2020 Karabakh War
Book Reviews
“This book is a must-read for political and military leaders. The War for Karabakh is an extraordinary study that explains the conduct of the war, its outcome, and its implications for future armed conflict. Liam Collins and John Spencer reveal the essential elements of success in war, including clear strategic aims and the ability to marshal all elements of national power in pursuit of those aims. This book explains how the war demonstrated the dramatic effect of new technologies such as unmanned aerial systems while placing those technologies in the context of combined arms tactics, operational planning, geography, training, leadership, and force design.”
Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, US Army (ret.), 25th United States National Security Advisor, and author of Dereliction of Duty, Battlegrounds, and At War with Ourselves
“Liam Collins and John Spencer have produced the definitive account of the Karabakh wars, moving past the tired ‘drone war’ caricature to reveal what actually delivered victory: decades of grand strategy, institutional reform, and disciplined operational execution. Grounded in firsthand access to commanders on both sides and rich with battlefield detail, this is essential reading for anyone thinking seriously about how modern wars are won. Military professionals, policymakers, and students of strategy will find lessons here that reach well beyond the Caucasus”
General Joseph Votel, US Army (ret.), former Commander of US Special operations Command and US Central Command
“A masterful analysis of one of the defining but often overlooked military campaigns of the twenty-first century. Few authors combine distinguished combat experience with serious scholarly achievement as effectively as Liam Collins and John Spencer. The result is a compelling account showing how strategy, leadership, operational art, and adaptation, in addition to technology, determine success on the modern battlefield.”
General David Petraeus, US Army (ret.); former Commanding General, Multi-National Force–Iraq; former Commander, US Central Command; former Commander, Coalition Forces in Afghanistan; former Director of the CIA; and coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Gaza
“This is far more than the history of a recent war. Liam Collins and John Spencer demonstrate how strategy, leadership, preparation, and disciplined execution—not technology alone—determine success on the modern battlefield. This is an important book for military professionals and anyone interested in how nations prepare for conflict.”
General Stanley McChrystal, US Army (ret.), former Commander of US and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Afghanistan and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), and author of New York Times bestseller My Share of the Task and Team of Teams
“The War for Karabakh presents a penetrating analysis of a conflict that has proven highly influential in shaping our understanding of modern warfare. War is always a mixof continuity and change. Although many analysts focus disproportionately on change,Collins and Spencer offer a more balanced view that places drones, precision, and modern surveillance in their proper context. The book is essential reading for anyone concerned with modern technology and its interaction with strategy.”
Stephen Biddle, Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and author of Military Power
With the 2020 Karabakh War occurring during the height of the COVID pandemic, few reporters were on the ground to report on the war as it was unfolding, and few researchers were able to travel to the region to study the war after it concluded. Shortly after COVID travel restrictions began to ease, wars in Ukraine and Gaza garnered the attention of many reporters and researchers. As such, the MPF is supported research to understand this important yet understudied war, which resulted in the publication of The War For Karabakh: Strategy, Technology, and Victory by Cambria Press in October 2026.
Products
The War For Karabakh: Strategy, Technology, and Victory
Drawing on extensive battlefield reconnaissance, official military records, operational maps, open-source intelligence, social media analysis, and interviews with more than one hundred military commanders, government officials, and combat veterans from both Azerbaijan and Armenia, Liam Collins and John Spencer present the most comprehensive operational history of the conflict published to date. Spanning the First Karabakh War, Azerbaijan’s twenty-six-year military transformation, the 2020 campaign, and the decisive 2023 operation that restored Azerbaijani control over the region, this book offers the first complete analysis of the conflict’s strategic evolution and military outcome.
The Battle of Hadrut
The Battle of Hadrut occurred from October 5th to 10th , 2020, in the capital of a province of the same name in Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan’s west. Once Hadrut was lost, Azerbaijan gained a clear route into the heart of Nagorno-Karabakh. The town’s capture marked a tipping point after which Armenian forces struggled to regroup or reestablish a coherent line of defense and momentum shifted decisively. This case study published by the Modern War Institute provides a summary of the battle and some lessons that can be learned from it.
The Battle of Shusha
The Battle of Shusha occurred from November 3rd to 9th , 2020. The city was a culturally significant city for both sides in the heart of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Following Armenia’s loss at Shusha, a Russian brokered ceasefire brought an end to the war. This case study published by the Modern War Institute provides a summary of the battle and some lessons that can be learned from it.