Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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63 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great book, great new format, June 4, 2002
The series of Cassell's History of Warfare, edited by John Keegan, started coming out a couple of years ago in an oversized hardback format encrusted with graphics and large type in the style of the age. Thank God that Cassell has reissued Victor Davis Hanson's excellent contribution in this new compact trade paperback format. Most of the illustrations are gone, the remaining ones are well chosen, and compared with the hardback version I believe that all of the maps have been retained. In addition, the book is really well bound and promises to hold up.Hanson, for those who somehow have missed him until now, is a professor of Classics at California State and also is a part time farmer, both of which have contributed to his writing as a military historian. As a classicist, Hanson is well versed in the sources in their original Greek, and as a farmer he understands how agriculture affected the experience of the Greeks at war. For it was the farmers of the early Greek polis who developed modern western warfare. Unlike other cultures, the Greek farmers couldn't afford to support professional armies or hire mercenaries, and they couldn't spend a great deal of time away from their farms campaigning. The Greek way of war was to gather up the militia, which comprised all the able bodied men of property who could afford the armor and equipment of a hoplite, march out to a convenient flat field to meet the men of the polis they were warring with, and in a matter of hours, get it over with in quick, brutal, decisive battle. Expounded at greater length in Hanson's ground-breaking "The Western Way of War," Greek battle is covered well here, from its earliest heroic developments in the Bronze Age, through the classic Greek era of the democratic polis, the Persian and the Peloponnesian Wars, and finishing with Alexander, the misnamed "Great." Important battles, including Marathon, Plataea, Delium and Gaugamela, are covered in depth. Anyone interested in the ancient Greeks owes it to themselves to read this and, if possible, "The Western Way of War." It is utterly impossible to properly understand Hellenic culture without understanding how and why they fought. I recall with some hilarity the introduction to a book of poems by a well-known feminist writer who proclaimed that America must choose to be either Sparta or Athens, her obvious thesis being "Sparta - Warlike! Bad! Athens - Peaceful and Artistic! Good!" It's not that simple. Sparta admittedly was fascist, but pretty much stayed at home oppressing the helots, while Athens became a predatory imperialist democracy, bringing tragedy on itself and the Greeks in the process. It's also important to remember, as Hanson points out, that the great artists, writers, and philosphers were warriors at need. It may be hard to imagine Socrates or Aeschylus in the bronze panoply of a hoplite, but it happened. This book is a great value in this format and at this price. It needs to be in the collection of anyone interested in military and/or classical history. And here's hoping that Cassell releases the rest of this series in this format!
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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Overview, December 1, 2000
This is an excellent summary of Victor Davis Hanson's views on Greek warfare presented in the format of a coffeetable-style book. This volume is superior to most books of this type because Davis Hanson's analysis is really a social history of Greek warfare, not the usual compendium of battles, campaigns, and military technology. Davis Hanson does a very nice job of presenting the historical development of Greek warfare from the emergence of citizen hoplite militias associated with the classical polis to the large standing armies associated with large Hellenistic states. For Davis Hanson, Greek military history is a key feature of classical history. The hoplite militia and hoplite battles are the ultimate expression of the relative egalitarianism and solidarity of the polis. Changes in military technology become semi-independent forces in classical history and an important aspect of the development of the polis and its replacement by authoritarian Hellenistic states. This book is a clear digest of Davis Hanson's very interesting views of classical history. His analysis is bold and largely convincing. One area, however, where I think he is on shaky ground is his assertion that the Greeks invented heavy infantry combat and set the pattern for Western warfare. He asserts further that this is distinctive feature of Western culture. While it is true that military innovators of the early modern period did draw on classical models, it is much more likely that the development of assault infantry in early modern Europe is re-invention, as opposed to re-discovery. Similarly, heavy infantry assault was independently developed by disparate non-Western societies such as the Zulus and the medieval Japanese. I think Davis Hanson has identified something that is characteristically human, as opposed to characteristically Western.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good reference for Ancient Greek and Western Art of War, July 13, 2000
Professor Victor Davis Hanson has written a broad but vivid account of the Ancient Greek Military Legacy, covering a millennium of warfare from the development of the city-states, to the Persian War; from the Peloponnesian War to the late Hellenistic states; to the coming of Rome. It has good and unique insights of Greek Military development right from Mycenaean Greece to the Revolution of Philip II of Macedon.Weaponry, body-armor, field tactics and the unique Greek (Western) cultural background were discussed along the way to chart the course of this military development. Tracing the evolution of Greek fighting from Homeric times, where military confrontation was still a matter of raiding and plundering (also a possible reference to the Trojan conflict?), the many huge Mycenaean palaces were seen as a defensive dead-end strategy. After the dark ages, Hanson gave detail foundation for the coming of the Hoplite, mainly the agrarian duels between small `polis' settlements driven by it's many political and cultural dimensions. Arguments and reasons for the rise of the Hoplite is put forward and these are provoking and should be of interest to any military enthusiast. Description of the Hoplite battle formation and fighting are thoughtful and full of insights. Warfare as an integral part of Greek lifestyle is skillfully pictured with mentions of famous names like Sophocles, Socrates to Aeschylus who at one time or another fought as a Hoplite. There is even a list of clearly `defined rules" of fighting presented which is a pleasure to read. Hoplite technology and thereby the Western mode of warfare finally came of age with the emergence of Athenian and Spartan military power, especially seen in the successful defense of Greece against the Persian invaders. Unfortunately, this soon cumulated into the disastrous Peloponnesian War and gave birth to the new concept of `total warfare' - warfare that is singularly decisive, destructive and overwhelming in death toll and the scale of participant's resource. The second evolution is that of the Macedonian phalanxes, refined by Philip and Alexander into an all-conquering army. Not too much new material is given here as many of the battles and details are well known but the graphics are well illustrated and clear. Yet for all the smooth flowing of this book, there are lacks. The development of warfare in other city-states like Thebes and the late Hellenistic kingdoms are not given enough attention. Naval warfare tactics featured little in this book as seen in the battle of Marathon and Plataea being well illustrated and discussed but not the sea battle of Salamis. The end conclusion of Greek warfare in relation to Western military cultural is engaging but too short thereby needing further elaboration. Still, it's an excellent reference of Ancient Greek warfare given the extensiveness of the scope.
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