ISBN: 0-8160-4732-4 | 414 pages | PDF | 10.3 MbThe history of warfare can be considered the history of humankind. But stories behind the wars—behind the leaders who led soldiers into battle— are equally important. This is not a work on why battles are fought, or their ultimate disposition. This is a review of the lives and actions of those who commanded armies, some vast and some small, in battle. At Adrianople in Thrace, August 378, the Eastern Roman emperor Valens took on the Goths, led by Fritigern. Historians believe, through histories written at the time and other evidence, that Valens commanded 20,000 men, while Fritigern had about 100,000 behind him. Valens and nearly the entire Roman army was massacred, one of the worst military defeats of ancient times. However, the Roman historian Ammianus’s epic tale of the clash survives even today: “Dust rose in such clouds as to hide the sky, which rang with fearful shouts. In consequence, it was impossible to see the enemy’s missiles in flight and dodge them . . . all found their mark, and [these] darts brought death on every side. The barbarians poured on in huge columns, trampling down horse and man and crushing our ranks so to make ordinary retreat impossible.”
Nearly 1,700 years later, warfare is still part of our lives. As American and other coalition forces fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, tales of battles fought are being written for future historians—and another leader, Tommy Franks, takes his place among those who have held the title general.
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