Posts Tagged history

86 results.
Sep13

The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt

by Rindis on September 13, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Like a lot of people, ancient Egypt has always had a fascination for me, and being a history buff, I’ve picked up a decent amount of knowledge on the subject over the years. But, I’ve never had any one great source for what is quite a lot of history, and Toby Wilkinson’s book serves the purpose very well.

One advantage of it is that instead of just being Dynastic Egypt, the text runs all the way from what we know of pre-sedentary societies in the area (all-new to me), to the death of Cleopatra, and the end of Egypt as any sort of independent entity until modern times. Coverage naturally varies depending on how much is known, with the usual suspects of the early I Dynasty and the XVIII Dynasty getting a lot of attention. Normally, I don’t see much about the period between the XIX Dynasty and the Ptolemaic period, so the expanded scope was appreciated.

The book is clear, concise, and well-written, and as an introductory overview stays well away from any sort of controversies, or discussion of trends of thought in Egyptology, even when those bear directly on text. The greatest example of this was having to look up Ptolemy VII separately to find out that he may not have reigned/existed at all, and if he did it was a very short while (say a month); but the book talks about Ptolemy VI and Ptolemy VIII in the same paragraph, and doesn’t think to note the reason why there’s a missing number. There is a stated attempt to point out forms of repression and absolutism inherent in the governmental system, but it’s not all that well explored, and (since its what we have records of) the book tends to gloss over parts of that anyway in its narration of the doings of high officials and armies.

In addition to the standard bibliography, there’s a fairly extensive collection of color photographs (a number of black-and-white ones are scattered throughout) at the end of the (Kindle) book. They aren’t bad on a smaller screen, and are big enough to view comfortably on my desktop monitor. There’s also a lot of notes for further reading on specific subjects; unfortunately, at least in the Kindle version the names of books are not italicized, making them harder to pick out of the text, and the sources of articles mentioned are not given. What actually makes me unhappy, is that the reading is almost all for particular subjects, instead of anything that just breaks down to the next level of overview, i.e., suggestions for the Old Kingdom as a whole.

There’s some talk about the various trade routes around the Nile, which help explain the importance of certain areas, and at least mention of the fact that the Nile Delta was more important that it seems, simply because it’s much harder to do archaeology there. But, while lacking a means of easy access to the next level of detail, there is plenty here, and it is overall a well-put together look at around 3000 years of history.

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Aug12

Medieval Siege Weapons: Byzantium to India

by Rindis on August 12, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

The second volume of Osprey’s New Vanguard books on medieval siege weapons is pretty much just like the first: Thompson’s gouache illustrations do a good job of showing some specific examples, while the text goes through variations on terminology and tries to make sense of them.

India probably should have just been left out of the book, as most references are ‘there’s no evidence’. The Byzantines talked about siege machinery often enough, and Islamic writers somewhat less so, but there’s very few known references to siege machines in India. In fact, all but one of the illustrated machines are from Byzantium or the Islamic world, and the one exception is surprisingly enough from Russia. That one is a little unsatisfying, as there doesn’t seem to be any indication that an idea of the size or form of the ‘fire wheel’ (other than the name) is given in the source; that said, the reconstruction given is more logical than anything I’d come up with.

India isn’t entirely absent, and there’s even a mention or two of siege machines in SE Asia, so the effort is there. In combination with the volumes on China, and Greece and Rome, Osprey has probably covered all the pre-gunpowder siege engines of the world. At least as far as scholarship has uncovered mentions of them.

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Aug06

The War of the Austrian Succession

by Rindis on August 6, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

My biggest regret about Reed Browning’s book on the War of the Austrian Succession is that he never wrote any other military history. His normal subject seems to be the British government of the early 18th Century, which is probably a bit too detailed for my general tastes (and also, somewhat surprisingly, ’20s baseball).

But this volume is an excellent one-volume history of the war as a whole, concentrating on the military and diplomatic activities of the principle actors in Europe. The New World and India do get coverage, but it is at least as peripheral as the events would have seemed in Europe. For an overview that is more than fair, but the narrative for both theaters felt not fully formed. (Similarly, the ’45 Jacobite rebellion gets about a page, which is fair.)

