Masters of the Battlefield
Page 63
1. Polybius, Histories, 10.3.
2. Livy, Hannibal’s War, 26.19.
3. Polybius, Histories, 10.2.
4. Haywood, Studies on Scipio Africanus, pp. 25–26.
5. Liddell Hart, Scipio Africanus: Greater than Napoleon, p. 17.
6. Appian, The Foreign Wars, 23.88.
7. Lazenby, Hannibal’s War, p. 136.
8. Ibid.
9. Haywood, Studies on Scipio Africanus, pp. 48, 51–52.
10. Scullard, Scipio Africanus: Soldier and Politician, p. 65.
11. Zhmodikov, “Heavy Infantrymen in Battle,” p. 70.
12. Garba, Republican Rome, p. 11.
13. Wise, Armies of the Carthaginian Wars (London: Osprey, 1982), pp. 7–9.
14. Trevino, Rome’s Enemies, p. 39. He gives good detail on the forging and the quality of the falcata (pp. 38–40).
15. Bagnall, The Punic Wars, p. 207.
16. Ibid., p. 208.
17. Livy, Hannibal’s War, 26.45.
18. Polybius, Rise of the Roman Empire, 10.11.
19. Bagnall, The Punic Wars, p. 209.
20. Bradford, Hannibal, p. 161.
21. Goldsworthy, Roman Warfare, p. 108.
22. Polybius, Rise of the Roman Empire, 10.39. Scipio would have been the wise decision as he would have regained Spain for Carthage.
23. Meiklejohn, “Roman Strategy and Tactics,” pp. 14–15.
24. Bagnall, The Punic Wars, p. 211.
25. Scullard, Soldier and Politician, pp. 74–75.
26. Ibid., p. 73.
27. Polybius, Histories, 11.20.
28. Livy, Hannibal’s War, 28.12 n., p. 684.
29. Polybius, Histories, 11.20.
30. Liddell Hart, Greater than Napoleon, p. 51.
31. Livy, Hannibal’s War, 28.14.
32. Polybius, Histories, 11.24.
33. Ibid., 11.24.
34. Livy, Hannibal’s War, 28.16.
35. Montagu, Greek and Roman Warfare, p. 178.
36. U.S. Army Field Manual, 100–105, 7–2.
37. Liddell Hart, Greater than Napoleon, p. 63.
38. Livy, Hannibal’s War, 28.14.
39. Lazenby, Hannibal’s War, p. 149.
40. Goldsworthy, Punic Wars, p. 283.
41. Liddell Hart, Greater than Napoleon, p. 94.
42. Livy, Hannibal’s War, 28.12.
43. Ibid., 28.14, n., p. 684.
44. Bagnall, Punic Wars, p. 214.
45. Goldsworthy, Punic Wars, pp. 323–24.
46. Bagnall, Punic Wars, p. 215.
47. Liddell Hart, Greater than Napoleon, p. 43.
48. Polybius, Histories, 11.20.
49. Meiklejohn, “Roman Strategy and Tactics,” p. 19.
50. Polybius, Histories, 11.23.
Chapter 6. Gaius Julius Caesar
1. Plutarch, Caesar, in Parallel Lives, 1.2.
2. Ibid., 3.2.
3. Cary and Scullard, History of Rome, p. 243.
4. Greenough et al., Caesar’s Gallic War, p. xvii.
5. Ibid., p. xviii.
6. Ibid.
7. Keppie, “Later Republic,” p. 172.
8. Warry, Warfare in the Classical World, p. 153.
9. Carey et al., Warfare in the Ancient World, p. 107.
10. Keppie, “Later Republic,” p. 172.
11. Ibid., p. 173.
12. Warry, Warfare in the Classical World, pp. 169, 170.
13. Goldsworthy, Roman Warfare, pp. 108–9.
14. Dando-Collins, Casesar’s Legion, p. 23.
15. Ibid., p. 16.
16. Gilliver, in Gilliver et al., Rome at War, p. 36.
17. Rankin, Celts and the Classical World, p. 115.
18. Ibid., p. 115.
19. Herm, The Celts, p. 165.
20. Gilliver, Caesar’s Gallic Wars, p. 89.
21. Herm, The Celts, p. 173.
22. Cary and Scullard, History of Rome, p. 261.
23. Gilliver, in Gilliver et al., Rome at War, p. 52.
24. Warry, Warfare in the Classical World, p. 163.
25. Jimenez, Caesar against Rome, p. 54.
26. Herm, The Celts, p. 188, 189.
27. Cary and Scullard, History of Rome, p. 263.
28. Lendon, Soldiers and Ghosts, p. 215.
29. Caesar, Gallic War, in Greenough et al., Caesar’s Gallic War, 7.47–52.
30. Lendon, Soldiers and Ghosts, pp. 221–22.
31. Cary and Scullard, History of Rome, p. 263.
32. The exact location of Alesia is the subject of much debate, although Alise-Ste. Reine is the most likely given the discoveries of archaeologists there since the reign of Napoleon III. A summation of the debate over locations appears in Bianchini, Vercingétorix et Alésia.
33. Maier, “Oppida,” p. 418.
34. Cary and Scullard, History of Rome, p. 263; Gilliver, in Gilliver et al., Rome at War, p. 70; Delbrück, Warfare in Antiquity, p. 498; Warry, Warfare in the Classical World, p. 167.
35. Delbrück, Warfare in Antiquity, p. 499; Gabriel, Great Armies of Antiquity, p. 90; Plutarch, Parallel Lives, 27.2.
36. Delbrück, Warfare in Antiquity, p. 499; Dando-Collins, Caesar’s Legion, p. 58; Keppie, Making of the Roman Army, p. 92; Warry, Warfare in the Classical World, p. 170.
