From Armageddon to the Fall of Rome : How the Myth Makers Changed the World

by Erik Durschmied

In the Mediterranean, this most fought-over region in the world, the figures of potentates and conquerors appear god-like: Thutmosis, Leonidas, Xerxes, Pyrrhus, Hannibal, Caesar and Vercingetorix. Ancient history, from Pharaonic Egypt and the Shahs of Persia, to the Golden Age of Greece and the conquests of Alexander the Great and his dream of a universal brotherhood, is dominated by these incredible characters. And then comes Rome, the supreme political event of Ancient History and the world's first superpower. "Ancient Battles" is the history of incredible men, brave and reckless, lucky and ill-fated, engaging their forces in battles that are prime examples of ruse, chance, and military brilliance. Erik Durschmied looks at seventeen of ancient history's most fascinating battles, many of which have been almost forgotten, but which in reality changed both the world and time itself.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Historical, Military Fiction, Ancient History

434 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

is a cinematographer, producer, director and also an author, military history professor and a former war correspondent for BBC, CBS.

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a brilliant and highly readable analysis of ancient history, Erik Durschmiedt uses 17 decisive battles in ancient history to thread together the history of ancient empires and the legend-makers. kings and generals such as Pharaoh Thutmoses II, King David of Israel,Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Scipio Africanus, Vercingetorix, Jul;Julius Caesar, Augustus and the Gothic kings Fritigern and Alaric.

Thy is enthralling sweep of the history of the rise and fall of nations and empires and the horrors of whole tribes, sometimes entire nations being wiped off the face of the earth leaving few traces for posterity.
Chapter 1 tells of the Battle of Megiddo in 1479 BC where the armies of Pharaoh Thutmosis of Egypt defeated the forces of the king of Kadesh , ruler of Syria and Canaan.
Chapter 2 recounts the the rise of King David and his unification of the tribes of Israel, his total defeat of Israel's enemies, including the Philistines, Moabites, Syrians and Amalekites. His capture of the city of Jerusalem from the Jebusites (who were absorbed into the Israelite nation). Jerusalem became the cornerstone from which David would forge the united kingdom of Israel into a great power.

Part 2 tells of the great struggle of Greece to keep the Persian Empire at bay. How at the battles of Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis, the Persian invaders were repulsed by the Greeks, the first battle cries of Europe were sounded, and western culture was safeguarded from the invading forces of the east.

Part 3 recounts the Empire building of Alexander the Great, through his bringing down of the mighty Persian Empire. It also recounts the exploits of the redoubtable Hannibal and the challenge that Carthage posed to Rome before Hannibal was defeated by Scipio Africanus and Carthage completely destroyed.

Part 4 chronicles the ruthless genius of Julius Caesar, and the carnage he ordered as his Roman armies moved across Helvetia, Germany and Gaul, massacring entire tribes as well as the residence he encountered from the heroic Gaulish chieftain Vercongetorix. This section culminates in the civil wars Rome was plunged into following the assassination of Caesar on the Ides of March by republican idealists.
Thus we are lead into part 5 which document the violent and perfidious rule of the Emperors of Rome, which led the great Roman poet Horace to observe "What help are empty laws without morals?"

In this section chapter 15 relates to us the Roman destruction of Judea, the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, and the genocide visited by the Romans on the Jews of Israel in which 1 100 000 perished, 580 000 massacred, the rest starved. 300 000 more were sold as slaves, beginning the dispossession and worldwide scattering of the Jews which ended in 1948 with the re-establishment of the State of Israel, by Jews who had been restored their ancient homeland.

Part six details the Germanic invasions and destruction of the Roman Empire, leading to the beginning of the 'Dark Ages".

This digest weaves history into a tapestry which reads like a novel while revealing a wealth of knowledge of the rise and fall of the empires of ancient days, the effects which still shape the world today.

[Nadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

بأسلوبه الساخر يستعرض لنا دورتشميد تاريخ أهم الحروب التي سادت في العصر القديم .

[Michel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Durschmied tells the story of ten ancient military campaigns that shaped the modern world, from Alexander’s conquest of Persia to Alaric’s sack of Rome.