The main event is more than complicated enough to need all the attention and focus that can be brought to bear. He starts with a good overview of the political conflicts that led to the outbreak of war, and presents the main theaters of the war. However, while the maps follow this outline well, they’re very primitive, and do not have any of the details needed for later in the book.

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Jul26

The Road to Culloden Moor

by Rindis on July 26, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Preston’s book on the last Jacobite Rebellion is an interesting volume. It looks for balance not by stripping away all romanticism or propaganda, but by embracing them. What papers and people were saying on both sides is looked at, not necessarily to arrive at a middle ground, but to show what they were concerned about.

The 1745 rebellion was the passing of an era, and like any such, a large number of stories and legends sprung up around it. And while The Road to Culloden Moor spends a good amount of time talking about them, and how they compare to the events they’re based on, this ignorant American could have used a better grounding in just what these myths are.

As a popular history, the descriptions of the battles are somewhat cursory, but then most of them were extremely brief affairs, on the other hand, it is hard to keep a great sense of the maneuvering going on (maps, as always, would help). But beyond that, the narrative of the entire rebellion, from Charles’… ‘escape’ from Rome to France, to the aftermath, is well done, and overall the book is very informative.

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Jun24

Amphibious Thing

by Rindis on June 24, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Amphibious Thing is another Kindle book that I picked up on sale, though I was uncertain that I’d care much about the life of an early Eighteenth Century person I’d never heard of. Thankfully, the book is well-written and fairly engaging, even while wading through reams of surviving letters and other sources.

This is one of the better biographies I’ve read, as it does a very good job of both focusing on a particular topic, and not bouncing around much in time in order to do so.  If you have no interest in the period, this book won’t engender it, but it does provide a good look at the court of George II, and the ministry of Robert Walpole; and that latter is probably enough to get some people’s attention. Reading it with a little knowledge of the period certainly helped my appreciation of the book.

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Jun04

Medieval Siege Weapons: Western Europe

by Rindis on June 4, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Osprey’s book on siege weapons does it’s intended job of introducing the subject, but that’s about it. Sam Thompson’s gouache illustrations show a nice variety of specific examples of machines, but the rest of the book tends to be unspecific and feels lost in the weeds.

Now the main culprit for this is just the lack of real evidence. The book spends a lot of time looking at various terms used in manuscripts, and is good for showing region variations, but since most times its just the term with no description, it’s nearly impossible to know how technically precise any of these authors are, and therefore more than the most vague generalities. Since this was a New Vanguard book, I was wanting a fairly detailed physical analysis and description of the parts, but it just doesn’t exist here. The main chapter on throwing machines is nicely divided up into sections on the basic types, and gives some indication of when certain types were known to be in use in various parts of Europe, though a timeline for the major pieces of evidence would have helped there too.

That said,the 585-1385 time period fits with the dates of the first and last solid examples that are given, though there’s nothing else to really give a reason to those 400 years. I think I’d much prefer a book more like the Elite-series one on Roman siege engineering, which went a lot more into how sieges were conducted.

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May27

Catherine the Great

by Rindis on May 27, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Massie’s book on Catherine the Great is first and foremost a biography, and never loses sight of this fact. As an empress, there is a temptation to equate her with the state, and end up with more of a history of Russia during her reign. I wouldn’t have minded that, but instead the focus is mostly kept on Catherine herself.

However this is one of the best biographies I’ve read (I don’t read a lot of them) for getting a true sense of the person that is the subject of the book. It is a decidedly sympathetic view (aided by the extensive use of her autobiography for the first part of her life), but this helps with gaining a sense of the ideals she aspired to. Further, the focus is not so narrow that Catherine is the only person you get to know in these pages. Naturally, both Peter III and Empress Elizabeth get a lot of time and attention, and while there there are a lot of other people in these pages, they are the only other ones that get a lot of attention.

