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A History of Warfare
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 19 hrs and 12 mins
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Publisher's summary
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"A work of massive sweep...in which the resources of anthropology, ethnology, psychology, and history are drawn on in comprehensive but succinct synthesis to create what is perhaps the most remarkable study of warfare that has yet been written." (New York Times Book Review)
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At the bloody battle of Cannae, he trounced a Roman army twice the size of his own. With his brothers, he subdued nearly all of Italy, Spain and Northern Africa. A cunning tactician, he secured victory for Bithynia at sea by catapulting poisonous snakes onto the decks of his enemy’s ships. Biographer Ernle Bradford draws on the historical writings of Livy, Polybius, Plutarch and others in re-creating the fantastic story of the greatest general since Alexander the Great.
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Perfect Balance of Narrative and Analysis
- By John on 11-28-23
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History's Greatest Generals
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Whether it is Hannibal of Carthage marching elephants across the Alps and attacking the heart of Rome, Khalid ibn al-Walid boasting an undefeated military career and destroying the Persian Empire while subduing the Byzantines, or Russian General Alexander Suvurov and his elevation of the bayonet to a work of art that could cut down any European army, great military leaders have exerted tremendous influence on society. This book will look at the lives of the 10 greatest military commanders in history.
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Great Book
- By MICHAEL H on 01-27-14
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China
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Many nations define themselves in terms of territory or people; China defines itself in terms of history. Taking into account the country's unrivaled, voluminous tradition of history writing, John Keay has composed a vital and illuminating overview of the nation's complex and vivid past. Keay's authoritative history examines 5,000 years in China, from the time of the Three Dynasties through Chairman Mao and the current economic transformation of the country.
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Needs new narrator
- By Betty on 10-16-16
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In God's Path
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In just over a hundred years - from the death of Muhammad in 632 to the beginning of the Abbasid Caliphate in 750 - the followers of the Prophet swept across the whole of the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain. Their armies threatened states as far flung as the Franks in Western Europe and the Tang Empire in China. The conquered territory was larger than the Roman Empire at its greatest expansion, and it was claimed for the Arabs in roughly half the time.
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Islamic conquest history from the outside
- By SAMA on 01-22-15
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The Crusades
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The Crusades is an authoritative, accessible single-volume history of the brutal struggle for the Holy Land in the Middle Ages. Thomas Asbridge - a renowned historian who writes with "maximum vividness" (Joan Acocella, The New Yorker) - covers the years 1095 to 1291 in this big, ambitious, listenable account of one of the most fascinating periods in history.
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Comprehensive
- By Tad Davis on 10-04-16
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The War of the Three Gods
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The War of the Three Gods is a military history of the Near and Middle East in the seventh century - with its chief focus on the reign of the Eastern Roman Emperor Heraclius (AD 610-641) - a pivotal and dramatic time in world history. The Eastern Roman Empire was brought to the very brink of extinction by the Sassanid Persians before Heraclius managed to inflict a crushing defeat on the Sassanids with a desperate, final gambit.
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Filled in some blanks
- By Cory on 10-19-15
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The Ghost of Freedom
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The Caucasus mountains rise at the intersection of Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. A land of astonishing natural beauty and a dizzying array of ancient cultures, the Caucasus for most of the 20th century lay inside the Soviet Union, before movements of national liberation created newly independent countries and sparked the devastating war in Chechnya.
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fascinating story of a messy region
- By A. T. Howarth on 07-30-20
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A Brief History of the Samurai
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From a leading expert in Japanese history, this is one of the first full histories of the art and culture of the Samurai warrior. The Samurai emerged as a warrior caste in Medieval Japan and would have a powerful influence on the history and culture of the country from the next 500 years. Clements also looks at the Samurai wars that tore Japan apart in the 17th and 18th centuries and how the caste was finally demolished in the advent of the mechanized world.
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An Excellent History of the Samurai
- By Michael on 08-08-14
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2 stars if youve read goldsworthy; 2.5 or 3 if not
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What listeners say about A History of Warfare
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Charles Olmsted
- 12-07-20
A bit too general
This book was good. It is performed well. But, it is a general survey and a specialist will notice some over generalizations or inaccurate summaries/details. Not nearly as good as The Face of Battle or Six Armies in Normandy.
