While battles such as Spartolus (429BC) and Solygeia (425BC) are important to our understanding of battle tactics, the sources do not allow for a thorough reconstruction like they can for Delium (424BC) or Leuctra (371BC). Most controversially, the author has chosen to leave out the Battle of Thermopylae (480BC) because although it is an amazing story of human endurance and military efficiency, 'tactically it is very boring.' The battles chosen follow a simple chronology of classical Greek warfare starting with the Peloponnesian War, which was the first fully reported conflict that pitched hoplite against hoplite. Greek sieges were varied and at times experimental, a ferocious battle for survival that included women and children amongst its participants. The placement of the battles of Marathon and Plataea at the beginning of the book about hoplite-based warfare begins with an anomaly of Greek military action. What is clear is that the Greeks did not fight the Persians in the same manner in which they fought each other. Three Persian battles have been chosen based upon the unique situations as they arose. Each battle is set in context with background, battlefield and opposing forces discussed and the aftermath of the engagements and strategic implications for both the victors and the defeated. The text is supported by dozens of tactical diagrams showing the deployment of troops and various phases of each battle. 17 battles chosen by the independent-minded historian. 284pp, a Pen & Sword publication. Illus.
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