As ever, Massie is a great writer, and really brings the 18th century to life. Chapters are generally organized around a subject, so while this is generally a chronological telling, there is also a certain amount of back-and-forth, which gets annoyingly prominent right at the end. Since Catherine did not directly lead in her few wars, there is less of that side of things compared to Massie’s Peter the Great, and instead there is a lot of attention paid to her relationship with Enlightenment values.

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May11

The Restoration of Rome

by Rindis on May 11, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Peter Heather’s study of Western Europe after the fall of Rome comes in four parts, with the first three being similar, and the fourth different. Each one is about a separate attempt to restore ‘imperial’ rule to the Western Roman Empire.

Part one starts with the background of Theoderic, specifically his time as a hostage in Constantinople, and his exposure to Roman civilization. It moves onto Gothic politics, and does a good job looking at them, and how through a series of gambles, and deals, he ended up as the leader of a reduced, but cohesive group of Goths, and took on the job of expelling Odoacer from Italy. The resulting Ostrogothic Kingdom is shown as an attempted restoration of the Empire to Western territories. Despite later disagreements, Theoderic had started with orders from Constantinople, and his later effective control over Visigothic Kingdom in Gaul and Spain allowed him to dominate most of the Western Empire’s former territories, and the intent was purely to be seen as the Western Emperor.

The problem was the conjoined Gothic states did not stay so after Theoderic’s death, which leads to the second part, Justinian’s reconquest of substantial part of the Western Empire. Heather shows that Justinian attempted to legitimize his reign with a couple gambles, law reform and war with Persia, which did not work out. The expedition to Africa and invasion of Sicily were very opportunistic schemes to restore legitimacy. The eventual Justinian law code only went forward based on the political capital gained from success in the west, and the section ends with analysis of the idea that Justinian’s wars crippled the Eastern Empire in the long run, and generally comes up negative. I think he didn’t consider the impacts on manpower nearly enough, but economically, he’s on reasonably solid ground.

The third section is about Charlemagne’s crowning as Emperor in 800, and the subsequent collapse of the state over the next few generations. There’s some very good analysis in here about how the need to reward followers both allow a moderate sized state to grow quickly (when there’s plenty of rewards to give out), and forces it to come apart once that growth slows or stops. Each change in rulers requires a new round of payments to make sure of loyalties, and a few years to ‘feel out’ which members of the court are the most competent and loyal.

The common thread through the book is the idea how the Romans saw divine approval and power as intertwined. In Christian terms, if God wanted you to be Emperor, then no force on Earth could stop it, and if you were the Emperor, then obviously God wanted you to be so. And since the Emperor was chosen by God, then he had authority over the Church. The fourth section shows this being turned on its head.

Charlemagne’s administration produced a set of standard texts for education inside the Christian Church. There is a good discussion of the forgery of the Donation of Constantine, which claims the Western Empire was effectively handed over to the Pope in Rome. The idea presented here is that this was not a Roman (or Papal) forgery, but actually came out of the Carolingian churches. Until this point, the archbishops were the main authority, but if the (distant) Pope was the real head of things, then the bishops didn’t need to listen to the (nearby) archbishops. Then, a generation or two later, officials brought up in this tradition end up installed in Rome by German Emperors, and they worked to reform the Papacy into what they thought it should be, an ultimate source of ecclesiastical and temporal authority.

Trying to see this last as an ‘imperial’ project (so that it fits in with the rest of Heather’s theme) hurts this last part of the book. But overall, it is, like the other parts, an interesting look at the post-Roman/early Medieval West. Each part of the book interleaves with the rest, and while it is by no means a complete history of the period, it does a lot to examine just how the Western Empire did not manage to get reestablished.

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Apr25

Stilicho

by Rindis on April 25, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

The end of the Western Roman Empire is a hard subject to get a real grasp on. Ian Huges’ book about one of the final magister militums of the western empire does a lot to explain conditions during the beginning of the 5th Century.

