Masters Of The Battlefield: Great Commanders From The Classical Age To The Napoleonic Era, by Paul K. Davis

This is the third book sent to me for review by H-Net, and it was sent to my previous address, which means I have to correct my information in the H-Net database. Like many of the books I read, the title of this book is self-explanatory, as it is a series of essays by a mid-brow historian (whose previous work, like 100 Decisive Battles, I have enjoyed) about some of the most illustrious military leaders for a period of time that spans about two thousand years between the 4th century BC and the early 1800’s. In looking at this book, I can get a sense that I will find it an enjoyable read as it has lots of battle maps (and I love maps, which is rather fortunate given that I work with them daily) and that it includes a mix of familiar figures that I appreciate from my reading as well as a couple of figures I am not so familiar with and look forward to reading about more.

The book as a whole only chooses sixteen generals (in fifteen chapters–two of them, Chinggis Khan and Subodei, are covered together), ranging from classical Greeks and Romans and Carthoginians (Epaminondas, Alexander of Macedon, Hannibal, Scipio Africanus, Julius Caesar, and Belisarius), to excellent Asian generals, some known, some largely unknown except to those young people who grew up playing Koei military historical simulation games (Han Xin, the aforementioned Mongol duo, Oda Nobunga) as well as famous and obscure Europeans (Jan Zizka, Gustavus Adolphus, John Churchill, better known as the Duke of Marlborough, Frederick II of Prussia, and Napoleon). There are plenty of other generals that would have been worthy of inclusion (a subject I have written a little about myself [1]), but all of the generals chosen here are worthy generals, who succeeded in very different ways. Some of these leaders were rulers, but many were servants of rulers. Some generals were great tacticians, others were great at strategy, wielding together coalitions, or matters of logistics and psychological warfare.

However, despite the varied nature of the gifts of these particular military leaders, there is a focus on their success in battle. There are some generals who are legitimately great generals (George Washington and Ulysses S. Grant come to mind) whose greatest strengths as military commanders were a sound understanding of logistics and an ability to marshall resources to pursue and ultimately attain their grand strategies, despite their occasional shortcomings on the Battlefield. As the battle itself remains the focus of attention for most readers of military history, though, it is not surprising that this work seeks to examine those who are masters of the battlefield, even if the more critical students of a work like this will ponder whether it would not be wiser to more deeply examine the wisdom in choosing which battles to fight than merely looking at the skill of people in waging warfare. In some cases, like that of Alexander, Julius Caesar, and Chinggis Khan, any appreciation of military genius must be balanced by a sense of horror at their crimes against humanity. Likewise, our appreciation of the tactical genius of other generals, like Epaminondas, Jan Zizka, or John Churchill, is heightened by their morally principled stand against bullies and tyrants and a certain devotion to principles of social justice. Our appreciation of military genius cannot entirely be separated, if we are just people, from the justice of the causes that they fought and died for, although even dishonorable men may be worthy of study for the skill in which they lived, even if their lives cannot be commended.

So, in short, I was very pleased to have received this book, and I greatly look forward to reading it. Despite the fact that it has a very narrow scope of leaders that it is examining as masters of the battlefield worthy of emulation for armchair generals, the book weighs in at a 550 pages of text not including its notes and indices. To have added more leaders, which may have increased the scope and balance of the work, would have made the book even larger, perhaps too large for any but the most devoted students of military history to read. As it is, this book is sizeable enough that it should provide some depth on the historical figures it has chosen to cover without sacrificing its accessibility to readers at large. I await reading it to see if my initial favorable impressions of its material are confirmed.

[1] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/on-the-greatest-military-leaders-of-all-time/