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The Greatest Battles in History: An Encyclopedia of Classic Warfare From Megiddo To Waterloo
From the battle of Megiddo in 1457 BC to the battle of Waterloo in 1815 AD, from chariot charges to cavalry encounters, from naval battles to sieges, The Greatest Battles in History tells the stories of 170 key battles, campaigns and wars from the ancient, medieval, early modern and revolutionary periods. Includes 150 annotated, colour maps of battles or campaigns, as well as colour and black and white photographs, paintings and illustrations. Each featured battle or campaign includes a locator map, a key facts box for quick and easy reference, and a timeline placing the battle into historical context.
320 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 26, 2021
Off the bargain shelf… you get what you pay for. This is not a proper encyclopedia. The entries are superficial and leave out a lot of detail. Each entry is very formulaic. Title, brief intro, map of battle, map of region, list of factual info and a longer description. The entries are one or two pages each, though some are followed with a two page spread of a painting of a battle with a short summary. By the time you read the intro, map captions, facts and longer summary, you will get the same few basic points of the battle multiple times.
The double page paintings just feel like page count fillers. They don’t add anything new, and most pictures are sprawling landscapes with hundreds of soldiers. It is nearly impossible to determine which battle it is.
Another frustrating thing is that most entries don’t mention the number of troops engaged or casualty figures. I get that those numbers often aren’t clear, but there are at least reasonable estimates.
The battle maps are also very inconsistent. Some are useful in illustrating the battle, but others are confusing. There is no key, so it’s not clear which army is which. The text on the maps is very small and often written on top of forests, which makes it nearly impossible to read. The maps also try to distill all major moments of a battle into one map, which makes them very inaccurate.
Add to all of these issues multiple typos, formatting issues and straight up historical inaccuracies. Those issues alone cost this book a star or more.
The reason that I gave this book 2 stars instead of one is it inspired me to learn more about battles i had never heard of. Granted, I had to read about these battles in other places.
The double page paintings just feel like page count fillers. They don’t add anything new, and most pictures are sprawling landscapes with hundreds of soldiers. It is nearly impossible to determine which battle it is.
Another frustrating thing is that most entries don’t mention the number of troops engaged or casualty figures. I get that those numbers often aren’t clear, but there are at least reasonable estimates.
The battle maps are also very inconsistent. Some are useful in illustrating the battle, but others are confusing. There is no key, so it’s not clear which army is which. The text on the maps is very small and often written on top of forests, which makes it nearly impossible to read. The maps also try to distill all major moments of a battle into one map, which makes them very inaccurate.
Add to all of these issues multiple typos, formatting issues and straight up historical inaccuracies. Those issues alone cost this book a star or more.
The reason that I gave this book 2 stars instead of one is it inspired me to learn more about battles i had never heard of. Granted, I had to read about these battles in other places.
August 14, 2024
Overall
The book does a great job providing a description of the battle along with a map of how the armies moved over the battlefield.
Review
Each battle is present with a brief but detail account of what happened during the battle along with a step-by-step map showing all of the movements both armies took during battle. There is also a map showing where in the world the battle took place. As a nice touch there is always a painting depicting each battle.
My favorite part was how new advances in weaponry started to infiltrate the battlefield slowly changing how battles are fought such as the introduction of cannons and rifles.
The book does a great job providing a description of the battle along with a map of how the armies moved over the battlefield.
Review
Each battle is present with a brief but detail account of what happened during the battle along with a step-by-step map showing all of the movements both armies took during battle. There is also a map showing where in the world the battle took place. As a nice touch there is always a painting depicting each battle.
My favorite part was how new advances in weaponry started to infiltrate the battlefield slowly changing how battles are fought such as the introduction of cannons and rifles.
July 30, 2020
Very disappointed by how oversimplified the illustrations and text are. The battles illustrations are packed into a single image which makes it hard to follow. There is a lack on info on the numbers. I expected more for this price. It is very hard to see what the units are (for example a lot of the times I couldn't tell the difference between a phalanx, cavalry and light infantry). It did introduce me to a lot of battles I did not know about. The author also does not explain the motive behind the moves. I even saw some inaccuracies. Not worth the price
September 15, 2024
Glossy coffee table book. Not bad, but superficial, with generally little context of how each battle fits into a larger campaign, let alone into the war. Nice to see some purely Asian battles, though.
April 26, 2022
This was basically a shortened version of Wikipedia entries. There were a ton of typos and the battle graphics were out of order and confusing to follow.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews