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Title: Hoplites: The Classical Greek Battle Experience by Victor Davis Hanson ISBN: 0-415-09816-5 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: November, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $33.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (4 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Skilled Soldiers, Rather than 'eathens
Comment: This works delves into Ancient Greek battle and experience of battle, rather than ancient Greek wafare as a whole. Instead of glorifying this kind of war, the authors point out several times the cold bloodedness, fear, and bloodiness of this kind of battle.
The main focus of the work (and I agree with the earlier reviewer that some of the essays are a tad big-winded) is to point out the actions, intensity, purpose, and cultural aspects of hoplite battle, not strategy. All authors use extensive references to actual historical events. I think the books succeeds, and I disagree with the same reviewer I mentioned above that tactics did not matter. The Thebans in particular are noted for the tactics of Epimeinondas, and the Athenians and Syracusans are mentioned as well. Tactics at later stages of hoplite battle are more difficult, but an essay points out that early and middle stage fighting had ample room for both small unit and larger unit tactics.
And I also take issue with another review that quotes Kipling in an effort to relegate hoplites to simple farmers who fight on occasion. The Greek hoplite were excellent soldiers (even if they also farmed), and even professional, as evidenced by their extensive history of mercenary service. They took care of their weapons, followed orders, and in many cases, were bloody hard to punch out of a postion, such as Thermopylae. Again, the book mentions their professionalism at several points, including the patient endurance of Spartans under Persina arrows at Platea 479 B. C.
I do not think the 19th century heathen warriros in the poem could have pulled off the above, or the Anabasis, or conquered everything from Macedonia to India, with the exception of a Zulu army, which, I might add, defeated a rather modern British force at Islandlwana.
If you have a basic understanding of ancient Greek battle, I suggest this book as a next step. It will greatly deepen both understanding and appreciation of the topic.
Rating: 4
Summary: Hoplomachia--The Ancient Greek Art of War
Comment: In ancient Greece, men dressed themselves in armor, armed themselves with pikes, stood shoulder to shoulder eight ranks deep facing another group of similarly armed and arrayed soldiers, and then charged into each other with homicidal intent. The resulting carnage was horrific. There was no maneuver, no strategy, and little room for skill at arms. Only strength, stamina, and courage mattered.
As bloody and unpleasant as the hoplite battle was, it was really a system designed to limit non-combatant casualties. Only the soldiers on the chosen field of battle exposed themselves to injury while the city-states themselves suffered little behind their stout walls. Hoplite warfare was sort of like settling international disputes by means of a very bloody football game.
The essays in this volume explore all aspects of the very bloody sport that was classical Greek combat. Arms, armament, drill, ritual, and all other appurtenances of Greek warfare are examined exhaustively. There is even a whole chapter devoted to the "salpinx," the Greeks' version of the bugle.
The writing is somewhat uneven (some of the contributors seek to display their extensive vocabulary rather than enlighten the reader) and the work suffers greatly from a dearth of illustrations. Several chapters refer extensively to paintings on pottery, but the pottery isn't depicted in the book. Despite these shortcomings, I highly recommend the book to anyone interested in ancient military history.
If you'd like an overview that doesn't delve quite as deeply into the details of hoplite battle, you might prefer two other works: F.E. Adcock's "The Greek and Macedonian Art of War," and Victor Hansen's "The Western Way of War," both available from Amazon.com.
Rating: 2
Summary: Stupidity As Virtue
Comment: Mr. Hanson seems to feel there's some particular moral virtue in a style of war where the height of strategy is to put your head down and run at the enemy like a bull at a gate. And that nothing is necessary but righteous enthusiasm.
As the son, grandson and great-grandson of professional soldiers -- mostly in the service of the British Empire -- words cannot express my disdain. My ancestors spent their professional lives butchering just such patriotic agrarian amateurs like sheep.
As the poet put it:
"The 'eathen in 'is blindness Bows down to wood and stone; 'E won't obey no orders Unless they is 'is own -- 'E keeps 'is side-arms sloppy 'E leaves 'em all about. Then up comes the Regiment; An' we punch the 'eathen out!"
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Title: The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece by Victor Davis Hanson, John Keegan ISBN: 0520219112 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 11 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Ripples of Battle : How Wars of the Past Still Determine How We Fight, How We Live, and How We Think by VICTOR HANSON ISBN: 0385504004 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 16 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: The Wars of the Ancient Greeks by Victor Davis Hanson ISBN: 0304359823 Publisher: Cassell Pub. Date: May, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Greek Hoplite 480-323 Bc (Warrior Series, 27) by Nicholas Victor Sekunda, Nick Sekunda ISBN: 1855328674 Publisher: Osprey Pub Co Pub. Date: December, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Soul of Battle : From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators VanquishedTyranny by Victor Davis Hanson ISBN: 0385720599 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 17 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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