• List of Illustrations Preface Abbreviations Introduction
• 1. The Neolithic Age and the Origin of Warfare
• 2. Early Dynastic Mesopotamia
• 3. The Akkadian Empire The Neo-Sumerian Period
• 5. War-Carts and Chariots
• 6. Middle Bronze Mesopotamia
• 7. Warfare in the Age of Mari
• 8. Mesopotamian Siegecraft
• 9. Syria and Lebanon
• 10. Canaan
• 11. Anatolia
• 12. Pre-Dynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt
• 13. Old Kingdom Egypt
• 14. Warfare during the Old Kingdom
• 15. First Intermediate Period Egypt
• 16. Middle Kingdom Egypt
• 17. The Military System of the Middle Kingdom
• 18. Early Second Intermediate Period Egypt.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The only book available that covers this subject, "Warfare in the Ancient Near East" is a groundbreaking and fascinating study of ancient near Eastern military history from the Neolithic era to the middle Bronze Ages. Drawing on an extensive range of textual, artistic and archaeological data, William J. Hamblin synthesizes current knowledge and offers a detailed analysis of the military technology, ideology and practices of Near Eastern warfare. Paying particular attention to the earliest known examples of holy war ideaology in Mesopotamia and Egypt, Hamblin focuses on: * recruitment and training of the infantry * the logistics and weaponry of warfare * the shift from stone to metal weapons * the role played by magic * narratives of combat and artistic representations of battle * the origins and development of the chariot as military transportation * fortifications and siegecraft *developments in naval warfare. Beautifully illustrated, including maps of the region, this book is essential for experts and non-specialists alike.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

From the soldier's-eye view of combat to the broad social and economic structures which shaped campaigns and wars, ancient Greek warfare in all its aspects has been studied more intensively in the last few decades than ever before. This book ranges from the concrete details of conducting raids, battles and sieges to more theoretical questions about the causes, costs, and consequences of warfare in archaic and classical Greece. It argues that the Greek sources present a highly selective and idealised picture, too easily accepted by most modern scholars, and that a more critical study of the evidence leads to radically different conclusions about the Greek way of war.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

The story of the Roman military machine begins with the crisis that enveloped Rome in the late second century B. C. , when soldiers became the Empire's worst enemy, pillaging citizens and creating social turmoil. In the closing years of the second century B. C. , the ancient world watched as the Roman armies maintained clear superiority over all they surveyed. But, Rome also faced an internal situation that endangered the supremacy across the expanse of the Empire. Social turmoil prevailed at the heart of her territories, led by an increasing number of dispossessed farmers, too little manpower for the army, and an inevitable conflict with the allies who had fought side by side with the Romans to establish Roman dominion. Storming the Heavens looks at this dramatic history from a variety of angles. What changed most radically, Santosuosso argues, was the behavior of soldiers in the Roman armies. The troops became the enemies within, their pillage and slaughter of fellow citizens indiscriminate, their loyalty not to the Republic but to their leaders, as long as they were ample providers of booty. By opening the military ranks to all, the new army abandoned its role as depository of the values of the upper classes and the propertied. Instead, it became an institution of the poor and drain on the power of the Empire. Santosuosso also investigates other topics, such as the monopoly of military power in the hands of a few, the connection between the armed forces and the cherished values of the state, the manipulation of the lower classes so that they would accept the view of life, control, and power dictated by the oligarchy, and the subjugation and dehumanization of subject peoples, whether they be Gauls, Britons, Germans, Africans, or even the Romans themselves.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• The means of war
• the men of war
• causes, aims and objectives
• battle and war, 1000-1152
• war and the state in the 12th century
• war, ideology and chivalry in the 11th and 12th centuries
• Bouvines and its myth
• battle and warfare in the 13th century
• civilization versus the barbarians
• warfare and change.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

From the author of "Victory in the East: A Military History of the First Crusade", this book offers a wide-ranging and innovative survey of crusading warfare, and is intended as a standard reference for students and professional historians alike.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)