The Soul of Battle From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny

by HANSON, VICTOR DAVIS

• ISBN13: 9780385720595
• ISBN10: 0385720599
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-04-17
• Publisher: Anchor

Summary

Victor David Hanson, author of the highly regarded classicThe Western Way of War, presents an audacious and controversial theory of what contributes to the success of military campaigns. Examining in riveting detail the campaigns of three brilliant generals who led largely untrained forces to victory over tyrannical enemies, Hanson shows how the moral confidence with which these generals imbued their troops may have been as significant as any military strategy they utilized. Theban general Epaminondas marched an army of farmers two hundred miles to defeat their Spartan overlords and forever change the complexion of Ancient Greece. William Tecumseh Sherman led his motley army across the South, ravaging the landscape and demoralizing the citizens in the defense of right. And George S. Patton commanded the recently formed Third Army against the German forces in the West, nearly completing the task before his superiors called a halt. Intelligent and dramatic,The Soul of Battleis narrative history at it's best and a work of great moral conviction.

Author Biography

Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, a professor of Classics Emeritus at California State University, Fresno, and a nationally syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services. He is also the Wayne & Marcia Buske Distinguished Fellow in History, Hillsdale College, where he teaches each fall semester courses in military history and classical culture. He is the author of Carnage and Culture, An Autumn of War, and Ripples of Battle, all published by Anchor Books. His most recent book is The Savior Generals (Bloomsbury 2013). Hanson was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2007, the Bradley Prize in 2008, as well as the William F. Buckley Prize (2015), the Claremont Institute’s Statesmanship Award (2006), and the Eric Breindel Award for opinion journalism (2002). He divides his time between his farm in Selma, CA, where he was born in 1953, and the Stanford campus.

Table of Contents

List of Maps and Illustrations	xiii
Prologue	1	(16)
PART I VEOMEN OF THEBES
EPAMINONDAS'S DESCENT INTO THE PELOPONNESE WINTER-SPRING, 370--369 B.C.
``The Dancing Floor of War''	17	(6)
``The Boeotian Pig''	23	(12)
``The Fairest and Most Level Ground''	35	(9)
``The Thebans Are Mightier in War''	44	(8)
``Princeps Graeciae''	52	(10)
``An Altogether Cruel and Bitter Condition''	62	(10)
``An Unravaged and Inviolate Land''	72	(23)
``Nature Has Made No Man a Slave''	95	(10)
``And All of Greece Became Independent and Free''	105	(18)
PART II THE ARMY OF THE WEST
SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA NOVEMBER 16--DECEMBER 21, 1864
The Python's Parade	123	(8)
Washington, D.C., May 24, 1865
The Idea	131	(17)
Atlanta, Georgia, November 16, 1864
The Soul of an Army	148	(21)
Madison, Georgia, November 20, 1864
Where Is the Enemy?	169	(19)
Griswoldville, Georgia, November 22, 1864
An Apartheid Society	188	(24)
Milledgeville, Georgia, November 24, 1864
Uncle Billy	212	(20)
Millen Georgia, December 3, 1864
The End and the Beginning	232	(31)
Savannah, Georgia, December 21, 1864
PART III THE THIRD ARMY
PATTON'S RACE INTO GERMANY AUGUST 1, 1944-MAY 8, 1945
American Ajax	263	(24)
Heidelberg, Germany, December 11, 1945
The Patton Way of War	287	(18)
The Rhine River, Germany, March 22, 1945
A Deadly Enemy	305	(24)
The Ardennes, Belgium, December 22, 1944
A Cog in the Wheel?	329	(17)
The Lorraine, France, August 29, 1944
Ideological Warriors	346	(21)
The Seine River, France, August 19, 1944
The Labyrinth of Slavery	367	(23)
Argentan, France, August 12, 1944
A Different Idea	390	(15)
Knutsford, England, February 3, 1944
Epilogue: The End of the Democratic Marches?	405	(8)
Glossary	413	(4)
Acknowledgments	417	(2)
Notes	419	(44)
Bibliography	463	(6)
Index	469