'A valuable addition to collections on international law and diplomatic practice. Recommended.' CHOICE
A wide-ranging study that focuses on the early-modern period but in fact tackles the entire historical background to the question of whether a declaration of war is necessary. An excellent example of how a major historian can make his knowledge relevant to contemporary discussions. - Jeremy Black, Professor of History, University of Exeter
This study explores the legalistic and religious traditions that undergirded the declaration of war from the ancient world through the eighteenth century. In particular, it focuses on the transformative developments in the sixteenth century. Readers will welcome Baumgartner's ability to intertwine theory and practice and to illustrate the disjunction between law and its realization, what the Germans called Rechtsverwirklichung. It illumines larger questions such as the development of the international state system and of international law and the evolution of the theory of just war, especially in the early modern period when war or the threat of war was so pervasive. This book adds to Baumgartner's impressive corpus of work on the early modern era. - Linda Frey, Professor of European History, the University of Montana and Marsha Frey, Professor of History, University of Kansas
The early modern period around which most of the book centers is indeed a formative one for the development of ideas and practices concerning the declaration of war. Baumgartner has done a good job in assessing the secondary literature and situating his topic in its historiographical context. More importantly, he has assembled an impressive body of primary source material, particularly deriving from thinkers on war. Overall, this is a perceptive, thorough, and useful study of a neglected topic. - Frank Tallett, Head of School of Humanities, University of Reading, UK