Blood and Treasure: The Economics of Conflict From the Vikings to Ukraine

As an economic journalist, Weldon believes that a good way to learn what is really happening in war is, as he puts it, to “follow the money.” By doing so, Weldon argues, one can find surprising explanations for puzzling behavior. French kings were aware of the relative merits of the longbow compared with the crossbow after their infamous defeat in the 1346 Battle of Crécy. But French leaders nonetheless discouraged longbow use in the following years because these weapons require constant practice, and French leaders worried that a population full of skilled archers would threaten their hold on power. As a result, they again suffered at the hands of British archers at Agincourt in 1415. A few hundred years later, British navy captains were particularly aggressive in naval warfare because they were rewarded with shares of the value of captured boats. French captains, by contrast, avoided combat because they could be executed for surrendering a ship. The elaborate systems of medals and rewards that German Luftwaffe fighter pilots gained for shooting down enemy aircraft encouraged them to take big risks. As a result, combat losses among the best pilots were high and the overall quality of life of the members of the Luftwaffe went down. Weldon uses many other examples, from Mongol warriors to the modern-day Russian military, to give readers new ways of thinking about war in this enthralling and entertaining book.