested in what the best wars were than what the best specific battles were.

 

Originally Posted by bfactor

I'm more interested in what the best wars were than what the best specific battles were.

fuck you you picky fuck

WWII
Vietnam.

WWII-
"Ghost Soldiers"- Hampton Sides; story about a POW rescue mission near the end of WWII- incredible book.

Vietnam-
"Steel My Soldiers Hearts"
"...and a hard rain fell" Ketwig
"The Killing Zone" by Frederick Downs is a thrilling read....probably my fav. non-fiction account of Vietnam
"A Rumor of War" Phillip Caputo, awesome story.
"Acceptable Loss"
"Blood on the Risers" John Leppelman

Mods, there is no good reason to delete this thread.

No such thing as a best war.