Moment of Battle
Moment of Battle

Author: Jim Lacey

Publisher: Bantam

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 497

ISBN-13: 034552697X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Presents the twenty most crucial battles of all time, explaining how each conflict represents a historical epoch that triggered profound transformations and significantly shaped the development of the modern world.

The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World From Marathon to Waterloo
The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World From Marathon to Waterloo

Author: Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy

Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand

Published: 2024-01-03

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 9361428942

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World" by Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy is a seminal work in military history, providing insightful historical analysis into pivotal conflicts that shaped the course of civilizations. Creasy meticulously examines each battle, highlighting their strategic significance and global impact as turning points in the trajectory of human history. Through detailed accounts of warfare, tactics, and leadership, Creasy offers readers a comprehensive understanding of conquest and conflict. From ancient empires to medieval sieges and modern warfare, each battle serves as a lens through which Creasy explores the rise and fall of civilizations. With a keen focus on decisive moments and pivotal victories, Creasy illuminates the dynamic interplay of strategy and leadership that determined the outcomes of these historic encounters. From Alexander the Great's triumph at Gaugamela to the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, each battle resonates with lessons on the complexities of warfare and the consequences of military decisions. "The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World" stands as a testament to Creasy's expertise in military history and his ability to distill complex historical events into compelling narratives of conquest, conflict, and ultimate victory.

The Allure of Battle
The Allure of Battle

Author: Cathal Nolan

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017-01-02

Total Pages: 729

ISBN-13: 0199874654

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

History has tended to measure war's winners and losers in terms of its major engagements, battles in which the result was so clear-cut that they could be considered "decisive." Cannae, Konigsberg, Austerlitz, Midway, Agincourt-all resonate in the literature of war and in our imaginations as tide-turning. But these legendary battles may or may not have determined the final outcome of the wars in which they were fought. Nor has the "genius" of the so-called Great Captains - from Alexander the Great to Frederick the Great and Napoleon - play a major role. Wars are decided in other ways. Cathal J. Nolan's The Allure of Battle systematically and engrossingly examines the great battles, tracing what he calls "short-war thinking," the hope that victory might be swift and wars brief. As he proves persuasively, however, such has almost never been the case. Even the major engagements have mainly contributed to victory or defeat by accelerating the erosion of the other side's defences. Massive conflicts, the so-called "people's wars," beginning with Napoleon and continuing until 1945, have consisted of and been determined by prolonged stalemate and attrition, industrial wars in which the determining factor has been not military but matériel. Nolan's masterful book places battles squarely and mercilessly within the context of the wider conflict in which they took place. In the process it help corrects a distorted view of battle's role in war, replacing popular images of the "battles of annihilation" with somber appreciation of the commitments and human sacrifices made throughout centuries of war particularly among the Great Powers. Accessible, provocative, exhaustive, and illuminating, The Allure of Battle will spark fresh debate about the history and conduct of warfare.

Land Battles in 5th Century BC Greece
Land Battles in 5th Century BC Greece

Author: Fred Eugene Ray, Jr.

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2011-08-11

Total Pages: 325

ISBN-13: 0786452609

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"Relying heavily on primary sources such as Herodotus, Thucydides and Plutarch, this volume provides the first-ever tactical level survey of all Greek land engagements which occurred during the 5th century BC, a seminal period in the history of western warfare"--Provided by publisher.

