With Arrow, Sword, and Spear: A History of Warfare in the Ancient World

Couverture
Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001 - 312 pages
1 Commentaire

Most studies of ancient warfare focus only on the Greeks and the Romans, but this sweeping study covers the whole of the ancient world from Greece and Rome to the Near East, then eastward to Parthia, India, and China. Bradford transports the reader into the midst of ancient battles behind such great leaders as Thutmose III, Ashurbanipal, Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, and the First Emperor of China. He details the rise and fall of empires, the role of leadership, and the development of tactics and strategy. One sees the clash of peoples: nomads against agricultural societies, infantry against cavalry, as well as the greatest technological change in history--the combination of the composite bow and the chariot.

This readable account analyzes ancient armies in terms of modern military doctrine, allowing the reader to make comparisons between the combatants. Recruitment, for example, varied tremendously with Romans drawing from a limited pool of recruits for service terms of twenty to thirty years and Chinese planners preferring a large pool with short-term service. While various types of governments prepared for and waged war in significantly different ways, Bradford finds that better organization led to success on the battlefield and that, for the most part, societal innovation was more important than technological innovation. The ongoing discussion of the lessons of ancient warfare around the globe will provide valuable insights for interested general readers and military professionals alike.

 

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An overview of ancient warfare from the Hittites to the fall of Rome. Interestingly, it does include some discussion of ancient conflicts in India, a whole section of China, and is not just Euro ... Consulter l'avis complet

Table des matières

China The Warring States
137
China The Former Han
143
China The Later Han
153
The Parthians
159
The Roman Republic
165
The Development of the Roman System
167
Hannibal
177
The Conquest of the Mediterranean
191

The Persians
53
The Greeks
61
The Greek Way of War
63
Go Tell the Spartans
69
The Peloponnesian Archidamian War
79
The Peloponnesian Decelean War
87
The Demise of Hoplite Warfare
95
Philip and the Macedonians
101
Alexander the Great
109
Into India and Beyond
117
The East
123
India Chandragupta
125
China Spring and Autumn
129
The Breakdown of the Roman System
199
Julius Caesar
209
The Roman Empire
221
The Creation of the Empire
223
The Army of Trajan
231
The Ascendancy of the Army
239
The Awful Third Century
245
Reform and Revolution
253
The Fall of Rome
263
Afterword
273
SOURCES
283
INDEX
303
Droits d'auteur

Expressions et termes fréquents

Fréquemment cités

Page 38 - And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.
Page 38 - This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand, and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee ; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth : that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear : for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands.
Page 50 - And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.
Page 38 - You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
Page 39 - Then David ran, and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith.
Page 38 - The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.
Page 37 - And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
Page 37 - Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you: the Eternal shall rule over you.
Page 39 - And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem ; but he put his armour in his tent. And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth ? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell. And the king said, Inquire thou whose son the stripling is.
Page 34 - Ai. and his people, his city, and his land; 2 and you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king; only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves; lay an ambush against the city, behind it.

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À propos de l'auteur (2001)

ALFRED S. BRADFORD is the John Saxon Professor of Ancient History at the University of Oklahoma. He served with the 1/27th Infantry in Vietnam. He has been a research assistant and a member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.

Informations bibliographiques