From the publisher’s website:

In the early 2010s, the Wagner Group, a notorious private military company under the control of Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, began to emerge onto the world stage. This organization first showed its hand in Crimea, eastern Ukraine and the civil war in Syria. It quickly became apparent that it had the blessing of the very highest levels of Putin’s government in Russia to act as an armed extension of the country’s foreign policy before a spectacular fall from grace following the mutiny in the summer of 2023.

The role of mercenary is as old as recorded human history and stretches back to the earliest days of civilization. For those states unable to afford a standing army, the mercenary offered professional services and could be viewed as a profession of honor. When the mercenary fell into disrepute in the post-colonial world of revolutions, coups and counter-coups, it was essentially banned by the Geneva Protocols in the late twentieth century. The trade of mercenaries did not go away, however, and instead morphed into that of the ‘private military company’ or PMC, a still thriving global trade in a world of clandestine operations, that may or may not be government-sanctioned, offering ‘plausible deniability’ in a casualty-averse age of hybrid warfare.

Wagner Group Private Military Company Volume 1: Establishment, Purpose, Profile and Historic Relevance 2013–2023 looks at the profession of arms as practiced by mercenaries throughout history and the emergence of the modern private military company in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, along with the failed Slavonic Corps and Moran Security Group, often mistaken for early incarnations of Wagner. This work examines the emergence of the Wagner Group, its connection to the Russian government, security and intelligence services, and its operations in Syria, Libya, Sub-Saharan Africa and Venezuela as an extension of Russian foreign policy, often displacing Western interests, and as a private organization primarily concerned with securing access to the world’s oil and mineral resources for its owners and sponsors. Volume 2 will examine the group’s role in Russian operations inside Ukraine from 2014 onwards.

This volume is illustrated with original color photographs showing the Wagner group’s activities and its iconography, along with color artwork highlighting the unusual equipment employed in many of the group’s activities.

The book “Wagner Group Private Military Company Volume 1” is an illustrated volume about a notorious military unit organized and led by Dmitry Utkin and Yevgeny Prigozhin in 2014. It covers the group’s activities with its iconography and equipment used by its members. The book examines the emergence of the Wagner Group and its connection to the Russian government, security, and intelligence services when it operated first in Syria and Libya, and later in Africa, Venezuela, and Ukraine from 2014 through 2023.

“Wagner Group Private Military Company Volume 1” includes the following chapters:

• Abbreviations and Acronyms
• Antecedents & Predecessors
• Foundation of the Wagner Group
• Purposes of the Wagner Group
• Musicians Around the World
• Musicians in Africa
• Notes
• About the Authors

The book begins with a half-page explanation of acronyms and abbreviations used in the book. This turns out to be very handy during reading. There is a short chapter dedicated to the use of mercenaries throughout history.

The book has interesting pictures showing Wagner Group mercenaries in action, some of their military vehicles, and various patches used by the soldiers. It also provides an organization chart of the Wagner Group in Syria in 2017 and some maps related to the group’s operations. There is a 9-page section with color side profiles of military vehicles, airplanes, and helicopters that include captions. Although fairly short, the book provides a unique and logical description of recent historical events involving this private military company in several regions of the world where Russian interests were involved. The book describes numerous political events that the Warner Group influenced and their dynamics, risks, and even mentions cases of atrocities committed by the group.

The side views and photographs provide a good reference for modelers interested in modern historical events. I was quite surprised to see the Wagner Group using military aircraft. The authors explained many aspects of that group’s involvement in providing support and control of several countries where Russia had its interests. The authors of the book relied on many sources to project an as accurate as possible image of the Wagner Group. There are 12 pages citing sources and bibliography. The back cover provides a QR code to access the complete ‘Europe@War’ series.

The book is a welcome harbinger of more things to come as volume 2 will be following this first volume. I think it is a very timely appearance of this documentary that sheds light on the current events and those that preceded them in recent history. With so many conflicts we see in the world these days, this volume is welcome content that provides background information about the forces that can influence history.

My sincere thanks go to Helion & Company for providing this copy for a review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it. I really enjoyed exploring the content of this book.