THE GREAT COMMANDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD 1479BC - 453AD PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Andrew Roberts | 432 pages | 17 May 2016 | Quercus Publishing | 9780857381958 | English | London, United Kingdom The Great Commanders of the Ancient World 1479BC - 453AD PDF Book You are commenting using your WordPress. How was Alexander the Great able to command sufficient loyalty from his troops to lead them across half of the Asian landmass in search of new territories to conquer? A master of logistics, in 10 short years he crossed the ancient world, conquering an empire that stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River in India; and from the Danube River to the upper-reaches of the Nile. No doubt great military leaders will arise in the future. Andrew Roberts : We found 62 results. Philip II of Macedon. May 25, at pm. To adjust to changing circumstances requires a mind receptive to new ideas and open to new possibilities. He has done that before and repeatedly, on a variety of subjects. Chrome On the Control button top right of browser , select Settings from dropdown. He fought but eventually came to agreement with Chandragupta Maurya, the great Indian leader; giving-up the Punjab in return for war elephants. Personally leading his men on the perilous route, Thutmose had his mounted scouts, armed for the first time with composite bows, take out any guards posted by the enemy. The Egyptian army, too, met its death in the wars against the Hyksos for the same reasons, by employing an existing successful military system in radically changed circumstances. YES I have read and consent to Hachette Australia using my personal information or data as set out in its Privacy Policy and I understand I have the right to withdraw my consent at any time. Whatever the true reason, the Huns were now inside the Empire, burning, looting and killing large numbers of civilians. If the great commanders of the past excelled at anything, it was their ability not to become victims of unanticipated change. How did Henry V of England achieve victory at Agincourt for the loss of a few hundred of his men, when the mounted French knights suffered casualties in the thousands? Carl Gnam. He seldom failed in any of his undertakings; and his generalship was marked by a mix of boldness tempered with caution. The best Carthaginian commander of the First Punic War; after which he saved Carthage from destruction at the hands of her own rebellious mercenaries. By the time Sargon came to the throne, Assyria had been a nation for years, and the empire was already more than two centuries old. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here And he could have been so much more, says John Man. But conquest would bring challenges of a different order. Everything from new foods to new musical instruments flowed into Egypt, along with new ideas about everything from religion to political legitimacy. To the very end, his army largely mercenaries with no national tie to bind them stayed loyal and followed wherever the master led. Pompey the Great 1 st century BC Roman commander of great stature, who cleared the Mediterranean of pirate infestation; ended the civil war in Spain; achieved final victory in the Mithridatic War; and annexed the remnants of the Seleucid Kingdom into the Roman Empire. Great leaders, at heart, are still men and women—however much their people may hope in darkest times that they are divine. Hannibal, too, saw his military campaign against Rome as the vehicle for creating a new world order in which states of relatively equal military and economic power coexisted in relative harmony. War is rarely a predictable enterprise--it is a mess of luck, chance, and incalculable variables. Hannibal Barca. In stock online. There is always danger in taking risks, but, as the great commander understands instinctively, the greater danger lies in doing nothing. Learning from the Carthaginian master, he took these lessons and applied them to the heretofore unimaginative Romans of his day. Stirring portraits of five commanders whose dynamic leadership changed the course of war and history by prominent military historian Victor Davis Hanson. Here Attila, dressed simply and without ornament, sat on a raised couch at the head of the company. Visit the Australia site Continue on UK site. As accessible and informative as it is rigorous and scholarly, Great Commanders of the Ancient World is the perfect introduction to its subject for the layperson - but also a stimulating and thought-provoking read for those with greater knowledge of military history. Gabriel does plead a great case for his inclusions and omissions. Attila the Hun c— was the leader of the ancient nomadic people known as the Huns from to AD and ruler of the Hunnic Empire. You must have JavaScript enabled in your browser to utilize the functionality of this website. Among the revolutionary leaders of the nondemocratic states of the early 20th century—Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Hitler —only Mao had ever been a field general and not a very good one at that. In the event, having taken a dozen cities in the Po valley, the Huns were stopped by disease and famine, not by military defeat, and returned to Hungary for the last time. The mantle fits March 20, at pm. Adopted as his heir by the aged and peaceful Nerva, Trajan annexed Nabataea and waged two campaigns to conquer Dacia. Possibly, their ancestors were a people called the Xiongnu — Hun-nu in Mongolian — who ruled a sizeable empire in Mongolia for years, until China broke them apart in the second century AD. Yet given what he achieved, it is hard to understand why, says John Man. Why did the Axis lose? The Great Commanders of the Ancient World 1479BC - 453AD Writer They need it more than me. View Results. Herodotus nd Homer also deserve place in list if Thucydides. The Roman armies that fought Hannibal, for example, were defeated repeatedly because their commanders employed them as they were designed to be employed, while Hannibal fought in a completely different way. Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus. Hannibal was undoubtedly a great general and defeated the Romans time and again, but was unable to affect a final strategic victory, and was eventually defeated by Scipio himself, saw his beloved Carthage humbled, and died by suicide in exile. Perhaps the most basic lesson to be taken from the study the great captains of antiquity is the knowledge that the great captains yet to come will be both as remarkable and as recognizably human as those who came before. Most of these men died violently, or at least prematurely, and most of their achievements rapidly crumbled to dust. Third Army Eighth Air Force. He was a tactical innovator of the first order, responsible for many of the military trends that followed. He defeated the best Macedonian army to take the field since the age of Alexander and the Diadochi, and made it look easy! Paperback French. Rui rated it it was amazing Aug 24, His military genius propelled the hitherto insignificant clans of the Persia to dominion; creating the greatest Middle Eastern-based empire of antiquity. Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus The conqueror of Liguria and Macedonia, he commanded with a sure and calm hand. While in the senior school, he got bullied and took refuge in the library where he first embraced Trotskyism, and later Thatcherism. Salisbury: Victorian Titan Paperback. Of course Agrippa was a skilled naval commander. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. But their dramatic feats of leadership are vital slices of history--not merely as stirring military narrative, but as lessons on the dynamic nature of consensus, leadership, and destiny. All is vanity. Great leaders share the dangers of their troops and take pains to be seen doing so by their men. Scipio demonstrated an air of quiet calm and dignity that gave his soldiers confidence. In stock online Available in stores. He has never once abandoned the latter. January 9, at pm. Readers also enjoyed. Seven are Greek or Macedonian , with Alexander taking the top-spot; and his father coming in at number 5. There is something very appealing, and quite romantic, about little democratic Greek city states taking on and defeating the massive Persian Empire, and I don't think it's an exaggeration to describe these events as epochal in European history. The chapter on Maccabeus, on the other hand, was excellent and provided a great introduction to the Maccabean revolt against the ruling Seleucid empire and the establishment of the Jewish Hasmonean kingdom - the last period of Jewish independence for more than two thousand years. Given command of Roman forces in Africa during the Third Punic War, he succeeded in capturing and destroying Carthage when previous commanders had been stymied. The Great Commanders of the Ancient World 1479BC - 453AD Reviews It is one thing to conceive of great things, quite another to attempt them and succeed. It looks like you are located in Australia or New Zealand Close. And when they do, it is a virtual certainty that their achievements will be marked by the same passion, sense of adventure, and personal experience that marked their emergence in the past. The great captains were all well-educated men, formally trained by the educational establishments of their times. Napoleon and Wellington. Without great challenges, leadership is confined to a narrower scope of events and concerns. Earthquake damages the walls of Constantinople. Great captains arise when there are great challenges to be dealt with, or when social turmoil loosens the constraints that guide the exercise of power in normal times.