There are several books which explore this concept, viewing history through the lens of energy systems available to and utilised by humans. Vaclav Smil has wri

There are several books which explore this concept, viewing history through the lens of energy systems available to and utilised by humans. Vaclav Smil has written two of these, Energy and Civilization (2017) and Energy in World History (1994). They cover much the same ground, though with different emphases. <https://vaclavsmil.com/book/energy-and-civilization-a-history/ https://vaclavsmil.com/book/energy-and-civilization-a-histor...> <https://vaclavsmil.com/book/energy-in-world-history/ https://vaclavsmil.com/book/energy-in-world-history/> Manfred Weissenbacher's Sources of Power (2009) more specifically addresses political and military implications of different power systems. <https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/sources-of-power-9780313356261/ https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/sources-of-power-9780313356261...> In the past year there's a new book on the topic, Energy's History: Toward a Global Canon, by Daniela Russ and Thomas Turnbull, though I've yet to read it. <https://www.sup.org/books/politics/energys-history https://www.sup.org/books/politics/energys-history> There's a review here: <https://networks.h-net.org/group/reviews/20131545/priest-russ-and-turnbull-energys-history-toward-global-canon https://networks.h-net.org/group/reviews/20131545/priest-rus...>.