Battles of the Crusades: From Dorylaeum to Varna

by Kelly DeVries, Iain Dickie, Martin J. Dougherty

Beginning with the Dorylaeum (1097) and finishing with Varna (1444), Battles of the Crusades introduces 20 key fights from 500 years of conflict between Christianity and Islam.
 
Highly illustrated, and filled with art and maps, Battles of the Crusades covers examples from every era and campaign in this religious war—not only the well-known encounters in Antioch, Jerusalem, and Harran, but also the clash at Montgisard and Saladin’s destruction of the Crusader army at Hattin. Going beyond the Middle East, it includes the Christian recapture of Lisbon, the massacre of the Albigensians at Beziers in France, and the Reconquista of Spain, and the expansion of the Teutonic Knights. Each entry includes an introduction, a concise description of the action, and an analysis of the aftermath. Color maps illustrate the movement of forces and the development of the fighting. Designed for both general readers and enthusiasts, this book is essential for anyone interested in the warfare and tactics of the Middle Ages.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Military Fiction, War, Medieval History, Medieval, Reference

224 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2007

About the author

Kelly DeVries (born December 23, 1956) is an American historian specializing in the warfare of the Middle Ages. He is often featured as an expert commentator on television documentaries. He is professor of history at Loyola University Maryland and Honorary Historical Consultant at the Royal Armouries, UK.

Reviews

[Gauthier · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides a description of the major battles that took place throughout the Crusades between 1097 and 1444. Each chapter provides insight on the context of the battle, how it rolled out, and its consequences. A map also depicts the troops' movements for each battle.

Overall, this is a good overview that leads to an obvious but perhaps sad conclusion: that most battles turned out to be defeats and that this is even more dramatic due to the fact that the results obtained were not very impressive.

Beyond that, the book tends to depict events accurately despite some typos here and there or some claims that are not substantiated by facts,such as claiming that Richard killed 3000 prisoners to provoke Saladin in battle (historians are not fully clear on Richard's reasons but one of those is that Saladin was stalling negotiations and Richard wanted to pressure him. It was also difficult for him to know what to do with them as he was going to move out on campaign).

There are also some inaccuracies, such as claiming that Louis IX's second crusade took place in 1254 when it actually took place in 1270.

Finally, the book clearly shows some biases in some parts. The chapter on the siege of Constantinople in 1203 is telling with its introduction starting by "Venetian scheming and Crusader greed." The text makes use of various negative adjectives such as "the scheming and ruthless Doge of Venice" or the "wily Italians." Everything is done to depict the Venetians as having cynically planned everything from the beginning, which is, of course, not true. The events of the 4th Crusade were driven by circumstances and opportunism. Overall, this chapter seems to have been written by Steven Runciman (he happens to be in the bibliography).

Despite some flaws, the book remains interesting with many images that help the reader visualize how warriors of this period dressed and fought.

[Didit Priandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

sebuah perang salib yang di sajikan dalam perspektif kemiliteran, di sertai dengan gambar-gambar yang akan membawa pembaca seakan terjun kedalam medan dan kondisional perang yang terjadi pada saat itu.

[Shane Vaughan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good short analysis and background of key battles during the crusades, plus the battle maps for each conflict were very helpful.

[Boyke Rahardian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first time I read about the 'other Crusades'. The 1st up to 4th are pretty well documented already. But the Crusades in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Russia, Hungary are practically obscured. This book provides good narratives on those battles. Interesting to find that in the later stage the Crusades were not only waged against Islam. Even in one occasion the Crusades took an Islam ally to fight another Islam force. The Crusades cannot be seen as a religious war per se then. There are a lot of territorial ambition, internal politics and power struggle at play too.

The illustrations and battle plans in this book help us to clearly understand the course of events. What annoy me the most are the editing quality (a lot of typos) and some Indonesian translation for names which should be left as they were (Ksatria Bait Allah for Knight Templars, Ksatria Perawat for Knight Hospitallers).

[Amry Saja · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you look for brief overview of Crussade Battle since the first till the fifth then these book will provide you just enough and with extra good illustration.
But for advanced interest of those subject you should elaborate more books which you can search from good read reference..

So its nice to read for entry man like me

[Ellis Knox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly a picture book, with short articles on the battles. The articles are by excellent historians; the information here is reliable; there's just not all that much of it. The pictures are great, though.

[Katherine 黄爱芬 · Rating 3 out of 5]

- Analisa politik dan sejarah kurang, cuma berisi data jumlah pasukan, tempat pertempuran dan jenis persenjataan.
- Terjemahan Elex Media sangat buruk ditambah gambar hitam putih membingungkan mana pihak Kristen atau pihak Islam

[Walt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent overview of the Crusades. The battles include some of the later Crusades as well as some of the more obscure Crusades.