Dimensions
144 x 224 x 41mm
In the beginning there was only chaos. In ancient times, mighty armies clashed not only for wealth and power, but also to create and destroy entire cultures and change the course of history.
History new no losers. There were only winners: those who demonstrated tenacity and purpose; those whose boldness and skill snatched victory against the odds; often simple those who commanded a superior force.
The defeated were slaughtered, together with their wives and children. Their towns and villages were burnt to the ground, and their fields razed and sown with salt. Whole tribes, sometimes entire nations, were wiped from the face of the Earth, leaving barely a trace for future historians.
Three millennia have passed since the great warlords strode the Earth. Even today, the histories of these bloody-handed demigods are shrouded in myth and fantasy: Thutmosis and King David, Leonidas and Xerxes, Alexander, Hannibal, Vercingetorix and the mighty Caesar.
This book is the story of these myth makers. Brave and reckless, intelligent and foolish, lucky and ill-fated, their battles were won and lost by ruse, trickery, chance, stupidity and by unsurpassed military brilliance. This was the crucible of civilisation, when a single conqueror could change the world.
Erik Durschmied brilliantly analyses seventeen of ancient history's most fascinating and brutal battles, some of which have been almost forgotten, but all of which changed the shape of the world and set the borders of our future.
