The Allure of Battle: A History of How Wars Have Been Won and Lost
Cathal J. Nolan, "The Allure of Battle: A History of How Wars Have Been Won and Lost"
English | ISBN: 0195383788 | 2017 | 728 pages | MOBI | 5 MB
English | ISBN: 0195383788 | 2017 | 728 pages | MOBI | 5 MB
History has tended to measure war's winners and losers in terms of its major engagements, battles in which the result was so clear-cut that they could be considered "decisive." Marathon, Cannae, Tours, Agincourt, Austerlitz, Sedan, Stalingrad–all resonate in the literature of war and in our imaginations as tide-turning. But were they? As Cathal J. Nolan demonstrates in this magisterial and sweeping work, victory in major wars usually has been determined in other ways. Even the most legendarily lopsided of battles did not necessarily decide their outcomes. Nolan also challenges the hoary concept of the military "genius," even of the Great Captains–from Alexander to Frederick and Napoleon–mapping instead the descent into total war.