I favour social and cultural history over the retelling of military campaigns these days, but wars of conquests play too important a part in our retelling of the ancient world to set aside completely. D.’s narrative moves quickly, balancing the details of troop movements with descriptions of what it must have been like for the slaves, soldiers, and citizens who lived through these pivotal moments. The retellings are creative, building on Ancient historical sources written decades and centuries after the events took place.

It’s easy to admire the sheer scale of some of these truly epic military victories, the 300 at Thermopylae, Hannibal’s crossing of the Alps, Caesar’s conquest of Gaul. These engagements may have changed the world, but in all these tales, I was struck by the violence, ferocity, ignorance, and cruelty the moved the world of antiquity. The Persian galley slaves burned in Greek fire then drowned in the Aegean. The Gaul civilians butchered in Caesar’s quest for political supremacy in Rome. The burning of the library of Alexandria. The razing of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem.

All the reason to keep working toward a inclusive, peaceful, and egalitarian society.

Incidentally, did you know Goth King Alaric was buried with ten tons of treasure a few months after the sack of Rome? The treasure, estimated at 1 billion euros in 2019, was never found.

[Rohan Patel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always been interested in ancient warfare and when I saw this book on the shelves of Flyleaf it seemed perfect. This book starts of with talking about the bias in ancient historical records as they were always written by the winner. One of my favorite parts of this book is the way it includes multiple figures from different historians to make an accurate description. The book starts off by talking about the battle of Megiddo which the Bible names as the place where good meets evil at the land of Armageddon. After that it talks about King David's siege of Jerusalem and the secret behind the "divine intervention." Next, the book talks about the Greco-Persian wars. After that it follows Alexander the Great's conquest of Asia Minor and Hannibal's conquest of the Roman peninsula. After that it follows the story of Caesar's rise to power and his triumphs as well as his brutal murder. Finally it talks about the Roman civil wars and the invasion of Rome by the Goth's. I enjoyed this book because it talked about how minor events, like the action of one soldier, effect the rise and fall of civilizations. It also talks about how many of the greatest general's were lucky, not skillful. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested about the wars of the ancient world.

[Samer Kallas · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب شيّق للقراءة، وترجمته للعربية ممتازة. يعكس كيف تختلط أمجاد المعارك وويلات الحروب مع مآسي ودماء الأبرياء لتنسج منها أساطير ومرويات تاريخية عن قادة عسكريين عظماء ومدن عظيمة من نشأتها وحتى زوالها، خاصةً وأن المؤلف هو صحفي ومراسل حربي مرموق، نال العديد من الجوائز، ويكتب عن الحروب والمعارك التاريخية القديمة من هذا المنظور وكأنه كان حاضراُ في ميدان القتال، مع تعليقاته الذكية والنبيهة التي تمقت الدمار والدماء والويلات التي تجرها وتخلفها الحروب في سبيل مجد قادتها وصانعيها. كما أنه لا يبخل علينا في إظهار الفوارق بين الحق والظلم والخير والشر في إبراز حضارة وتمجيد مدنية وتهديم وإذلال أُخرى.
في الختام، لي رأي شخصي بأن عناوين كتب إريك دورشمييد، تكون أفضل في دلالتها على محتوى الكتاب - وخاصة المعربة منها - لو كانت قصيرة مختصرة (تقتصر على كلمتين أو ثلاث)، بدل ان تكون طويلة (مع عنوانها الثانوي) تمتد على بضعة أسطر. غير أن رأيي الشخصي هذا لا يقلل من سحر الكتاب واسلوب كاتبه بصياغته الجميلة والجهد الكبير الذي بذله في البحث التاريخي من خلال أهم مصادر تلك الأيام الغابرة.

[Ahmed Yousri ataweyya · Rating 5 out of 5]

ويل للمهزومين

لا يوجد إلا قوتين في العالم ،السيف والروح وكان السيف هو من يهزم الروح في النهاية .

(نابوليون)


هذا الكتاب الجميل بصفحاته ال460 كان خير نهاية لعام من القراءة …

قصة مبهرة و زاوية رؤية للتاريخ من خلال الحروب …من الفرعون تحتمس الى الامبراطور ڤالنس و هو يركع طالباً الرحمة من البرابرة .

