The Harper Encyclopedia Of Military Biography

by Trevor N. Dupuy, Curt Johnson, David L. Bongard

Assessing three thousand of the most important worldwide military figures from the earliest recorded moments in history to the present, a fact-filled compilation lists concise biographies and noted contributions for each person.

Genres: Military Fiction, Reference, History, Military History, Biography, Nonfiction

834 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1992

About the author

Trevor Nevitt Dupuy attended West Point, graduating in the class of 1938. During World War II he commanded a U.S. Army artillery battalion, a Chinese artillery group, and an artillery detachment from the British 36th Infantry Division. He was always proud of the fact that he had more combat time in Burma than any other American, and received decorations for service or valour from the U.S., British, and Chinese governments. After the war Dupuy served in the United States Department of Defense Operations Division[1] from 1945 to 1947, and as military assistant to the Under Secretary of the Army from 1947 to 1948. He was a member of the original Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) staff in Paris under Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower and Matthew Ridgway from 1950 to 1952.

It is as a military historian and a theorist that Trevor Dupuy would make a lasting mark on the world. He is perhaps best known for his massive book The Encyclopedia Of Military History (co-written, like many of his books, with his father R. Ernest Dupuy). Starting from the beginning of history and going up the present day the book tries to cover all the major (and minor) military conflicts in world history. Usually each entry (arranged chronologically and by region) gives little more than the names of the commanders and (often) very rough estimates for the size of the forces involved in the campaigns. Dupuy was not afraid of expressing an opinion and he classified some of his subjects as Great Captains (such as Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Julius Caesar, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, Frederick II of Prussia and Napoleon). Like most Western reference works it spends far more time dealing with wars in Europe and the United States than the rest of the world, but it does at least try to cover the entire world. The Encyclopedia Of Military History has been revised (and updated) several times, most recently in 1993. It can be found in the reference section of most American libraries.

Reviews

[Jimmy]

Very brief biographies of the most important generals and admirals. The entries tend to be little more than a listing of the various commands held by the individuals and the battles/campaigns he took part in. Several entries were only a few lines long identifying only nationality and the one or two wars that the individual fought in.

[Will Kastner]

OK, you caught me. I didn't read this cover-to-cover, but I spend a lot of time with it.