A History of War in 100 Battles
A History of War in 100 Battles

Author: R. J. Overy

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 0199390711

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Their very names--Gettysburg, Waterloo, Stalingrad--evoke images of great triumph and equally great suffering, moments when history seemed to hang in the balance. Considered in relation to each other, such battles--and others of less immediate renown--offer insight into the changing nature of armed combat, advances in technology, shifts in strategy and thought, as well as altered geopolitical landscapes. The most significant military engagements in history define the very nature of war. In his newest book, Richard Overy plumbs over 3,000 years of history, from the Fall of Troy in 1200 BC to the Fall of Baghdad in 2003, to locate the 100 battles that he believes the most momentous. Arranged by themes such as leadership, innovation, deception, and courage under fire, Overy presents engaging essays on each battle that together provide a rich picture of how combat has changed through the ages, as well as highlighting what has remained consistent despite advances in technology. The battles covered here offer a wide geographic sweep, from ancient Greece to China, Constantinople to Moscow, North to South America, providing a picture of the dominant empires across time and context for comparison between various military cultures. From familiar engagements like Thermopylae (480 BC), Verdun (1916), and the Tet Offensive (1968) to lesser-studied battles such as Zama (202 BC), Arsuf (1191), and Navarino Bay (1827), Overy presents the key actors, choices, and contingencies, focusing on those details--sometimes overlooked--that decided the battle. The American victory at the Battle of Midway, for example, was determined by only ten bombs. It was, as Wellington said of Waterloo, a "near run thing." Rather than focusing on the question of victory or defeat, Overy examines what an engagement can tell us on a larger level about the history of warfare itself. New weapons and tactics can have a sudden impact on the outcome of a battle--but so too can leadership, or the effects of a clever deception, or raw courage. Overy offers a deft and visually captivating look at the engagements that have shaped the course of human history, and changed the face of warfare.

Decision at Sea
Decision at Sea

Author: Craig L. Symonds

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2006-10-23

Total Pages: 585

ISBN-13: 0199754888

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From thunderous broadsides traded between wooden sailing ships on Lake Erie, to the carrier battles of World War II, to the devastating high-tech action in the Persian Gulf, here is a gripping history of five key battles that defined the evolution of naval warfare--and the course of the American nation. Acclaimed military historian Craig Symonds offers spellbinding narratives of crucial engagements, showing how each battle reveals the transformation of technology and weaponry from one war to the next; how these in turn transformed naval combat; and how each event marked a milestone in American history. - Oliver Hazard Perry's heroic victory at Lake Erie, one of the last great battles of the Age of Sail, which secured the Northwestern frontier for the United States - The brutal Civil War duel between the ironclads Monitor and Virginia, which sounded the death knell for wooden-hulled warships and doomed the Confederacy's hope of besting the Union navy - Commodore Dewey's stunning triumph at Manila Bay in 1898, where the U.S. displayed its "new navy" of steel-hulled ships firing explosive shells and wrested an empire from a fading European power - The hairsbreadth American victory at Midway, where aircraft carriers launched planes against enemies 200 miles away--and where the tide of World War II turned in the space of a few furious minutes - Operation Praying Mantis in the Persian Gulf, where computers, ship-fired missiles, and "smart bombs" not only changed the nature of warfare at sea, but also marked a new era, and a new responsibility, for the United States. Symonds records these encounters in detail so vivid that readers can hear the wind in the rigging and feel the pounding of the guns. Yet he places every battle in a wide perspective, revealing their significance to America's development as it grew from a new Republic on the edge of a threatening frontier to a global superpower. Decision at Sea is a powerful and illuminating look at pivotal moments in the history of the Navy and of the United States. It is also a compelling study of the unchanging demands of leadership at sea, where commanders must make rapid decisions in the heat of battle with lives--and the fate of nations--hanging in the balance.

50 Battles That Changed the World
50 Battles That Changed the World

Author: William Weir

Publisher: Permuted Press+ORM

Published: 2018-05-29

Total Pages: 459

ISBN-13: 1682617653

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An informative look at the military conflicts that most altered the course of history and civilization, from ancient times to the modern world. Rather than celebrating warfare, 50 Battles That Changed the World looks at the clashes the author believes have had the most profound impact on world history. Ranked in order of their relevance to the modern world, these struggles range from the ancient past to the present day and span the globe many times over. Some of the battles in this book are familiar to us all—Bunker Hill, which prevented the American Revolution from being stillborn, and Marathon, which kept the world’s first democracy alive. Others may be less familiar—the naval battle at Diu (on the Indian Coast), which led to the ascendancy of Western Civilization and the discovery of America, and Yarmuk, which made possible the spread of Islam from Morocco to the Philippines. With remarkable accounts of both famous and lesser-known clashes, 50 Battles That Changed the World provides impressive insight into the battles that shaped civilization as we know it.