Rather than celebrating warfare, 50 Battles That Changed the World looks at the clashes the author believes have had the most profound impact on wo...
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reviews
Apr 22, 2010
Praj
rated it: 
A war fought for either selfish or any altruistic reason, is detrimental to mankind. The perils of any war is not only horrendous but changes the course of history.This book portrays the exact sentiments on how an active battle-front can influence the working of human life. This book periodically categorizes 50 influential battles ever fought from 'The Marathon'(490BC) to the 'Battle of Atlantic'(1935-45AD). William Weir puts forth a highly detailed encyclopedia of conflicts while meticulously
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Mar 28, 2011
Neil
rated it: 
This books seems like it would have been much better if I'd read it rather than listening to the audiobook. It also seems like it would be much easier to understand if diagrams were included. I enjoyed the historical backgrounds given to explain why a certain battle was influential. I also thought the detail about how the battles were fought was neat, though hard to follow in an audiobook.
Jan 30, 2009
Kevin
rated it:
One my favorite books. Offers great little pieces of history -some familiar, some not at all. The descriptions are quite cynical and opinionated, and that's where it gets fun! I can't give it a top rating however, due to some grammatical shortcomings, and the lack of both maps and quality illustrations. This book needs a reprint!
Dec 07, 2008
Kirsti
rated it:
The entries are so brief that it's hard to understand the historical context. At least it's hard for me . . . and somebody with more knowledge of history than I have probably doesn't need a book this basic.
Great idea for a book, though.
Great idea for a book, though.
Mar 15, 2010
Jon
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If you love to study battle this is a great book. It carefully details the political causes for each battle and gives a good overview of the campaign leading to it. The battles themselves are well described and accompanied by diagrams.
Aug 14, 2011
Mark
rated it: 
Quick snapshots of 50 great battles, who fought who, and why the battle was important. An easy read for those times when you can not get engrossed in a long story.
Jul 08, 2010
Naves
rated it:
Ótimo livro que explica o motivo de que algumas batalhas forjaram nossa cultura e civilização.
Mar 27, 2008
P.
rated it:
This is a well-written book that consists of brief accounts of decisive battles in the history of the world. The author is not shy about his criteria for selecting battles. However, he omits the last great siege of Vienna while including the prior one. But this is a minor point as he explains why this was a mere also ran in his appendix. The descriptions of the battles are succinct, slangy, and well designed. He places the battles in historical context and gives his reasons for their import
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Apr 23, 2010
Ethan
rated it:
A great book that overall I would recomend to anyone who loves history. Though there are some things that I didn't like: 1 he (William Weir) didn't organize the battles chronologically and 2 he was constantly attributing unexplainable miracles to luck, chance, fate, fortune, etc. I on the other hand give the glory to God not chance.
However, the information is excelent and it is a book wholly worth reading in my opinion.
However, the information is excelent and it is a book wholly worth reading in my opinion.
Sep 09, 2007
Alex
rated it: 
This book reveals its problems even before it is opened. Instead of a positive review on the back, it just has a quote from the book-- written in William Weir's awful prose. The combination of historical inaccuracies, bizarre choices (The Nika Rebellion is the second most important battle of all time), and atrocious writing all make this book one to avoid.
Sep 07, 2009
Liatris
rated it: 
I enjoyed this for the first half, but then started getting confused because the battles were not reviewed in chronological order. If I had been taking notes, or had a better world history timeline in my head I would have enjoyed it more.
Apr 02, 2010
Mel
rated it:
How the modern world was shaped because of these decisive battles. Makes you wonder that if these battles went the other way, the world would have been different today
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