We are pleased to present the latest issue of the International Review of the Red Cross on The Evolution of Warfare. To mark 100 years since the First World War, the Review asked historians, legal scholars and humanitarian practitioners to look back at the wars of the past century from a humanitarian standpoint.

There is no need to be an expert or a prophet to predict that humanity is far from finished with warfare. For those who want to help limit the effects of violence in this increasingly connected yet divided world, understanding and anticipating the evolution of war is a necessity.

In using what we know of the past to illuminate the present and the future, this issue of the Review adopts a long-term perspective, with the aim to illustrate the changing face of conflict by placing human suffering ‒ so often relegated to the backdrop of history ‒ front and center.

The edition focuses on the First World War and the period immediately leading up to it as a turning point in the history of armed conflict, drawing important parallels between the past and the changes we are witnessing today.