Stilicho has generally been a controversial figure, either vilified or celebrated by most histories (this book’s subtitle, “The Vandal Who Saved Rome” is a direct reference to that latter tradition), and Huges’ intent is to do a more evenhanded account (which I think ends up giving him more credit than is due in a few places).

The story starts with Theodosius defeating a western ‘pretender’, Eugenius, reuniting the Roman Empire, and then dying a few months later, leaving the Empire to his two children, who were both underage. Stilicho was one of Theodosius’ generals, and was married to his (adopted) daughter, and claimed authority over the Empire as… legal guardian (parens principum) of both emperors. This was never accepted in the East, and led to a strained relationship between the two imperial courts for the duration of his rule. In the West, Stilicho followed the arc of so many regencies, starting with a good amount of power, then falling into political power struggles with the court and the maturing Emperor, and in this case executed.

The book provides a very good overall study of his thirteen years in power (which is a pretty impressive amount of time for someone at the top of Roman politics in an unstable reign), maintaining a mostly chronological account, but dividing things up into specific subjects which are each examined in turn (sometimes round-robin style; coming back to previous subjects in the next year, etc.). I would have much preferred that a few things were handled in greater detail (like his relationship with the Gothic general Alaric), but presumably there isn’t enough in the sources to say more. At the same time, there are ideas introduced (like the attitude of the Senate in Rome) that I’d like a better idea of where he’s pulling it from, of if it is all assumption.

The good news for the Kindle version of this book, is that there’s a lot of maps scattered throughout the book, generally close to where they’re needed; I could wish for better quality or focus on some, but they are there. The bad news is that it seems the formatting did not entirely make it into the Kindle version. All the section headers are presented in normal text, with no bolding, extra space around them, or anything else to set them apart from the text.

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Apr13

Manzikert 1071

by Rindis on April 13, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Osprey’s Campaign book on the Battle of Manzikert continues their proud tradition of featuring just about every military disaster Rome had. (Well, yes, we are just a bit ‘post-Rome’ here, though it’s still the Roman Empire.) As usual, it’s a well-produced book with plenty of maps and pictures (including of a fair number of buildings that survive from the period, though some may not have made it through the four years since it was published).

The maps are the main weak point in this one. They are very well done, and informative, but three of them in particular try to convey too much information at once. They’re maps of the region, showing movements of armies over a few years, keyed to entries describing what’s going on. However, when there’s 30-50 entries per map, it gets difficult to pull out what’s going on. Worse, the maps are rotated sideways (the area that needs covering fits much better that way), leaving the keying on the opposite page hard to look at at the same time as the map.

The main description of the campaign is interesting. With help from the maps, it gives the general background, including just where the Seljuks had come from, and what other groups they were dealing with at the time. Very interesting is the idea that neither side was in any way anticipating a climatic battle in the region around Lake Van. The Byzantines were busy in the region trying to strengthen their border and stop Türkmen raids (which were often blamed on the Seljuks, but were generally independent), while Alp Arslan was concentrating on fighting the Fatimid Caliphate.

With everything else, the course of the battle itself doesn’t take too long to tell, and the Byzantine defeat mostly comes from poor coordination in the army after a hard day of advancing without being able to force a setpiece battle. More of the problems come from disastrously bad intelligence leading up to the confrontation. The maps are not a great help here, being done in something of a muddy ‘natural’ style that doesn’t point up any features of the terrain.

The defeat of Byzantium still shouldn’t have been nearly the history-changing even it was, but Emperor Romanos IV was captured, and before he was released eight days later, a new emperor had been crowned in Constantinople, leading to a civil war that, combined to concessions to the Seljuks, allowed the border region to collapse and Türkmen tribes to gain control of most of central Anatolia. Sadly, these afterproducts of Manzikert aren’t treated in any detail, even though they’re usually blamed on the battle itself.

With all of that, this Osprey book feels a bit more limited than some others, and seems like it was struggling with the demands of format and the fixed page count. That said, it’s still a good look at the battle itself, and provides (often contrary) details from several first-hand accounts.

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