Customer Reviews

Chariot: The Astounding Rise and Fall of the World's First War Machine

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book piqued my interest last week, as my interests in Military History reading the last few years have shifted increasingly toward the more ancient periods. Obviously, from the five stars I give it, I consider the purchase money well spent.

The book discusses the importance of chariotry both in warfare and in culture across a range of cultures. The author breaks his material into discussions of West Asia + Egypt, India and China.

I suspect much of the general material concerning West Asia and Egypt (with discussions of Kadesh and Megiddo, The Iliad and Greek Heroic traditions, burial discoveries from Egyptian and Greek sites, etc.) won't be new to most readers, but a lot of the details behind this general approach may be.

What I particularly appreciated were the discussions of the chariot in India and China, as (at least for me) these are areas I know little about, and have had a hard time finding much to overcome my ignorance. These discussions don't just focus on evidence of use in military battles, but also discuss the role of chariots in cultural foundations such as the Indian epic Mahabharata.

As an added bonus, while the focus clearly lies on the role of the chariot in ancient warfare, the reader can also learn a bit about comparative religion/mythology (similarities between Greek or Roman gods and those of India, for example), migrations of ancient people, influence of trade between civilizations, and more.

The end notes do a very nice job of expounding on the more interesting topics of each chapter (think of the notes as being "sidebars" to the main work), and generally at the end of each note the author reccomends a further source or two he considers good for the reader interested in learning more about that topic.

While I found a few (emphasis on few) sections to be a bit heavy reading, the book as a whole reads very easily, especially considering the amount of information included.

Mr Cotterell has tackled an interesting and largely neglected subject with "Chariot." This work is expansive, covering development of the chariot, supporting equipment, chariot battles, and culture stretching from Briton to China. The decline of the chariot and the many reasons for that are also reviewed and explained: development of cavalry, horse archers, heavy infantry, expense and time of training/maintaining chariotry, sociological changes, etc.

Unfortunately, the book is too expansive in its coverage of general history and mythology/epics. It loses focus and this can result in tiresome reading, waiting for the author to get back to the topic, chariots. For example, many pages are spent detailing the Indian epics and chariot use by the deities, but surprisingly little is presented about archaeological/history based Indian chariot use. Similarly, far too much time is spent on Homer's Iliad, while some other known historical uses of chariots in battle are entirely neglected.

A glaring example of how the historical aspect is neglected in favor of epics is the omission of the last major uses of scythed chariots, by Pontic rulers. Mithridates IV had some notable fiascos with scythed chariots-leading to open laughter and derision by the legions at Chaeronea. However, Mithridates' son, Pharnaces II, won a major victory in 61 BC at Ennium by disrupting the Roman infantry with scythed chariots to open gaps in a Roman army.

As other reviewers have noted, the author's arrangement of the book is haphazard. On the surface the book appears to have a logical outline, but within the text skips from period-to-period and place-to-place. The dust jacket quotation from the Times describes the book as "amiably discursive history" and it would be hard to find a more apt or concise description. The book lacks a proper chronological flow and frequently hops half a millennia or more, or several thousand miles.

An aspect that sets "Chariot" apart from most other ancient/classical warfare treatise is its coverage of China and India. The section on China is particularly informative. For instance, I was unaware that the Chinese developed the breast-strap harness system that allowed horses to pull far heavier burdens than those of all other regions of the time. All others relied on stifling neck-girth harnesses until the 6th to 10th century A.D. limiting them to lighter, smaller chariots. Another innovation of the Chinese was the dished wheel shape that added strength to the wheel along the axle's thrust axis.

The text is well illustrated with stele, sketches, rock drawings, etc.-98 B&W illustrations in all. A helpful feature is that each odd page of the text has a short description of the subject matter of the page.

In summary, despite numerous flaws, I recommend this book to those interested in chariots or ancient warfare

An excellent book focused on the chariot -- its development and use. The strength of the book is that it puts the chariot in its military, social, literary, and religious context. It is not a straight forward military history. In fact it is more of a social and cultural analysis of the chariot with a great deal of analysis and emphasis on the chariot in society. Of particular note is the early analysis of the key elements of chariot development from the combined need of weapons development (the bow and spear), the technological requirement for a light yet sturdy vehicle, and the difficulty in breeding and training horses. The author then reviews how the chariot and its related requirements developed in west Asia, India, and China -- how the weapon system and/or its components spread from one region to another. If you're looking for a good contextual history of the chariot this is the book for you -- however, if you're looking for a standard military history of the chariot in battle, you'd best look elsewhere.

