The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: A History by Edward Shepherd Creasy

k: A great recap of Military history and important battles. A cracking read for any fan of history and the military.

United Kingdom on Jul 03, 2022

1d2v3c4m: Fascinating and informative, every bit as good as I had expected.

Germany on Nov 15, 2019

Bernard DV: Voici la liste des batailles (en anglais) :

(1) Battle of Marathon, 490 B.C.
(2) Defeat of Athenians at Syracuse, 413 B.C.
(3) Battle of Arbela, 331 B.C.
(4) Battle of the Metaurus, 207 B.C.
(5) Victory of Arminius over the Roman legions under Varus, A.D. 9
(6) Battle of Chalons, A.D. 451
(7) Battle of Tours, A.D. 732
(8) Battle of Hastings, A.D. 1066
(9) Joan of Arc's victory over the English at Orleans, A.D. 1429
(10) Defeat of the Spanish Armada, A.D. 1588
(11) Battle of Blenheim, A.D. 1704
(12) Battle of Pultowa, A.D. 1709
(13) Victory of the Americans over Burgoyne at Saratoga, A.D. 1777
(14) Battle of Valmy, A.D. 1792
(15) Battle of Waterloo, A.D. 1815

Un excellent livre que je recommande pour les personnes qui peuvent lire en anglais

France on Jul 15, 2016

Anne Phillips: Creasy's book was first published in 1841 when the author had retired as Chief Justice of Ceylon. In his introduction, Creasy describes why he chose battles as topic for his book and why he decided on just these fifteen battles. He says that "it cannot be denied that a fearful and wonderful interest is attached to these scenes of carnage. There is undeniable greatness in the disciplined courage, and in the love of honor, which make combatants confront agony and destruction." When the book was written, Waterloo and Napoleonic wars were still in fresh in people's memories and Creasy devoted a large portion of his book to this conflict - quoting contemporary poetry at length. There long excerpts of letters, reports or memoirs convey a sense of impending pandemonium more than all other descriptions. Several ancient battles were compared to the struggle against Napoleon - "for seventeen years Hannibal strove against Rome; for sixteen years Napoleon Bonaparte strove against England." Creasy begins his book with the Battle of Marathon and stirring descriptions of the participants (the Greeks) as well as their respective outlook and environment. Next he discusses the defeat of the...

United States on Mar 22, 2016

Vikram Kulkarni: old english. hard to read

India on Jun 04, 2015

B. W. Schmitt: It's definitely an interesting read, and it's definitely dated. When I say it's dated, I'm not referring to the fact that it ends with the Battle of Waterloo, when there have obviously been battles since of equal or greater decisiveness. Rather, I'm referring to things such as Mr. Creasy's comments regarding the "inferior" nature of civilizations/empires to arise in Asia to those arising in Europe. While I know such sentiments were commonplace at the time of the book's writing, it still is a bit of a jolt to see such views so brazenly stated in print... particularly in the current Age of Political Correctness. If you can look past such prejudices so common to the author's time, there is most certainly content more in depth than that presented in your high school history class. Additionally, Mr. Creasy often quotes other authors, and when that quote happens to be in Latin, he does not translate it. Again, this is not surprising, since his target audience at the time was very likely to have been schooled in Latin. A 21st Century reader, very likely not schooled in Latin beyond the occasional scientific term, is left to glean the meaning of the quote through context or interrupt...

United States on Jan 02, 2015

Nathan Albright: In choosing a list of decisive battles or noteworthy battles, there are some serious difficulties that one faces. This fact, a critical problem today, was even more a case in the 19th century, where national history was such an overwhelming concern that it is little surprise that so many of the battles chosen appear to be decisive not necessarily from a global perspective but from an English perspective. Indeed, someone like Victor Davis Hanson could very easily write the same sort of work today with the same general approach, many of the same battles, and many of the same textual sources in his research. What was acceptable in the 19th century is not always so, and there are some parts of this book, like the author's obvious Anglo-Saxon ethnic pride, or his racialism insofar as it relates to other European nations, to say nothing of his mortifying and broad social judgments on other peoples, like the Syrians, for example.

That said, if you can accept this book as a product of its time, there is much to appreciate here. The book is well-written, has chosen its source material and battles well (again, given its context), and often has a sense of poetry as well as humanity...

United States on Dec 16, 2014

Salamandre: El libro está escrito en 1851 y, por lo tanto, no recoge ninguna batalla posterior a esa fecha. En su momento, fue un libro muy importante y que generó mucho debate en torno a la idea de hechos puntuales (batallas) que marcaron el curso de la historia en una determinada dirección. La idea tenía su interés, aunque hoy en día ya no se pueda sostener. El libro tiene aún otro defecto, y es que pasa por alto cualquier batalla fuera del contexto europeo. En definitiva, una lectura interesante para conocer la mentalidad de una época, pero no para ilustrarse con la narración de quince batallas decisivas.

Spain on Oct 06, 2014