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Great Generals of the Ancient World (Hardback)

The Personality, Intellectual, and Leadership Traits That Made Them Great

Ancient History Military

By Richard A Gabriel
Imprint: Pen & Sword Military
Pages: 327
Illustrations: 20 b/w maps and diagrams
ISBN: 9781473859081
Published: 27th March 2017

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Of the thousands of commanders who served in history’s armies, why is it that only a few are remembered as great leaders of men in battle? What combination of personal and circumstantial influences conspire to produce great commanders? What makes a great leader great? Richard A Gabriel analyses the biographies of ten great generals who lived between 1481 BC and AD 632 in an attempt to identify the characteristics of intellect, psychology, personality, and experience that allowed them to tread the path to greatness. Professor Richard Gabriel has selected the ten whom he believes to be the greatest of them all.
Those included, and more so those omitted, will surprise many readers. Conspicuous by their absence, for example, are Alexander the Great and Attila the Hun. Richard Gabriel, himself a retired soldier and professor at the Canadian Defence College, uses his selected exemplars to distil the timeless essence of military leadership.

As featured in MHM's round-up of the best military history titles

This is a good-quality hardback with an extensive bibliography.

Military History Monthly, February 2018

Concluding, this book is a good book to give as a present to a lover of military history or when bought for a short overview of military history of the Ancient World. In its kind it is certainly one of the better books on Great Generals, especially because of the thorough arguments used. Try it yourself!

Read the complete review here.

Jomini, Onno de Meer

Overall Great Generals of the Ancient World is well worth the read as a fascinating introduction to the nature of warfare and the conditions in the past that determined its successful conduct, using Antiquity's great commanders as study cases. It is a useful starting point for anyone interested in military history of this period (or rather of these periods). Gabriel has written biographies of most of the commanders he describes so this book serves as a good debut to the rest of his work.

Review by Justin Swanton

Mr. Gabriel does plead a great case for his inclusions and omissions. Do yourself a favour and pick this book up and argue over it as I have.

Read the complete review here.

A Wargamers Needful things

About Richard A Gabriel

Richard A. Gabriel is a distinguished professor in the Department of History and War Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada and in the Department of Defence Studies at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto. He has also been professor of history and politics at the U.S. Army War College and held the Visiting Chair in Military Ethics at the Marine Corps University. A retired U.S. Army officer living in Manchester, New Hampshire, Gabriel is the author of numerous books and articles on military history and other subjects and has regularly appeared as an expert on TV documentaries.

Perfect Partner

Masters of Warfare Fifty Underrated Military Commanders from Classical Antiquity to the Cold War (Hardback)

In Masters of Warfare, Eric G. L. Pinzelli presents a selection of fifty commanders whose military achievements, skill or historical impact he believes to be underrated by modern opinion. He specifically does not include the household names (the ‘Gods of War’ as he calls them) such as Alexander, Julius Caesar, Wellington, Napoléon, Rommel or Patton that have been covered in countless biographies. Those chosen come from every period of recorded military history from the sixth century BC to the Vietnam War. The selection rectifies the European/US bias of many such surveys with Asian entries…

By Dr Eric G L Pinzelli

Click here to buy both titles for £50.00
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