Arthur Cotterell takes on a fascinating topic -- the use of chariots in ancient warfare -- but the style of presentation degrades the impact of his book. Other reviewers are certainly right in pointing to the chaotic character of much of the narrative that darts about, seemingly unable to keep its focus. Although theoretically the chapters are organized according to geographical/cultural anchors (that would normally tend to impose a chronological framework), very often the narrative casually leaps thousands of miles (and even thousands of years) without warning. In part, this might be excused as a technique to provide context for what the author is describing, but often it seems driven either by the author's desire to display his particular expertise (ancient China) or just to tell a good story (amusing as the tale about Bonaparte and the tame rabbits may be, its relevance to war chariots is nonexistent).

But for the good news: Cotterell does explore in considerable detail the whole long story of chariots in warfare. He is firmly of the school that identifies military chariots as, primarily, archery platforms, but I do wish he could have explored in greater detail the implications of the introduction of spear-carrying warriors as chariot passengers or, for that matter, the presumed vulnerability of chariots to foot soldiers.

"Chariot" is far from a perfect history volume, but it is nontheless worth reading/

I purchased this book with great expectations having read his work before. However, after a 100 pages or so, I found Arthur constantly using the same examples over and over to prove his points. His book is a feeble attempt to repeat what has already been done so well by another author he quotes as being his inspiration for writing this book. If you want to read a great book with lots of evidence and solid writing, buy the book by the author who believes chariot warfare was the dominant form of warfare before the advent of the foot soldier. I am sorry the title escapes me, but the book is a great read. If you want a good work, don't buy this book, you are liable to have a good nap before you finish it.

. . . by which I mean, it's not an in-depth focus on chariot technology and only chariot technology for the use of gamers and serious students of special-interest military topics. The Times of London review on the back cover of my copy calls the book an "amiably discursive history," and that's exactly what I found it.

I personally found it a little bit, just a tiny touch, on the light side as far as chariot technology goes, but the over-view and the base technical model (the evolution of wheels specific to the chariot, the impact of harness on size and shape, and so forth) was informative and interesting. I enjoyed the discussion of chariots as predating cavalry, something I probably could have eventually figured out on my own, but which came as an agreeable surprise.

My personal mild frustrations with the level of detail (I always want more) were more than answered by the excellent chapter notes at the back of the volume. I recommend reading those with their respective chapters rather than not getting to them until you've finished the book (like I did).

Chariot, From Chariot to Tank, The Astounding Rise and Fall of the World's First War Machine, by Arthur Cotterell is a history of the chariot.

Between the domestication of the horse, and the use of stirrups and other techniques to make horse-riding warfare more practical, the primary uses of horses in warfare was by means of the chariot. Cotterell begins with the description of one of the major battles in the ancient world, the Egyptian-Hatti Battle of Kadesh in which 5000 chariots on both sides participated. From this basis, Cotterell describes the history of the use of the chariot in time and space from Rome all the way to China.

There is an enormous amount of detail in the book, but its marred by digressions, poor organization and badly formed repetitions. Cotterell mentions battles and places, only to return to them again and again. That would not be a problem, but there is no sense of building on what was already written, or an awareness that there is something new to be said in the narrative. He mentions battles, and then comes back to them again, talking about them as if we had not already read about it earlier in the novel. It was extremely frustrating to this reader.

I learned a lot from the novel, my conception of what good the chariot was and how it was used has expanded. I particularly appreciated that Cotterell did not restrict himself to the Middle East and Europe, as he extensively talks about the role of the chariot in India and China. Cotterell, in the typical haphazard fashion in this book, extends the mandate of the book beyond the war machine role of the chariot to discuss its use as symbol and mythological object ranging from Rome to China.

It's all a pity, though. I really wanted to like and recommend this book, but the disorganized writing and jumbled information just made this book a chore to read, rather than a joy. The scholarship and information is all there, but its more work than its worth, in my opinion, to reach and get it out.

This is a chaotic book, wonder why it was published. The only positive points I could find are a few illustrations and the high quality paper it was printed on. The text, despite the apparently reasonable chapter division, is a mix-up of themes, the author jumping from one subject to other without regard to any apparent logic. Therefore it lacks depth of analysis, and focus on matters totally irrelevant regarding the books title.
The author might be knowledgeable about what he writes (although foot or end notes are absent) but the information is presented in such a chaotic way that it is hardly of any use for a serious student.

This book is terrible:

1) very little information about chariots. Lots of anecdotal info (half the book!) about Chinese (and other) history - interesting but . . .
2) just a list of facts - no discussion of the theory of chariot warfare.

"chaotic" is a great word to describe this book. I agree with the above review. Can't fathom why this book was published, or even written.

Like a previous reviewer said the book kinda jumps around and has a tendancy to repeat itself. I found it interesting nontheless in its description of ancient warefare in the Near East and Asia. Its strickly for Historical enthusiasts and Gamers.

Many of the subjects in the book would be familiar to those addicted to the old original Microsoft Age of Empires game. It repiqued my interest and I'm replaying the old pre Rise of Rome scenarios.