Download or read book Alexander the Great versus Julius Caesar written by Simon Elliott and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2022-01-28 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exhaustive comparison of two great leaders, using seven traits to judge their military successes with the Macedonian Army and the Republican Roman Army. In the annals of ancient history the lights of Alexander the Great and Gaius Julius Caesar shine brighter than any other, inspiring generations of dynasts and despots with their imperial exploits. Each has been termed the greatest military leader of the ancient world, but who actually was the best? In this book Dr Simon Elliott first establishes a set of criteria by which to judge the strategic and tactical genius of both. He then considers both in turn in brand-new, up-to-date military biographies, starting with Alexander, undefeated in battle and conqueror of the largest empire the world had seen by the age of 26. Next Caesar, the man who played the crucial role in expanding Roman territory to the size which would later emerge as the Empire under his great nephew, adopted son and heir Augustus. The book’s detailed conclusion sets each of their military careers against the criteria set out earlier to finally answer the question: who was the greatest military leader in the ancient world? “Takes the attributes of the lives of these two great individuals of history and compares each man against each other . . . beautifully written . . . an informed and comprehensive read.” —UK Historian “A truly fantastic book . . . makes the history that Elliott teaches us fun and engaging as we follow these great generals on their exploits . . . It is one of the best ancient history books I have read.” —History with Jackson

Download or read book Caesar s Legacy written by Josiah Osgood and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-02-16 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In April 44 BC the eighteen-year-old Gaius Octavius landed in Italy and launched his take-over of the Roman world. Defeating first Caesar's assassins, then the son of Pompey the Great, and finally Antony and the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, he dismantled the old Republic, took on the new name 'Augustus', and ruled forty years more with his equally remarkable wife Livia. Caesar's Legacy grippingly retells the story of Augustus' rise to power by focusing on how the bloody civil wars which he and his soldiers fought transformed the lives of men and women throughout the Mediterranean world and beyond. During this violent period citizens of Rome and provincials came to accept a new form of government and found ways to celebrate it. Yet they also mourned, in literary masterpieces and stories passed on to their children, the terrible losses they endured throughout the long years of fighting.

Download or read book Napoleon s Commentaries on the Wars of Julius Caesar written by and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2017-11-30 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While in exile on St Helena, Napoleon dictated a commentary on the wars of Julius Caesar, later published in 1836. In each chapter he summarized the events of one campaign, then added comments from the standpoint of his own military knowledge. Over the nearly two millennia between Caesar and Napoleon some aspects of warfare had changed, notably the introduction of firearms. But much remained the same: the rate of movement of armies (at the foot pace of horse or man); human muscle power as the main source of energy for construction work; some military techniques, notably bridge construction; as well as the actual territory fought over by Caesar and later by Napoleon. Napoleons commentary thus provides a fascinating and highly authoritative insight into Caesars wars, as well as providing a window into Napoleons own thinking and attitudes. Napoleon in places detects mistakes on the part of Caesar and his enemies, and says what they should have done differently. Remarkably, this is thought to be the first full English translation of Napoleon's work.Napoleon Bonaparte was born to an obscure Corsican family but rose through the ranks of the French army to become Emperor of France, conqueror of most of Europe and acknowledged military genius. He wrote this book while in exile on St Helena.The translator. RA Maguire, is a former civil engineer with a long-standing interest in military and ancient history.

Download or read book Masters of Command written by Barry Strauss and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-05-21 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analyzes the leadership and strategies of three forefront military leaders from the ancient world, offers insight into the purposes behind their conflicts, and shows what today's leaders can glean from their successes and failures.

