"Vladimir Shirogorov unveils a military historical triptych framed around the half-century in which Eastern Europe's nation-states were born of endemic warfare. The author reveals how twists and turns in campaigning and combat wrought state formation and illuminates how the catalyst of warfare sculpted Eastern Europe." --Mark Charles Fissel, Augusta University "Vladimir Shirogorov's study of the evolution of military practice in Eastern Europe from 1450 to 1500 offers a valuable narrative on a period and region largely unfamiliar to most Anglophone readers. It has the added virtue of examining not only Polish-Lithuanian and Muscovite military history but integrating developments in the Livonian order, Greta Horde, Crimean Khanate, Bohemia, Kingdom of Hungary, and Moldavia and discussing the practices of recruitment, force organization, and tactics in each of these powers." --Brian Davies, University of Texas at San Antonio.