من حروب الحيثيين الى الاسكندر الأكبر وقرطاچة و البارثيين و روما سيدة العالم القديم


لعنت روما ألف مرة كرهت أباطرتها و غرور مواطنيها … و برغم ذلك تعاطفت معها و البرابرة يدخلونها و يحطمون كل جميل و يغتصبون كل امرأة و يبقرون بطن كل طفل

كتاب ليس عن الحروب فقط و لكنه عن الحضارات و قيامها و أسباب سقوطها ..

عن حماقة الإنسان

عن الدمار الذي سببّه على مر العصور تردد الجبناء،وشجاعة الحمقى.

كتاب يُقرأ لتستعاد مقاطع منه كلما فقد العالم حكمته وعقله .

الترجمة متقنة

العيب الوحيد (غياب خرائط دقيقة )

[سارة شوكولا · Rating 3 out of 5]

التقييم : 3.5 جيد

كتاب ممتع و هو موجه لمن يجهلون تفاصيل الحروب و المعارك التي يقال انها حدثت في العالم القديم ، من معركة مجدو إلى معارك النبي داوود إلى الحروب الطاحنة بين الفرس و اليونانيين مرورا بحملات و فتوحات الإسكندر المقدوني وصولا إلى الحروب البونيقية و امجاد هانيبعل إلى قيام روما و حكمها للعاالم القديم و اخيرا سقوطها و انهيارها على يد قبائل القوط و الفاندال .
أسلوب الكاتب ليس بذلك الأسلوب المذهل لكن طريقته التحقيقية الصحفية اعجبتني باختصار الكتاب مفيد جدا

[Nosemonkey · Rating 2 out of 5]

An easy read due to the (mostly) incredibly simplistic language, but a weird book, and one I'd struggle to recommend except as a basic introduction.

Packed with impossible details that send it to the realms of fiction, overly flowery descriptions, repetitive clichéd phrases - all this means it's very easy to speed through.

But it also has some fundamental factual errors (like saying it was Plato, not Aristotle, who taught Alexander the Great) that undermine its entertaining enough presentation.

Lack of consistency of provision of background information, citations, basic fact-checks, basic grammar to ensure clarity - all this combines to make me doubt the research, and want a more robust history of the period.

So, next up, for *proper* history, will be starting on The Birth of Classical Europe by Simon Price and Peter Thonemann, in the Penguin History of Europe series. Probably should have only bothered with that one, tbh...

[Asem Mostafa · Rating 1 out of 5]

الكاتب إريك دورتشميد يظهر تحيزًا واضحًا لليهود في كتابه، حيث يعطيهم أهمية تفوق حجمهم الفعلي في السياق التاريخي، ويقدمهم كضحايا دائمين أو كقوة مؤثرة تتحدى الإمبراطوريات الكبرى. على الرغم من أن اليهود لم يكونوا قوة عسكرية رئيسية مقارنة بالفراعنة، الفرس، الإغريق، أو الرومان، إلا أن الكاتب يضخم دورهم في الأحداث التاريخية، مما يجعل تحليله غير متوازن.

يقلل الكاتب من دور القوى الكبرى مثل مصر القديمة وبلاد فارس وروما، ويبرز اليهود وكأنهم العامل الأساسي في بعض التحولات الكبرى، رغم أن الوقائع التاريخية تشير إلى أن تأثيرهم في تلك الفترات كان محدودًا نسبيًا.

ورغم هذا التحيز، لا يمكن إنكار أن الكتاب يقدم زاوية مثيرة للتفكير حول كيف أن الأساطير والسرديات الدعائية لعبت دورًا في تشكيل التاريخ، لكنه يفعل ذلك بشكل يخدم رؤية غير متوازنة، تُبرز اليهود أكثر مما تستحق الأحداث. لمن يبحث عن تحليل موضوعي للأحداث التاريخية، يجب قراءة مصادر أخرى أكثر حيادية


،وانا بالمثل هكون متحيز ، وأكثر حمق وارزعه نجمة واحدة ، يالله صحبتك اللعنه ،

[Karim Bazan · Rating 4 out of 5]

يأخذنا المؤلف في رحلة ماتعة لحقية من الزمن في أعماق التاريخ حيث تمتزج الحروب القديمة بالأساطير وفي قالب أدبي ماتع لا يخلو من التحليل والنقد مع بع ضمن السخرية يستعرض المؤلف تفاصيل تلك المعارك القديمة التي خلدها التاريخ منذ معركة مجدو الى سقوط روما ، بداية من الفارعنة مرورا بالاغريق و الفرس و القرطاجيين والرومان الى القوط، فيبررز آثارها وويلاتها على المنهزمين كما يبرز سطوة وتجبّر المنتصرين
أهم ما في الكتاب أنه يكشف طبيعة النفس البشرية لرجال الساسة والملوك والاباطرة وميلها الى الفتك بالآخر في حالة الانتصار لضمان تفوق الأنا على الغير وتعزيز المجد المجد الشخصي أو الثأر الشخصي حتى وإن ظهر أنه يعمل لصالح شعبه أو أمته
من أكثر الاقسام التي اعجبتني في الكتاب هو القسم الخاص بالقائد القرطاجي بحنبعل ، فلم أكن أعلم عنه شيئا تقريبا، بعد قراءة هذا الكتاب علمت أهمية دوره في،
صنع جزء هام من التاريخ القديم
فقد احترمت اصراه و مثابرته
كتاب شيق ودسم انصح بقراءته لمن يهتمون بتاريخ المعارك

[Gino Kutcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not impressed. It seemed like the author could not decide if he wanted to write history or historical fiction and ended up with something that was not quite either. In addition, I find it difficult to trust a book of military history that does not know the difference between a sling and a slingshot [though if anyone has evidence of slingshots being used by ancient armies I am happy to be corrected].

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just couldn't get into this book. It's like a history of ancient battles written for young teenagers, almost like it had been translated and not very well. It's fine as an introduction but honestly, these compilations shouldn't exist. This should have been ten different books that go in depth on the battles and individuals who fought them. One example is 'The Ghosts of Cannae'. This was very watered down and disappointing.

[David Hollywood · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy introduction to some of the major events in The Mediterranean World during classical times and therefore a useful book for brushing up, or simply finding out! Not comprehensive, but guiding in its emphasis.

[Gamal]

ماجعلنى اقرا الكتاب هو ظنى انه سيكشف الاساطير التى ارتبطت بجميع الحروب ولكن الكتاب ربما يكون قد ركز على الجزء الاسطورى فى الحروب وقدم هذه الحروب باسلوب رواءى بل وربما سينمائى وربما يكون قد ضحى فى سبيل ذلك بالكثير من التاريخ وربما ضحى بالحقيقة فى سبيل الاسطورة

[SALAH · Rating 1 out of 5]

المواضيع قيمة ولكن قدرة الكاتب ضعيفة لأبرازها
والترجمة غير متمكنة بتاتاً في ربط الجمل والفقرات

[Damianos Saba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book for people who wish to learn some basic things about the most important battles of history. Unfortunately it doesnt provide a lot of Details about the conditions before and after the battle and about the Main characterd. Further more noticed that some Information are not official, probably the author's Personal opinion, plus some Information are not True. For example the writer mentions that greeks used sarissa pike in the battle of Thermopulae, however sarissa was invented 150 years later by Philipp the second of macedon.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ancient warfare in Europe from the beginning of time through to 410 AD. I liked Durschmied's ability to draw parallels between ancient military tactics and those of more recent history. Reading this book certainly dispels the romanticized notion that living in antiquity was more peaceful than living in modern times!

[Aleksandar Matijaca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book describing the great battles of the past - from the very first battle to the Fall of Rome. The best part is that they not just describe the battle, but also give maps to the battles themselves, so you know who was positioned where. Fun read for history buffs..

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gorgeous exercise in how to be concise yet informative, academic yet entertaining. Lust, power, violence, and death. The fruits of antiquity, built on a foundation of blood. History unvarnished…how refreshing.

[Hilary McLean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent review of ancient historical battles with a clever weaving of ancient poetic sources (Virgil, Homer) and historical accounts. A truly impressive accomplishment.

[Mick Maye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Precursor to his Hinges of Battle covering the ancient history. Diverse and excellent views. Most have been covered before, but a pleasant addition.