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When did war begin? Archaeologists and historians
have in the past been curiously reluctant to study the early
history of organized warfare. Standard military accounts
tend to start with the Graeco-Persian wars and to lay undue
emphasis on the pre-eminence of Greek heavy infantry. But,
as this strikingly original and entertaining book shows,
the origins of war can be traced back, not to the Iron Age,
or even to the Bronze Age, but to the emergence of settled
life itself nearly 10,000 years ago. The military revolution
that occurred at that time -- the major new weapons, the
massive fortifications, the creation of strategy and tactics
-- ultimately gave rise to the great war machines of ancient
Egypt, Assyria and Persia which dominated the Near East
to the time of Alexander the Great.
It is Professor Ferrill's thesis that in
the period before Alexander there were two independent lines
of military development, a Near Eastern one culminating
in the expert integration of cavalry, skirmishers and light
infantry, and a Greek one based on heavy infantry. When
Philip and Alexander blended the two traditions in their
crack Macedonian army, the result was a style of warfare
that continued, despite technological changes, down to Napoleon.
To prove his point, as a tailpiece Professor Ferrill recreates
the battle of Waterloo as if Alexander were in Napoleon's
shoes, and concludes that it would have been a 'near-run
thing.'
Complete with detailed and copiously illustrated
accounts of all the major battles on land and sea up to
the fourth century BC, analysis of weapons from the sling
to the catapult, and discussion of ancient strategy and
tactics, this is a book for armchair historians everywhere.
Arther Ferrill was born in Enid, Oklahoma,
in 1938 and studied at the University of Wichita, where
he took his BA degree in history in 1960. At the University
of Illinois, under Professor Chester G. Starr, he completed
a Ph.D. in ancient history in 1964, and then moved to the
University of Washington, Seattle, where he became Assistant
Professor and is presently Professor of History. Prominent
among the courses he teaches is one on ancient military
history.
Professor Ferrill contributes regularly
to many scholarly periodicals. This is his first book.
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