841 pages, Book
Sales, ISBN-13: 978-0785804376
Fair
Warning: The Harper Encyclopedia of
Military Biography is just that: a useful reference tool profiling 3000
great military leaders from ancient times to the present and, as such, is best
used as a research tool, rather than as a good book to curl up with. The
following information is provided for each biographical entry: dates of birth
and death (if known); nationality; rank or title; principal wars; nickname (if
applicable); overview of the subject’s life; and an evaluation of the leader’s
abilities and achievements. For most entries there is a list of books one can
read for further information about the leader. As such, this book provides an
incredible amount of information on each person and is an invaluable reference
for any military historian – however, as I was perusing it on one of my many
excursions between its covers, I discovered that several individuals were not
included…like, A LOT of soldier/statesmen
whom I believe, in my oh so ‘umble opinion, deserved some mention, if anything
to see their treatment in a work like this. I understand size restraints and
readers may agree or not with this list, but that is what reviews are all about,
amiright? And so, forthwith:
How on God’s Green
Earth did you miss ‘em…
Cyrus
the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire; Epaminondas, Theban general and
statesman; Attila, ruler of the Huns; Charles Martel, Frankish statesman and
military leader; Alfred the Great, King of Wessex; Robert the Bruce, King of
Scots; Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav communist revolutionary…
If you’re gonna
include (fill-in-the-blank), then why the hell not…
Louis
IX, King of France and commonly known as Saint Louis; Francis I, King of France;
Sir Martin Frobisher, English seaman and privateer; Sir Francis Drake, English
sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer and explorer; Dominique
Martin Dupuy, French revolutionary general of brigade; Simon Bolivar Buckner, American
and Confederate soldier and politician; John Buford, Jr. Union Army cavalry
commander; Terry de la Mesa Allen Sr., senior United States Army officer; Sir
Richard Nugent O’Connor, British Army officer; Hans-Valentin Hube, general in
the Wehrmacht; Carl Andrew Spaatz, American World War II general; James M.
Gavin, United States Army officer; Donn Albert Starry, United States Army
four-star general; Frederick Melvin Franks Jr., commander of the Gulf War
coalition VII Corps…
And hey, while we’re
at it, why not…
John
Graham Montrose Archibald Campbell Argyll Henry (Hotspur) Percy Charles Edward
Stuart Ealdorman Byrhtnoth Canute Brian Boru William Marshall Robert Guiscard
Harold Godwinson Harald Hardrada El Cid Boudicca Godefroy de Bouillon Raymond
of Toulouse Bohemond I of Antioch Charles the Bold of Burgundy Holy Roman
Emperor Sigismund Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV Henry the Lion Tokhtamysh Subutai
Theodoric of the Visigoths Ramses II Antigonus Mithridates VI of Pontus Seleucus
I Nicator Titus Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain Wilhelm Freiherr von Roggendorf…
Well,
I guess you get the point; I guess you can’t have ‘em all. For all that, The Harper Encyclopedia of Military
Biography is an invaluable resource for scholar and amateur alike; and if,
like me, you’re ever bored one evening and in need of diversion, just flip this
book open to a random page and start reading about some long-forgotten warlord
and have at it.
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