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che2000
doc caliban



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  		   Posted 12/3/2006 8:22 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
I've just finished reading Victor Davis Hanson's history of the Peloponnesian War. 'A War Like No Other' - a tremendously well written account of the brutal war between Athens and Sparta 431 - 404.
 
Tackling not only the political, economic and military history of the war, Hanson also goes into great detail about the tactics of hoplite land warfare and trireme naval battles, and draws many parallels between this war and the many conflicts of the twentieth and twentyfirst centuries proving, once again, that those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it.
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Bill Ward
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  		   Posted 12/5/2006 2:24 AM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
I've been saving this until after I reread Thucydides, but a lecture that Hanson gave to promote this on Book TV recently was absolutely riveting. I've only read his Carnage and Culture, but he's definitely a historian to watch in my opinion.
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Daniel
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  		   Posted 12/5/2006 3:46 AM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Hanson also goes into great detail about the tactics of hoplite land warfare and trireme naval battles, and draws many parallels between this war and the many conflicts of the twentieth and twentyfirst centuries proving, once again, that those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it.

***

It's as though History is screaming its lessons...to fall on deaf ears!

Thanks for the head's up on this book, sounds very interesting.

Daniel
 

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che2000
doc caliban



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  		   Posted 12/5/2006 5:15 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
As a companion piece to Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War 'A War Like No Other' is invaluable - I'd also recommend Paul Cartledge's 'The Spartan's - An Epic History' and, as a coda of sorts, Xenophon's Retreat by Robin Waterfield (and for that matter The Anabasis by Xenophon himself)
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Kathryn43
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  		   Posted 12/20/2006 2:47 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
What did you think of Waterfield's book? I thought the style was highly readable, with some excellent insights on the experience of a mercenary army trying to head out of hostile territory with a full baggage train in tow. He really brings the reality of the march to life.
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che2000
doc caliban



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  		   Posted 12/20/2006 7:59 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
I'd have to agree with everything you said about Robin Waterfield's book - it's one of the best accounts of ancient warfare that I've read. He also did a new translation of the Anabasis published under the title Xenophon: The Expedition of Cyrus which I haven't read but would like to.
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Bill Ward
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  		   Posted 12/20/2006 11:32 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
I've been wanting to read the Anabasis, I'll have to check both of those out.
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che2000
doc caliban



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  		   Posted 12/21/2006 8:50 AM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
H.G Dakyns' 1914 translation of the Anabasis is available as an e-text on Project Gutenberg - it's worth checking out.
 
Another good history of the period is Tom Holland's Persian Fire which I would also highly recommend.
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