In the Battle for the City

City air sets you free. That may be true, but there’s something else: Troy, Carthage, Rome, Lenin and Stalingrad, Dresden, Berlin, and Gaza. The city also attracts war because it is a hub: economy, power, people. Whoever controls the capital controls the country. Whoever conquers a wealthy city can plunder it. Whoever wants to control traffic occupies the places where the roads intersect.

Warlike thinking is a rarity today. The end of history brought peace, joy, and pancakes, so many thought. All the greater is the shock that has been spreading in waves since 1989 when conflicts are once again fought out militarily. Often at the center: the city. With “War at Home”, Julian Werner deliberately aims to provide an explanatory book. This comes across on several levels: historical, personal, and technical.

The historical level covers almost the entire story and places the city—as a place for people—at the center. His friendly “We must preserve the city as a place for people” is countered by a pragmatic “Let’s conquer it,” which comes with all the cynicism of war. Of course, the capture of a city rarely meant its destruction, for one takes it because one needs it. Werner’s book takes an unexpectedly personal turn here: the trauma of displacement, experiences in combat—the city is there. And so it was that an EGB paratrooper got caught on a city window during his jump. Also at play: the craft. Can we talk about that? How does one conquer or defend a city? And what does that mean for us, whose cities lie so exposed, in countries without borders?

Julian Werner, who is now conducting research at the CISS, delivers a compelling book that raises important questions and approaches military problems with humanity. Some things are explained clearly, while others give pause for thought. One thing is clear: urban combat is part of the future. That is precisely why this book is worth reading.

“„Krieg zu Hause (War at Home)” by Julian Werner, published by Maximilian Verlag, Munich 2026, 250 pages – available HERE in our SPARTANAT Shop.