Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
Contents:
War and Society 4. Thinking about war 5. Strategy, Campaigns, and Logistics 6.
Frequently bought together
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Academic Skip to main content. Choose your country or region Close. A Very Short Introduction. Ebook This title is available as an ebook. To purchase, visit your preferred ebook provider. In his view the Greeks felt that their way of war was superior to barbarians' for basically the reasons mentioned by Hanson and this belief was passed on to the Romans who were convinced that the Greeks had gotten soft and lost it.
Then the idea was passed down through the middle ages through respect for Roman culture until it reached today. I'm not quite sure if I buy some of the wider-ranging implications of his conclusions but he has convinced me that he is describing an actual phenomenon from the classical period. That's not all this book is about, though it is the main point. It also looks at the way in which battles were conceived of and details some of the issues argued about by modern historians.
If I had a major complaint apart from the somewhat misleading title it would be that the frequent pictures are not of very good quality. A good book for the beginner to start on.
It's harder to find and much more expensive but it does cover the material in a much more thorough manner. As described, prompt delivery, good book.
Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction and millions of other books are . The Ancient Near East: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions). Editorial Reviews. Review. `I am addicted to this series of pocket-portable introductory lectures. Harry Sidebottom fairly presumes that you wouldn't know a .
This book is a joy to read. It provides fascinating insights into ancient warfare while avoiding being written in a dry, scholarly manner. That isn't to say that the author isn't an expert in what he writes. He just has an engaging writing style that makes reading the book a pleasure.
A very good introduction to ancient warfare from a leading historian. The book is both easy to read and conveys a large amount of information. The depth and breadth of the authors knowledge of the field makes this book a very good buy.
Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. I was hoping to read about the art of ancient warfare, but the book contained very little concerning fighting. It was entirely devoted to the social aspects and the author's interpretation of perceptions of war in ancient times. I think there would be general agreement that when talking about war, the terms tactics and strategy would respectively refer to the way in which individuals and small groups would fight and the major movement of armies to and on the battlefield.
Sidebottom makes little mention of tactics and his chapter on strategy deals with the reasons for invading particular regions, i. The book is valid in that it offers some interesting conjecture, but it should really be entitled something like, "The Social Implications and Political Motivations of Ancient Warfare". Let's get the one criticism I have of the book out of the way.
It should probably have been titled "Classical Western Ancienmt Warfare In the process dealing with not a few misconceptions and highlighting most modern thinking on the subject. Just to deal with a few of the comments left by others. The discussion on the existence or not of a purely Western style of warfare does not take take up an innordinate amount of space. The complaint about actual military techniques not appearing till chapters 5 should have been prefaced by an admission that chapters 1 - 4 are pretty short. As for "A well researched book but unlesss you like factual accounts with a dry delivery you really should stick to fiction and factions.
Ancient Warfare - A Very Short Introduction
It is a factual book So if you are looking for historical faction this is not the book for you. Having read novels by this author I was interested to see what he would write about historical warfare. A well researched book but unlesss you like factual accounts with a dry delivery you really should stick to fiction and factions. See all 11 reviews. Would you like to see more reviews about this item? Most recent customer reviews. Published on 14 August Published on 15 May Plus its brevity is a blessing.
There are very few illustrations in this small book, so if you want to see how a hoplite or legionary was equipped, this is not the book for you, but if you want a pithy distillation of the most current thinking on ancient warfare, this book is ideal. I found this book confusing right from the start: Now as a neophyte, I recognize that tribal societies may put more emphasis on raids, ambushes and so on, but I associate decisive battles with most of the pre-classical empires.
This makes providing clarity of discussion more difficult, but I think he could have done better. At the same time, I enjoyed the book. There is a spirit of inquiry as Sidebottom discusses the information available and its reliability, and a nice reminder of some of the important classical historical events and politics. The book is almost conversational in tone. I found it particularly interesting that the Romans maintained their stereotypes about themselves and others for centuries, even as they became less and less accurate.
See all 18 reviews. Most recent customer reviews. Published on March 16, Published on January 24, Published on March 15, Published on January 27, Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway. Set up a giveaway. Customers who viewed this item also viewed. The Spanish Civil War: What other items do customers buy after viewing this item? Feedback If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
- Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction by Harry Sidebottom.
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To ask other readers questions about Ancient Warfare , please sign up. Although short, the Introductions are substantial in content. Oxford University Press, Buy the selected items together This item: Rather than see it as one Roman There's a problem loading this menu at the moment. If Tiberius had judged that there was the possibility that a decisivebattle could have been fought in Germany in ad 17, he probably wouldnot have ordered Germanicus to return Roman forces to the banks ofthe Rhine.
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Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction
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