A collection of stories of history's great battles and the men and women who fought in them, from the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans through the bloody twentieth century. From Julius Caesar's victory over Pompey in 48 BC to the first V2 rockets falling on London, it takes you on a tour of the many faces of armed conflict.
W.B. Marsh was born in New York, and now lives in London. On his birthday - 26 October - Alfred the Great, who famously defeated the Danes on British soil, died in 899. Bruce Carrick has worked in book publishing for many years in New York and London. On his birthday in 1856, the Gazette first published the creation of the Victoria Cross, the highest possible military award in the Commonwealth for valour in the face of the enemy.
One of the complaints made of history is that it's all about dates,
but the authors of this volume take the criticism head on,
assembling a series of military events to coincide with each day of
the year. The format is admirably straight forward: a lead story
enscapulating a battle or other military matter is followed up by a
listing of other key moments from that particular day. . . . The
book is an exercise in storytelling and there are many good tales
to be found within, not least the decisive defeat of the Turks at
the gates of Vienna in 1683 (12 September). . . . 'Tales of War
'would make a good Christmas gift to someone with an interest in
military history--or, better still, as a birthday present with the
appropriate day flagged for the recipient.
*War Books Review*
Most history books tend to follow a particular time line, linking
events in a chain of cause and effect . . . However, this
solid--more than 700 pages--book is much more of a 'dip-in' affair,
offering a relatively brief (2-3 pages at most) snapshot of a
particular military event that happened on a particular day of the
year--selected from 3,500 years of human conflict, from Pharaoh
Thutmose III's victory at Megiddo in 1479 (15 May) to the
VC-winning action of Private Johnson Behanny in Iraq in 2004
(11June). . . . all in all, this is a fascinating read. And we
challenge anyone not to immediately check what happened on their
birthday!.
*Civvy Street*
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