5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Joan of Arc, The Warrior Saint, July 21, 2009
The author, Stephen W. Richey is knowledgeable in military tactics. The author advances strong arguements that Joan of Arc was not a figurehead. Richey makes a convincing arguement that Joan was not only a tactician but also played a paramont role in leading the French armies and directing governmental policy.
Joan of Arc (1412-1431) lived during the hundred year war. Over the years, the English had defeated the French nearly ninety percent of the time. The book opens with a description of the decisive French defeat at Agincourt. The French were never able to profit from their mistakes. Unlike the English who encouraged the peasants to become yeomen and skilled archers, the Frech nobility and knights had nothing but contempt for the peasantry.
Joan of Arc grew up in Domremy in the French Providence of Lorraine. The area around Domremy consisted of a small enclave that was still loyal to the Dauphin Charles, the uncrowned king of France. Joan of Arc grew up in an enviroment that was under constant stress and raids from the English and their Burgundy allies. The town of Domremy was sacked on several occassions and the church burned down.
The single event that made Joan an equal member of the warrior elite was when she took an arrow in her shoulder at Orleans. After the arrow was pulled out, she mounted her horse. Delving into the thick of battle and waving her banner with her uninjured arm, she shouted for one more assault. The French army surged seized the most stategic British stonghold and in one day lifted the English seige of Orleans. At that almost surreal moment, Joan became forever their maid earnig the respect and devotion of the soldiers. In quick succession, the French captured several towns along the Loire River and decisively defeated the British forces at Patay.
The present-day United States Army lists principles of war as objective, offensive, maneuver, mass economy of force, unity of command surprise, security and simplicity. The author makes a case that Joan accomplished all these objectives plus instilling a high sense of morale. She discouraged plundering of captured cities and was very compassionate to her defeated foes. Joan understood the placement of artillary. The author suggests that the men who operated the seige guns were skilled technicians drawn from the lower classes and these were the people who Joan could relate to. Of course, Joan transcended all socio-economic classes and had the respect and love of the peasantry as well as most aristocrats.
I think the most interesting aspect was the author's discription of how Joan turned her feminine qualities, that are perceived as weaknesses, into inspiration and strength. Joan was extremly intelligent; and although an uneducated peasant girl, she could hold her own with the most learned church authorities. She never loss her cool under stress. The author speculates that she had exceptional physical strength and if she lived today would probably be a world class athelete.
I highly recommend this book because Joan of Arc is one of the most remarkable individual to ever live. In these challenging times, she should be an inspiration to all of us. She had all the virtues of hope, faith, love, courage, prudence, justice, and temperance.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Military point of view, March 20, 2004
This review is from: Joan of Arc: The Warrior Saint (Hardcover)
The author has battlefield and military experience that is valuable to explain the what and how of Joan's military campaigns..The reasons for her military success on the battlefield is detailed with greater authority than Kelly Devries book Joan Of Arc A Military Leader..More precise and interesting..The book is a good read.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Draws upon eyewitness accounts of Joan's military colleagues, July 14, 2004
This review is from: Joan of Arc: The Warrior Saint (Hardcover)
Joan Of Arc: The Warrior Saint by freelance researcher and biographer Stephen W. Richey offers an informed and unique presentation of the life and accomplishments of the "warrior maid" who successfully led the French against the British, only to be betrayed into the hands of the enemy and ultimately burned at the stake for heresy. Richey draws upon eyewitness accounts from Joan's military colleagues as well as his own military experience to reveal not just what Joan was able to accomplish in the brief course of her military service, but to just how she accomplished what she did on the battlefields of Medieval France. Joan Of Arc: The Warrior Saint is one of the very best biographies of this most singular young woman written to date.
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