The wars of the ancient Greeks - Victor Davis Hanson

Western warfare as we understand it today has its foundations in the warfare of the ancient Greeks. Regardless of terrain or troop strength, ancient Greek armies historically maintained battlefield superiority. This volume covers the development of warfare in Greece from the heroic age of city-states to the coming of Rome. It looks at the social, cultural and economic background of warmaking, giving dramatic descriptions of encounters on the battlefield. Tracking the history of the hoplite and the phalanx from the citizen militia to Philip, the Greek who shifted the military stance from defensive to offensive and concludes with his son Alexander the Great, whose career and legacy are infamous.