Ten Battles: Decisive Conflicts You May Not Know About, But Should

Ten Battles is a fast paced, entertaining book that informs readers on battles that might otherwise slip through the cracks.

In elegant words it gives readers a detailed and manageable course in the basics of battle, military campaigns, and historical repercussions. On balance, it is a striking exploration of history that can be enjoyed by both academic and general audiences.

Immediately and with enjoyable prose, Ten Battles takes readers through ten of the most important and most unknown battles in history. In a field filled with discussions of well known battles, Ten Battles examines little known engagements that had lasting and important consequences of global significance.

The book examines each of its case studies in detail and in context, discussing the prelude, actual engagement, aftermath, and results with equal vigor.

Readers are dazzled right off by the discussion of two classical battles essential in Roman History. The first of these is Zama, a keen engagement fought at the end of the Second Punic War that ended Carthage and catapulted Rome to Empire. This discussion of Zama gives a new perspective on a well known and misunderstood general, Hannibal Barca.

Ten Battles then takes its readers to the desert of Iraq, where over 2,000 years ago a battle was joined between horse and sword for the fate of Persia and perhaps the long-term survival of the Roman Empire. Carrhae leaps off the pages and engages readers in one of the most asymmetric battles in history, one that had lasting implications for Rome, Persia, and the progress of Western Civilization in general. In itself, Carrhae is a vastly interesting battle where the potency of maneuver and ballistics is clearly proven.

Next on the list of Ten Battles is Badr, an obscure and small-scale affair that would have epic consequences for one of today's most prolific religions: Islam. At the time no more that a skirmish between desert tribes, Badr was still drastic, as it set the context that Islam would use for expansion for the next 1,000 years.

Next comes 1066 and an important battle fought in the wilds of England between Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. Angry Vikings and perturbed Saxons clash at Stamford Bridge with nothing less than the future of the Vikings, England, and even the Norman conquest at stake.

The first half of the book finishes with a discussion of the fame and infamy of Genghis Khan and his Mongol horsemen. The Sack of Khwarezmia is a tragic tale, one of siege warfare, indirect theater based warfare, and shameless slaughter. But Khwarezmia is also an important turning point in the course of Central Asia and the wider Mongol conquest.

Ten Battles starts you with five interesting and important battles but then gives you five more. In the second half of the book, readers are taken through Cowpens in the American Revolution and New Orleans in the War of 1812. Then the Russians and Ottomans face off at Sinop, the Japanese and Soviets at Khalkhin Gol, and finally the Israeli Defense Force and terrorists during Operation Isotope in 1972.

Ten Battles answers fundamental questions about the progress of history by looking at root causes and the results of the formative events of some of the most important trends in history. By understanding why things happened as they did we get a better idea of how to move forward with our lives.

Instead of hoping for a better world, grab a hold of history and make a better world.