Thermopylae 480 BC: Last stand of the 300 (Campaign)
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$19.95
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Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Brand: Osprey Publishing Limited
Dewey Decimal Number: 938.03
EAN: 9781841761800
ISBN: 184176180X
Label: Osprey Publishing
Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 96
Publication Date: 2007-11-20
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
Release Date: 2007-11-20
Studio: Osprey Publishing
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Editorial Reviews:
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Thermopylae resonates throughout history as a battle involving extreme courage and sacrifice. It was in this rocky pass in northern Greece that Leonidas, king of the Spartans and commander-in-chief of the Greek force, delayed the Persian hordes for three days against overwhelming odds. Finally overcome by treachery, the remaining Spartans refused to retreat in the face of inevitable defeat, being slaughtered by the elite Persian 'Immortals' down to the last man. Nic Fields vividly describes the battle for the narrow gateway to southern Greece as the combined Greek forces held off the army of Xerxes and Leonidas's sacrifice bought time for the retreat and tactical and political regrouping that would save Greece. Full color artwork, detailed maps and dramatic battle scenes complement clear and authoritative text to provide an in-depth analysis of one of the most famous acts of sheer courage and defiance in the face of overwhelming odds in history.
Related Titles
978 1 84176 000 1 CAM 108 Marathon 490 BC
978 1 85532 659 0 ELI 66 The Spartan Army
978 1 84176 358 3 ESS 36 The Greek and Persian Wars 499-386 BC
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Short Introduction to the theme
Comment: English:
I have read this book thoroughly in about two days. It is a real quick introduction, with plenty of pictures illustrating some facts, but most of the text is taken from other books reviewing lacaedaemonian history, such as Paul Cartledge's The Spartans.
For those who wish to get a quick view before delving into Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon it is a good starter.
Português:
Li este livro em apenas dois dias. E este se caracteriza como uma rápida introdução, contendo muitas ilustrações, mas com a maior parte do texto extraída de revisões da história da Lacedemonia, tais como o livro The Spartans (sem tradução para o português) de Paul Cartledge.
Para quem deseja uma breve visão do assunto antes de buscar as fontes originais em Heródoto, Tucídides e Xenofon, esta é uma boa introdução.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Quite a delusion
Comment: I have bought this book (and it is not my first on the battle at Thermopylae or the Greek-Persian wars) mostly reading the reviews of other readers. Now that I have read it, I don't understand how one can rate it 4/5 stars. The book is supposed to be about the battle, yet, when after a long long introduction about commanders, tactics, etc. it comes to the battle, it just says that it is impossible to know how things have gone during it. How interesting. Then why and how do you write a book about it? More, I guess that before writing that 'most recent scholars' presume that the total number of the Persian land troops was around 80,000, the author should have read Von Clausewitz's 'On war', especially the part when it describes how man-consuming is a long march in enemy territory. But assuming that the author is right, let's see: 80,000 crossing the Hellespont, how many at Thermopylae? 75,000 to be higly optimistic. How many dead or wounded after the battle? 10,000? 15,000? Split the army in two after Salamis and the going back of Xerses, and we are so presuming that the Persians at Platea were less than their Greek enemies. Not to say that it is not clearly understandable why Xerses should have marched,instead of carrying his troops by ships, thing that could easily be managed if they really were 80,000. I do only add that the photos of the battlefield how it is today are black/white, and mostly taken from so high or so far that very little can be understood. One can easily find better ones on the web.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great, but...
Comment: Great reference work, but is let down by the quality of maps and illustrations compared to other Osprey titles.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent book on Thermopylae
Comment: As Osprey Campaign series book #188, this book by Nic Fields must be among the top five best of the series. I agreed with one of the previous reviewers that this is probably the best book written on the battle at Thermopylae in 480 BC. The details given in this book surpassed most books on this subject whose pages may be considerably more but accounts on the battle considerably less.
The book followed the typical Osprey Campaign series format where the background information on the campaign, its leaders and the military forces involved were given in a good summarized account. The author spend considerable amount of time discussing the military forces here to give a clear understanding of the differences between the Greeks and the Persians. The differences also determined the tactics and strategy used by both sides during the battle. Persian fondness for long range attacks prompted the Greeks effort to close in on their enemies. One of the previous reviewers wrote that North Vietnamese forces used the same tactics during Vietnam War against American air superiority. It's well worth considering how tactics and strategy, despite of the passage of centuries, rarely change in application. The maps and illustrations proves to be quite useful as well. The three maps that showed the three days of battle I thought were very useful in determining how the battle unfolded each day.
Overall, the book proves to be well written and researched by the author who skillfully managed to write a book that clearly explained how this battle came to be, how it unfolded and why. He does all this in less then 100 page and at a level where almost anyone who can read, can understand the battle with clarity and with interest. This book can be a very useful tool to those who had a overdose of that fantasy movie that came out in March 2007 based on this battle and needs some proper education to get the facts straight. It is refreshing to mentioned that the author did not play on that popular film as part of his book. Overall, one of the best books in Osprey Campaign series and well worth the reading time.
Customer Rating:
Summary: PLEASANT SURPRISE
Comment: Nic Fields has reduced the Thermopylae battle to the shortest, most well-written and concise version that exists today. After the 2007 "movie", which introduced Thermopylae to the US and UK public, (I say introduced, as most people I spoke to, who saw the movie, were so uninformed that they were unaware it was based on a real event. SAD).Fields, to his great credit, does not bind himself to the traditional sources or re-writes as found in recent publications. He takes the material available, reduces it to a readable and entertaining story, giving a overview of what probably happened in the best fashion available. In essence, this is a stand-alone version of Leonidas' sacrifice, which should be a lesson for today. Sadly, we live in a society raised on the belief that self-sacrifice is for someone else. Fields' short book cannot be added to, because in the end, he tells us all that is known, and in splendid fashion.
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