Download or read book Alexander the Great written by Philip Freeman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-10-18 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the first authoritative biography of Alexander the Great written for a general audience in a generation, classicist and historian Philip Freeman tells the remarkable life of the great conqueror. The celebrated Macedonian king has been one of the most enduring figures in history. He was a general of such skill and renown that for two thousand years other great leaders studied his strategy and tactics, from Hannibal to Napoleon, with countless more in between. He flashed across the sky of history like a comet, glowing brightly and burning out quickly: crowned at age nineteen, dead by thirty-two. He established the greatest empire of the ancient world; Greek coins and statues are found as far east as Afghanistan. Our interest in him has never faded. Alexander was born into the royal family of Macedonia, the kingdom that would soon rule over Greece. Tutored as a boy by Aristotle, Alexander had an inquisitive mind that would serve him well when he faced formidable obstacles during his military campaigns. Shortly after taking command of the army, he launched an invasion of the Persian empire, and continued his conquests as far south as the deserts of Egypt and as far east as the mountains of present-day Pakistan and the plains of India. Alexander spent nearly all his adult life away from his homeland, and he and his men helped spread the Greek language throughout western Asia, where it would become the lingua franca of the ancient world. Within a short time after Alexander’s death in Baghdad, his empire began to fracture. Best known among his successors are the Ptolemies of Egypt, whose empire lasted until Cleopatra. In his lively and authoritative biography of Alexander, classical scholar and historian Philip Freeman describes Alexander’s astonishing achievements and provides insight into the mercurial character of the great conqueror. Alexander could be petty and magnanimous, cruel and merciful, impulsive and farsighted. Above all, he was ferociously, intensely competitive and could not tolerate losing—which he rarely did. As Freeman explains, without Alexander, the influence of Greece on the ancient world would surely not have been as great as it was, even if his motivation was not to spread Greek culture for beneficial purposes but instead to unify his empire. Only a handful of people have influenced history as Alexander did, which is why he continues to fascinate us.

Download or read book Alexander the Great written by Anthony Everitt and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2021-06-08 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What can we learn from the stunning rise and mysterious death of the ancient world’s greatest conqueror? An acclaimed biographer reconstructs the life of Alexander the Great in this magisterial revisionist portrait. “[An] infectious sense of narrative momentum . . . Its energy is unflagging, including the verve with which it tackles that teased final mystery about the specific cause of Alexander’s death.”—The Christian Science Monitor More than two millennia have passed since Alexander the Great built an empire that stretched to every corner of the ancient world, from the backwater kingdom of Macedonia to the Hellenic world, Persia, and ultimately to India—all before his untimely death at age thirty-three. Alexander believed that his empire would stop only when he reached the Pacific Ocean. But stories of both real and legendary events from his life have kept him evergreen in our imaginations with a legacy that has meant something different to every era: in the Middle Ages he became an exemplar of knightly chivalry, he was a star of Renaissance paintings, and by the early twentieth century he’d even come to resemble an English gentleman. But who was he in his own time? In Alexander the Great, Anthony Everitt judges Alexander’s life against the criteria of his own age and considers all his contradictions. We meet the Macedonian prince who was naturally inquisitive and fascinated by science and exploration, as well as the man who enjoyed the arts and used Homer’s great epic the Iliad as a bible. As his empire grew, Alexander exhibited respect for the traditions of his new subjects and careful judgment in administering rule over his vast territory. But his career also had a dark side. An inveterate conqueror who in his short life built the largest empire up to that point in history, Alexander glorified war and was known to commit acts of remarkable cruelty. As debate continues about the meaning of his life, Alexander's death remains a mystery. Did he die of natural causes—felled by a fever—or did his marshals, angered by his tyrannical behavior, kill him? An explanation of his death can lie only in what we know of his life, and Everitt ventures to solve that puzzle, offering an ending to Alexander’s story that has eluded so many for so long.

Download or read book The Conquest of Gaul written by Julius Caesar and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1983-02-24 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The enemy were overpowered and took to flight. The Romans pursued as far as their strength enabled them to run' Between 58 and 50 BC Julius Caesar conquered most of the area now covered by France, Belgium and Switzerland, and invaded Britain twice, and The Conquest of Gaul is his record of these campaigns. Caesar’s narrative offers insights into his military strategy and paints a fascinating picture of his encounters with the inhabitants of Gaul and Britain, as well as lively portraits of the rebel leader Vercingetorix and other Gallic chieftains. The Conquest of Gaulcan also be read as a piece of political propaganda, as Caesar sets down his version of events for the Roman public, knowing he faces civil war on his return to Rome. Revised and updated by Jane Gardner, S. A. Handford’s translation brings Caesar’s lucid and exciting account to life for modern readers. This volume includes a glossary of persons and places, maps, appendices and suggestions for further reading.