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- Mathew J. Frost
- 08-19-20
Definitely a history book
Very much a work of a history. If you enjoy learning a full history of warfare this is a great place to start. Just know this book is written by a historian and not a journalist. Therefore, it can be dry and difficult to get through some points. I would buy this book again and I will listen to it again.
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- Viktor V. Choban
- 06-18-19
Evolutionary and godless perspective
Bad perspective, but has Some interesting insights and that is why I gave it 4 stars
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- M. Brett Pitts
- 12-26-21
FrederickDavidson reads more war
Frederick Davidson reads with his trademark velvet voice good war history. Fast paced history many be too much for those not already familiar with world history. Valuable information for more global perspective, albeit a bit heavier with Western history than rest of the world.
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- Tom R
- 08-06-18
A Big Story to Tell
This book tries to cover a lot of territory from ancient tribal warfare to the nuclear bomb and post colonial rebellions. The book looks at social and technological aspects of warfare. Its long chapters with titles such as Stone, Flesh, Iron, and Fire loosely center around those topics. It is nearly impossible to separate them from one another.
The big takeaway from the book for me is how limited war really is. We put social limits on war such as not allowing women and children to participate. (Yes, there are exceptions.) There are technological limits such as how accurate a firearm can be. And there are logistical limits based on how can an army keep its fighters supplied with food, water, and munitions.
Of particular interest to me were the social and logistical limits. In primitive societies, it seems war is very ritualized and limited as to when, where, and how it is fought. Thus large scale death is avoided. Logistical limits seemed to limit the size of any fast growing, large scale empire such as the Huns or Alexander the Greats movement. It was also interesting to see how these limits can be somewhat thwarted, at least for a time, by the willingness of combatants to fight such as the Confederacy holding out against the United States in the American Civil War.
The only problem I had with the book was largely my own expectations. I would expect it go to go one way, and it would go another. Therefore, I was struggling with the text. I normally embrace this kind of challenge to my thinking, but for some reason, it just irritated me. I think I felt as if I was missing some important information. This book could have easily been twice the length and still not have been comprehensive enough for me. Maybe that was the real challenge I had with the book.
If you are interested in learning more about war, I would recommend this book.
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- Trevor
- 09-06-11
Interesting - but not outstanding
This is a solid scholarly work. However, it is not exhaustive regarding the history of warfare and examines only several snippets to prove some anthropological points. These points are good, the work is solid and well-researched, but not greatly exciting. The narrator was solid, but the work was not the most exciting of Keegan's (whom I admire as a leader in his field).
If you like Keegan, get his book on the Iraq War. And please somebody narrate his Face of Battle books.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Samantha L.
- 12-04-23
Academic, with exploratory chapters.
The interludes made the book much more valuable.
It is important for the reader to know that this book was published in the early 90’s, before the GWOT and perhaps before culture as an attack vector for warfare was appreciated in the West.
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Overall
- Mark
- 12-05-06
Not what I expected
I have mixed feelings about this book because its not a history of warfare as I expected it to be. First off, its not well structured. It meanders all over the place, challenging Clauswitz's notion that war is an extension of policy, delving into a history of the world in general (trashing various anthropologists along the way), and finally, after spending too much time on the ritualized warfare of primitive peoples, gets into some forms of fighting here and there. What I wanted (and expected) was to understand the evolution of warfare from the standpoint of technology, tactics, operations, and grand strategy. I hoped to walk away from the book with an understanding of how people fought in each era, the factors causing them to fight that way, and perhaps learn a little more about some famous battles along the way. I indeed did learn some of that from this book, and some of his meanderings are interesting, but I really had to wade through a lot of superfluous gibberish to get there. I also have to agree with another reviewer's comment that the book is pretentious. I like Keegan's work, but I have one suggestion for him: focus man.
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- Mr. Jones
- 03-23-19
Unique view on the History warfare
I found it worthwhile. I like Keegan of course the narration is in Posh English as is the writer. So following for some is a tiny bit of a challenge. Though worthwhile if you patiently focus. I'd have to listen to this several times to fully absorb the depth of the writer's point of view.
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Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 04-22-10
Terrific Keegan
I found this a terrific review of war over the millenia. Many insights, frequent references to the validity of Clausewitz's views. I wish I'd had Keegan as a professor.
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3 people found this helpful