Book excerpt: This volume looks back into a huge expanse of time, identifying an historic juncture where feuding became warfare, that was fought by soldiers, during a long historical process called the crossing of the military threshold. This book examines the first tactics used in warfare, weapons and the transition from hunter-warriors to soldiers. Starting with the Neolithic, it then covers the Sumerians and the first micro-armies of soldiers. The process started during Late Neolithic urbanization, and the Chalcolithic (Copper Age), and was completed by the early Bronze Age with the appearance of King Sargon’s Royal Standing Army, around 2,334 BCE, and the warrior armies of the Amorite, Elamite, and Lullubi.