37. Warry, Warfare in the Classical World, p. 168. Warry writes that a pace equaled 5 Roman feet, a foot being one-third inch shorter than a modern English foot. Thus, 400 paces would measure 1,942 English feet, or 592 meters.
38. Anglim et al., Fighting Techniques of the Ancient World, p. 205.
39. Cassis Dio, Roman History, 40.40.2.
40. Caesar, Gallic War, in Greenough et al., Caesar’s Gallic War, 7.76.
41. Delbrück, Warfare in Antiquity, pp. 499–500.
42. Caesar, Gallic War, in Caesar’s Commentaries, 7.80.
43. Ibid., 7.84.
44. Ibid., 7.86.
45. Dodge, Caesar, p. 303.
46. Caesar, Gallic War, in Caesar’s Commentaries, 7.87, 88.
47. Ibid., 7.88.
48. Dodge, Great Captains, p. 83.
49. Grant, Twelve Caesars, p. 33.
50. Cary and Scullard, History of Rome, p. 269.
51. Nofi, “Pompey the Great.”
52. Liddell Hart, Strategy, p. 54.
53. Dodge, Great Captains, p. 90; for more information on the Spanish campaign, see Goldsworthy in Gilliver et al., Rome at War, pp. 128–32; Jimenez, Caesar against Rome, pp. 81–98; Jones, Art of War, pp. 75–80; and Delbrück, Warfare in Antiquity, pp. 515–27.
54. Goldsworthy in Gilliver et al., Rome at War, p. 135.
55. Liddell Hart, Strategy, p. 55.
56. Ibid., p. 56.
57. Dodge, Great Captains, p. 91.
58. Fuller, Military History, p. 191.
59. Appian, Roman History, 12.62.
60. Jimenez, Caesar against Rome, p. 148.
61. Plutarch, Caesar, 40.2.
62. Meier, Caesar, p. 395.
63. For a more complete discussion of the battle site, see Morgan, “Palaepharsalus—The Battle and the Town.”
64. Caesar, Commentaries, 3.85.
65. Gwatkin, “Some Reflections on the Battle of Pharsalus,” p. 109.
66. Goldsworthy, in Gilliver et al., Rome at War, p. 142; Meier, Caesar, p. 397; Boose and Gabriel, Great Battles of Antiquity, p. 389; Cary and Scullard, History of Rome, pp. 273, 622; and Warry, Warfare in the Classical World, p. 171.
67. Caesar, Commentaries, 3.86.
68. See McCartney, “On Aiming Weapons at the Face”; Wagener, “Aiming Weapons at the Face: A Sign of Valor.”
69. Plutarch, Pompey, 64.1, and Caesar, 45.3–4, in Parallel Lives.
70. Plutarch, Pompey, 72.1.
71. Appian, Roman History, 12.82.
72. Reid, “Caesar’s Counterinsurgency in Gaul,” p. 43.
73. Grant, Twelve Caesars, p. 32.
74. Dodge, Great Captains, pp. 99, 103.
75. Goldsworthy, “Reassessin
g,” p. 88.
76. Dodge, Great Captains, p. 92.
77. Goldsworthy, “Reassessing,” p. 94.
78. Dodge, Great Captains, p. 96.
79. Ibid., p. 105.
80. Fuller, Military History, p. 199.
81. Goldsworthy, “Reassessing,” pp. 92–93, 94–95.
Chapter 7. Belisarius
1. Stanhope, Life of Belisarius, p. 1.
2. Procopius, Vandal Wars, in History of the Wars, 13.11.21, p. 107.
3. Stanhope, pp. 1–2.
4. Gibbon, p. 1301.
5. Evans, p. 115.
6. Procopius, Persian Wars, I.XII.
7. Barker, Justinian and the Later Roman Empire, p. 114.
8. Nicolle, Medieval Warfare Source Book, vol. 1, p. 14.
9. Delbrück, Barbarian Invasions, p. 347.
10. Jones, Art of War in the Western World, p. 96.
11. Ibid.
12. Nicolle, Medieval Warfare Source Book, vol. 2, p. 13.
13. Oman, Art of War in the Middle Ages, pp. 12–13.
14. Greatrex, Rome and Persia, p. 39.
15. Gabriel, Great Battles, p. 278.
16. Greatrex, Rome and Persia, p. 38.
17. Bacon, Critical Appraisal of Byzantine Military Strategy, p. 31n.
18. Haldon, Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World, p. 193.
19. Gabriel, Great Battles, p. 280.
20. Nicolle, Medieval Warfare Source Book, vol. 2, p. 29.
21. Greatrex, Rome and Persia, p. 58.
22. Wilcox, Rome’s Enemies, p. 9, 33.
23. Farrokh, Shadows in the Desert, p. 233.
24. Nicolle, Medieval Warfare Source Book, vol. 2. p. 21.
25. Procopius, Persian Wars, 1.14.25–26, p. 121.
26. Farrokh, Shadows in the Desert, p. 224.
27. Wilcox, Rome’s Enemies, p. 33.
28. Nicolle, Medieval Warfare Source Book, vol. 2, p. 30.
29. Stanhope, Life of Belisarius, p. 14.
30. Greatrex and Lieu, Roman Eastern Frontier, p. 85.
31. Procopius, Persian Wars, 1.13.7, p. 104.
32. Zachariah, Syriac Chronicle, 9.2, pp. 223–24.
33. Malalas, Chronicle, 18.44, pp. 263–64.
34. Stanhope, Life of Belisarius, p. 16.
35. