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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Overview of Alexander's Military Career, August 15, 2008
This review is from: Alexander the Great at War: His army - His battles - His Enemies (General Military) (Hardcover)
Having now read 40+ books about Alexander, I didn't expect this title to offer anything new or insightful, but I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the scholarship and thoughtful prose contained in this book. I was initially a little disappointed browsing through the book as I was hoping for some new graphics, maps and illustrations that I had not seen before, but I suppose that was wishful thinking. Once I sat down and actually started reading the text, I began to enjoy the contents and writing of Sheppard. She has done a great job of assimilating tons of academia about Alexander's amazingly eventful history and condensing it in a way that is easy to absorb and understand.
The book provides a very thorough background of Alexander's era - both in Greece/Macedonia as well as Persia and western Asia. An understanding of this historical background goes a long way in understanding why Alexander embarked on his unprecedented campaign to conquer the known world and reach the end of the world in the east. The strength of this book is the wealth of detail divulged by Sheppard while remaining clear and lucid and not getting dragged down by high-browed academia. In short, the book is fun to read and you'll learn a lot at the same time.
This book mainly focuses on the military aspects of Alexander's career and that's a good thing: that's what he was best at. He was a good statesman, diplomat, logistician, etc. and he was good and not so good at many other things, but if there is one thing that both pro-Alexander and anti-Alexander schools of thought can agree on, it's his military genius. Alexander's genius is comparable to that of creative and scientific geniuses ranging from Leonardo DaVinci to Isaac Newton and Ludwig van Beethoven to Albert Einstein. Alexander's battles ("masterpieces") are studied in military academies all around the world in the same way Beethoven's symphonies are studied in music conservatories. It's this aspect of Alexander that the book explores and it delivers.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
ALEXANDER THE GREAT AT WAR: HIS ARMY, HIS BATTLES, HIS ENEMIES, December 9, 2010
This review is from: Alexander the Great at War: His army - His battles - His Enemies (General Military) (Hardcover)
ALEXANDER THE GREAT AT WAR: HIS ARMY, HIS BATTLES, HIS ENEMIES
RUTH SHEPPARD
OSPREY PUBLISHING, 2008
HARDCOVER, $24.95, 224 PAGES, ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS, PHOTOGRAPHS, GLOSSARY
In the classical world, Alexander was regarded as the perfect ruler and commander and a role-model for all who followed, consequently, there was no end of the literary studies of his life and times, and we have no less than four classical accounts of him. The earliest of these is from Diodorus Siculus, who wrote his Universal History probably between 25 BC and 21 BC, with Book 17 providing an account of Alexander's reign. Note that Diodorus can be as sensationalist as Herodotus Quintus Curtius Rufus, a senator under Tiberius Caesar, who wrote his History of Alexander during the period between 31 AD and 41 AD, when he fell out of Tiberius' favor. It is tinged with biterness against 'great men'. Plutarch was a Greek essayist , who produced his Lives, a series of paired character studies juxtaposing famous Greeks with famous Romans. His Life Of Alexander in the late 1st Century (paired with Julius Caesar) contains a brief account of the Hydaspes. The fullest and most authoritative account is that of Arrian (Lucius Flavius Arrianus), an experienced Roman general, who served in the Eastern Wars of the Emperor Trajan and than defeated an Alan invasion of Asia Minor in 135 AD. He wrote using memoirs of some of Alexander's officers, which are now lost. Alexander III, better known to history as Alexander the Great, assumed the throne upon his father's Philip II's assassination in 36 BC. Philip II became King of Macedon in 359 BC and began a series of military reforms, turining an ill-disciplkined feudal levy into one of the most formidable armies of the Classical-era, in what is frequently described by military historians as another 'military revolution'. Philip professionalized the Macedonian army by introducing peacetime training and regular, structured pay for his men, as well as grants of land upon completion of service. Troops underwent regular drill and route marches in full kit, aimed at instilling physical fitness and instinctive obedience in his soldiers. Alongside these institutional innovations went a series of organizational reforms, the most important of which was the introduction of a new type of phalanx. The Macedonian phalanx was powerful, but brittle. Its effectiveness was based on troops being indoctrinated to maintain such a dense formation without training to march in step, and to respond instinctively to pre-set words of command or bugle calls. The Roman historian, Arrian, records that Philip's son, Alexander the Great, overawed the forces of Glaucias and Cleitus with a display of Phalanx-drill, and later, at Gaugamela, the phalanx broke ranks smoothly in order to nullify the charge of Darius' scythed chariots. This 'collective action' had little place for individual initiative; a skelepiodotos gives the titles of officers in the phalanx, but doesn't describe their roles in any detail, apart from file leaders, who were tasked with maintaining proper formation and drill. Alexander the Great overcame the Persians in mighty battles because he coordinated his forces to overcome numerically stronger, but less adept, opposition. This richly illustrated book examines all of Alexander's incredible campaigns, describing in detail the armies he defeated as he created his enormous empire, and explains the extraordinary generalship and tactics that won his victories. Numerous maps and photographs, and full-color artwork reconstructions and 3-D "bird's-eye views" of battles combined with an authoritative text to relive one of history's most epic military adventures. ALEXANDER THE GREAT AT WAR: HIS ARMY, HIS BATTLES, HIS ENEMIES is an essential companion for any reader interested in his military campaigns and why he is still regarded as one of the world's greatest military leaders.
Lt. Colonel Robert A. Lynn, Florida Guard
Orlando, Florida
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book for a moderate overall view of Alexander's campaigns but NOT comprehensive!, August 26, 2010
This review is from: Alexander the Great at War: His army - His battles - His Enemies (General Military) (Hardcover)
This book is a combination of various Osprey titles and provides
a solid moderate militaristic view of Alexander, his campaigns, and battles.
If you want a sweet beginner & intermediate book on Alexander, THIS is the
only one I recommend.
If you want a deep tactical & strategic book BUT without a lot of military maps, try:
Alexander by Theodore Ayrault Dodge
I myself am still searching for a map filled book that does what Dodge's book on Alexander says!
Steve
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