Western Way of War-Infantry Battle in Classical Greece

✍ Scribed by Hanson, Victor Davis

• Book ID: 108689775
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Year: 2013
• Tongue: en-US
• Weight: 249 KB
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN-13: 9780307831552

✦ Synopsis

The Greeks of the classical age invented not only the central idea of Western politics--that the power of state should be guided by a majority of its citizens--but also the central act of Western warfare, the decisive infantry battle. Instead of ambush, skirmish, maneuver, or combat between individual heroes, the Greeks of the fifth century b.c. devised a ferocious, brief, and destructive head-on clash between armed men of all ages. In this bold, original study, Victor Davis Hanson shows how this brutal enterprise was dedicated to the same outcome as consensual government--an unequivocal, instant resolution to dispute.

The Western Way of War draws from an extraordinary range of sources--Greek poetry, drama, and vase painting, as well as historical records--to describe what actually took place on the battlefield. It is the first study to explore the actual mechanics of classical Greek battle from the vantage point of the infantryman--the brutal spear-thrusting, the...