Download or read book Caesar written by Adrian Goldsworthy and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2006-09-22 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This “captivating biography” of the great Roman general “puts Caesar’s war exploits on full display, along with his literary genius” and more (The New York Times) Tracing the extraordinary trajectory of the Julius Caesar’s life, Adrian Goldsworthy not only chronicles his accomplishments as charismatic orator, conquering general, and powerful dictator but also lesser-known chapters during which he was high priest of an exotic cult and captive of pirates, and rebel condemned by his own country. Goldsworthy also reveals much about Caesar’s intimate life, as husband and father, and as seducer not only of Cleopatra but also of the wives of his two main political rivals. This landmark biography examines Caesar in all of these roles and places its subject firmly within the context of Roman society in the first century B.C. Goldsworthy realizes the full complexity of Caesar’s character and shows why his political and military leadership continues to resonate thousands of years later.

Download or read book Julius Caesar written by Maj.-Gen J. F. C. Fuller and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 526 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the Renaissance, Julius Caesar has been idolized as a superman. Classical sources, however, present a far less exalted being. As General Fuller writes, Caesar was "an unscrupulous demagogue whose one aim was power, and a general who could not only win brilliant victories but also commit dismal blunders....It is reasonable to suspect that, at times, Caesar was not responsible for his actions, and toward the end of his life, not altogether sane." There is no doubt that Caesar was an extraordinary man. But Fuller points out that he was extraordinary for his reckless ambition, matchless daring, and ruthless tyranny, rather than for his skills as a military commander. Caesar continually had to extricate himself from results of mistakes of judgement. His unnecessary Alexandrian War, his close call at Thapsus, and his seemingly unpremeditated Gallic conquest are just a few of Fuller's many examples. And in telling Caesar's history, Fuller illuminates a century of Roman history as well. Aided by maps of Caesar's principal battles and diagrams of many of his weapons, Fuller brings to life Caesar's wars, his armies, his equipment, and his methods. Brilliant in design and impressive in scope, Julius Caesar clarifies how the military, political, and economic aspects of the Roman Republic worked together to produce a man whose name has come down to us as a synonym for absolute authority.

Download or read book Alexander the Great written by Arrian and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2004-09-28 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inspired in his leadership, fearless in battle, and boundless in his ambition, Alexander the Great was worshiped as a god during his lifetime, and his legend has only grown since. Inheriting his father's empire at the age of twenty, Alexander resolved to expand it, and by the time of his death at thirty-two, his empire streched from Greece to India, spanning three continents and encompassing two million square miles. Comprising selections from the writings of Arrian, Plutarch, and Quintus Curtius Rufus, this definitive biography of the greatest conqueror in history features an introduction on Alexander's enduring legacy by acclaimed British television personality and Princeton University Professor Michael Wood.

Download or read book Lives of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar written by Plutarch and published by . This book was released on 1886 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Sulla written by Lynda Telford and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2014-02-11 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lucius Cornelius Sulla is one of the central figures of the late Roman Republic. Indeed, he is often considered a major catalyst in the death of the republican system. the ambitious general whose feud with a rival (Marius) led to his marching on Rome with an army at his back, leading to civil war and the terrible internecine bloodletting of the proscriptions. In these things, and in his appropriation of the title of dictator with absolute power, he set a dangerous precedent to be followed by Julius Caesar a generation later. ??Lynda Telford believes Sulla's portrayal as a monstrous, brutal tyrant is unjustified. While accepting that he was responsible for much bloodshed, she contends that he was no more brutal than many of his contemporaries who have received a kinder press. Moreover, even his harshest measures were motivated not by selfish ambition but by genuine desire to do what he believed best for Rome. The author believes the bias of the surviving sources, and modern biographers, has exaggerated the ill-feeling towards Sulla in his lifetime. After all, he voluntarily laid aside dictatorial power and enjoyed a peaceful retirement without fear of assassination. The contrast to Caesar is obvious. ??Lynda Telford gives a long overdue reappraisal of this significant personality, considering such factors as the effect of his disfiguring illness. The portrait that emerges is a subtle and nuanced one; her Sulla is very much a human, not a monster.

Download or read book Julius Caesar in Western Culture written by Maria Wyke and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-04-15 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the significance of Julius Caesar to differentperiods, societies and people from the 50s BC through to thetwenty-first century. This interdisciplinary volume explores the significance ofJulius Caesar to different periods, societies and people. Ranges over the fields of religious, military, and politicalhistory, archaeology, architecture and urban planning, the visualarts, and literary, film, theatre and cultural studies. Examines representations of Caesar in Italy, France, Germany,Britain, and the United States in particular. Objects of analysis range from Caesar’s own commentarieson the Gallic wars, through Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, andimages of Caesar in Italian fascist popular culture, tocontemporary cinema and current debates about Americanempire. Edited by a leading expert on the reception of ancientRome. Includes original contributions by international experts onCaesar and his reception.

Download or read book Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar written by and published by . This book was released on with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Armies of Julius Caesar 58 44 BC written by Raffaele D’Amato and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-09-16 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gaius Julius Caesar remains the most famous Roman general of all time. Although he never bore the title, historians since Suetonius have judged him to be, in practice, the very first 'emperor' – after all, no other name in history has been synonymous with a title of imperial rule. Caesar was a towering personality who, for better or worse, changed the history of Rome forever. His unscrupulous ambition was matched only by his genius as a commander and his conquest of Gaul brought Rome its first great territorial expansion outside the Mediterranean world. His charismatic leadership bounded his soldiers to him not only for expeditions 'beyond the edge of the world' – to Britain – but in the subsequent civil war that raised him to ultimate power. What is seldom appreciated, however is that the army he led was as varied and cosmopolitan as those of later centuries, and it is only recently that a wider study of a whole range of evidence has allowed a more precise picture of it to emerge. Drawing on a wide range of new research, the authors examine the armies of Julius Caesar in detail, creating a detailed picture of how they lived and fought.

Download or read book Emulating Alexander written by Glenn Barnett and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2017-07-19 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book gives an account of the Roman relationship with Persia and how it was shaped by the actions of Alexander the Great long before the events. Numerous Roman emperors led armies eastward against the Persians, seeking to emulate or exceed the glorious conquests of Alexander. Some achieved successes but more often the result was ignominious defeat or death. Even as the empire declined, court propagandists and courtiers looked for flattering ways to compare their now-throne-bound emperors with Alexander. All the while there was a small segment of the Roman intelligentsia who disparaged Alexander and his misdeeds.While the Romans dreamed of conquering the Persian realm, the Persians of the Parthian and Sasanian dynasties dreamed of regaining the lands of the eastern Mediterranean snatched from their Achaemenid ancestors by Alexander. Echoes of this revanchist policy can be seen in Iran's support of Shiites in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. Glenn Barnett draws comparisons between the era-long struggle of Rome and Persia with the current wars in the Middle-East where they once fought.

Download or read book Alexander The Great written by Henry Freeman and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-03-21 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does it mean to be great? There have been many that have come through the sands of time proclaiming their own greatness. We see it in the news every day; leaders, heroes, tyrants, and even reality star presidential candidates claim that they are great. But what about Alexander the Great? Inside you will read about... ✓ Alexander and the Happiness of Horses ✓ Aristotle and the First Day of School ✓ Philip’s Family Drama ✓ Enemies and Friends ✓ The Real Battle Begins ✓ Changing Tides ✓ Signs and Wonders ✓ In Pursuit of Darius ✓ Historical Autopsy The young man from Macedonia that took the world by storm creating one of the world’s first major empires? He singlehandedly changed the course of history within a decade. Read along with us to figure out just what made Alexander so great.