Alexander the Great at War: His army - His battles - His Enemies (General Military) (Hardcover)

~ Ruth Sheppard (Editor)
Key Phrases: mercenary cavalry, royal pages, companion taxis, Asia Minor, Persian Empire, Osprey Publishing Ltd (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In a little over a decade, Alexander the Great led a combined Greek and Macedonian army and set out to conquer the known world. This latest entry by Osprey Publishing traces the leader's rise to power, his battlefield exploits, and the forces that opposed him. As with all of Osprey's books, this one is full of detailed drawings, photographs and maps to complement the text." -Military Heritage Magazine (October 2008)

"This book is recommended to the historian and the modeler...Those who do get into the book, will find that it provides all you would ever want to know about one of the key figures of history. It is a book that is well written and historically accurate. A book that I am sure you will enjoy."-Drew Nix, modelingmadness.com (July 2008)


"The richly illustrative and authoritative Alexander the Great at War examines Alexander's campaigns in detail. His victories and the tactics that ensured them are explained and described with the help of maps, illustrations and reconstructions to bring the epic career of one of the world's greatest generals to life."- SirReadaLot.org (June 2008)

Product Description

Alexander was arguably the greatest military commander ever. Upon the assassination of his father King Philip II of Macedon in the summer of 336 BC, he took over the reins of power of a now united Greece. Two years later he led his combined Macedonian and Greek army into Asia and began the greatest military conquest in world history. In eleven short years and an extraordinary sequence of marches, battles and sieges, he overcame the might of the Persian Empire and campaigned across deserts, plains and forests as far as the Indian subcontinent to become master of most of the known world, at least on the battlefield. He died in Babylon at the age of 33

This richly illustrated book examines all of Alexander's incredible campaigns, describing in detail his armies and the armies he defeated as he created his enormous empire, and explains the extraordinary generalship and tactics that won him his victories. Numerous maps and photographs, and full-color artwork reconstructions and 3-D "bird's-eye views" of battles combine with authoritative text to relive one of history's most epic military adventures.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing; illustrated edition edition (May 20, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1846033284
• ISBN-13: 978-1846033285
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #725,333 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Overview of Alexander's Military Career, August 15, 2008

By	Virtuoso Fan (Murrieta, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alexander "underfeated", May 1, 2009

By	Randall G. Robles "Randy" (Fort Smith, AR United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

A Well written history of Alexander and his army and his many battles. Highly recommended for anybody who loves to study military history and one of the greatest leaders of all time