What do you think?
Rate this book
The Army of Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great is one of the most famous men in history, and many believe he was the greatest military genius of all time (Julius Caesar wept at the feet of his statue in envy of his achievements). Most of his thirteen year reign as king of Macedon was spent in hard campaigning which conquered half the known world, during which he was never defeated in open battle and never besieged a city he did not take. Yet, while biographies of Alexander abound, there are relatively few full-length books dedicated to the Macedonian army which made his dazzling conquests possible and which proved itself the most formidable machine of the age.
Stephen English investigates every aspect of the Macedonian forces, analysing the recruitment, equipment, organisation, tactics, command and control of the fighting arms (including the famous pike phalanxes, elite Hypaspists and incomparable Companion cavalry),Some of Alexander's most famous battles and sieges are described in detail to show the army in action. With forensic thoroughness he draws on recent archaeological evidence and scholarship to present a detailed portrait of the army which demonstrated a superiority over its opponents equal to (but much longer-lasting than) that enjoyed by the German forces in the blitzkrieg campaigns of 1939/40. Alexnader's navy is also covered.
270 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 19, 2009
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 1, 2013
3 1/2 stars.
I couldn't wait to start reading this as Alexander happens to be one of my favorite historical figures and I couldn't understand how these books escaped my attention for so long.I have enjoyed reading,watching documentaries and learning about Alexander for some time and wondered why I had never seen anything like this series of books before.Fortunately,it was recommended to me.Just how fortunate I am though with regards to this book is debatable.
This covers probably almost every aspect of his army from heavy infantry to command structure.Highlights for me included siege engines,Thessalian calvary,equipment,companion cavalry,command structure and royal bodyguard.It does get technical with all the troop numbers and also with the construction of the siege engines.I just loved how the book was laid out with each section of the army receiving it's own chapter or heading.The photos in the middle of the book were amazing with the fourth-century sword reconstruction being a particular favorite of mine.
Now,for the not so amazing points.The author tends to come to his own conclusions at times instead of using All the sources available.The sources that best suit him(when he uses them) seem mostly to be in the Vulgate tradition of which I am not a fan. He also contradicts himself on a few occasions.One statement at the beginning mentions that Alexander frequently changed command officers to allow more flexibility in his men.Then he states later that Alexander only did this so that the focus of the men would be on himself only and not on a commanding officer.
I did like the book however, and this seems to be one of the few I have come across that's mainly focused on the army.
I couldn't wait to start reading this as Alexander happens to be one of my favorite historical figures and I couldn't understand how these books escaped my attention for so long.I have enjoyed reading,watching documentaries and learning about Alexander for some time and wondered why I had never seen anything like this series of books before.Fortunately,it was recommended to me.Just how fortunate I am though with regards to this book is debatable.
This covers probably almost every aspect of his army from heavy infantry to command structure.Highlights for me included siege engines,Thessalian calvary,equipment,companion cavalry,command structure and royal bodyguard.It does get technical with all the troop numbers and also with the construction of the siege engines.I just loved how the book was laid out with each section of the army receiving it's own chapter or heading.The photos in the middle of the book were amazing with the fourth-century sword reconstruction being a particular favorite of mine.
Now,for the not so amazing points.The author tends to come to his own conclusions at times instead of using All the sources available.The sources that best suit him(when he uses them) seem mostly to be in the Vulgate tradition of which I am not a fan. He also contradicts himself on a few occasions.One statement at the beginning mentions that Alexander frequently changed command officers to allow more flexibility in his men.Then he states later that Alexander only did this so that the focus of the men would be on himself only and not on a commanding officer.
I did like the book however, and this seems to be one of the few I have come across that's mainly focused on the army.
January 16, 2018
A great book if you want to know the composition of Alexander The Great's army, the training, the weapons, and the general strategy of combat. The author closes in the last chapter with a brief look at the army in action during three different battles. All in all, a very interesting book, however there's so many names that are hard to pounce that it can get a big confusing. Not really the author's fault, though.
May 22, 2021
Despite the generic name, English is unlike those other leeches from the Academia. He is the one person who has evaluated the original diagrams used by Alexander's generals and he has watched countless of video footage so he knows what he is writing about. His caste of paper pushers usually sells fairy tales with speculations based on fragments of texts that might as well been the product of ”The Onion” or some antique ”Saturday Night Live”.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews