Alfred S. Bradford

An overview of ancient warfare from the Hittites to the fall of Rome. Interestingly, it does include some discussion of ancient conflicts in India, a whole section of China, and is not just Euro-centric. Bradford chooses his anecdotes and subjects well, but to anyone who has read more about any particular item in the book, it comes of as vague and incomplete. The maps are line drawings, and sometimes hard to follow; "illustrations" look like they were scribbled on a napkin then faxed to the publisher. There were several noticeable grammatical errors; editing left something to be desired.

Bradford's conclusions at the end of the book were perhaps the most interesting part. He rightly identifies that the most successful leaders were those who recognized and followed methods established by Sun Tzu and Alexander the Great, in particular that success is not possible without a well-defined and practical objective. I do think he missed the mark a bit on the impetus behind the origins of ancient warfare...Bradford pins it on the establishment of agriculture and permanent settlements the created something that had to be defended. While this is certainly true, warfare also indirectly provided a measure of population control; arguments regarding the inevitability of war in spite of the petty interests of rulers or generals is a compelling one that perhaps should have been mentioned.

This book stands as a decent enough primer on ancient warfare. I can name a number of books that are more limited in scope but are far better productions. Consider this a springboard, but one should not be satisfied with the extent of the tales told here.… (meer)