Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction

Really focuses on Western Way of War, the chapters on actual tactics, etc are great. Would be nice to have ancient eastern views, I assume they also prided courage, etc.

The author presents his interesting viewpoint on ancient warfare & the concept of 'The Western Way of War'. Even if you don't always agree with him it's a good way to get you to think about concepts.This short book is small enough to fit in a jacket pocket & take with you to events & places where you might have some extra time on your hands.

The author lays out his points well, the primary one being a criticism of a unified, unchanging, Western way of war. He writes clearly and supports each point with quotes from literature or art from the period. Coherent, logical, and comprehensible.

A better title would be: What People Have Thought About the "Western Way of War" Over the Years (With a Heavy Emphasis on the Movie Gladiator): A Very Short Introduction

It is short, and an introduction, and I found it to be quite engrossing. He can certainly write well!

An interesting treatment of the subject. A good read! Recommend to all students of ancient history and warfare in general!

This is a good book and was useful on background as to how ancients regarded warfare and its proper use, but I was more interested in how ancient armies conducted their tactics and techniques and in how the hoplite formation developed and was used, and there was not much on that.

Quick reference for ancient warfare.

The one thing I didn’t like was the font size; a larger page size would have been preferred. That did not spoil the actual reading once I adjusted.I love my ancient Roman and Greek novels, alongside writings by the ancients themselves, such as Homer, Livy and Caesar. What Harry Sidebottom has written is a means of allowing me to better understand how the people of those times fought their wars, tactically as well as logistically, and why they felt they had a right to fight.At less than 50,000 words (my very rough estimate) there was never the chance of all the world’s warfare being studied, which was not an issue with me. For my specific interests, Harry’s experience as a historian and author ensured that I got all the information I needed.

This is a good introduction to the subject of ancient warfare. No, it isn't the basic work covering how the Greeks and Romans fought in detail. Mostly it's concerned with their perceptions of warfare and their neighboring peoples (ie: the barbarians). Starting and ending this book is a look at how the army was depicted in the film  Gladiator . His argument is that the modern depiction reflects our own impression of the "western way of war" just as art and architecture would for the Greeks and Romans.This all revolves around Victor Davis Hanson and his rather disgraceful books  The Western Way of War  and  Why the West has Won . Hanson is a far right American nationalist who seems convinced that the last 2500 years of European history represents one continuous manner of fighting: that of the citizen-soldier and the decisive set piece battle. This is despite the first concept only really making sense for a couple of centuries in Classical Greek history (and a few decades in American Colonial history) and the second concept making no sense throughout most of the middle ages or even consistently for the time in question.Despite being rightfully dismissive of such claims Sidebottom, unlike some other historians, believes that he is representing a real and long-lasting cultural belief started by the Greeks themselves. In his view the Greeks felt that their way of war was superior to barbarians' (for basically the reasons mentioned by Hanson) and this belief was passed on to the Romans who were convinced that the Greeks had gotten soft and lost it. Then the idea was passed down through the middle ages through respect for Roman culture until it reached today. I'm not quite sure if I buy some of the wider-ranging implications of his conclusions but he has convinced me that he is describing an actual phenomenon from the classical period.That's not all this book is about, though it is the main point. It also looks at the way in which battles were conceived of and details some of the issues argued about by modern historians. If I had a major complaint (apart from the somewhat misleading title) it would be that the frequent pictures are not of very good quality. A good book for the beginner to start on. If you're interested in a more thorough look at ancient warfare I'd check out  The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare . It's harder to find (and much more expensive) but it does cover the material in a much more thorough manner. GladiatorThe Western Way of WarWhy the West has WonThe Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare

This is a well written and informative analysis of Ancient Warfare. I enjoyed the freshness of the arguments and the book as a whole.

This is a very small book that needs reading and then thinking about before you move on to the next chapter. It is very good at explaining the various issues that faced the various 'tribes' of the ancient world and is worth the money

Made up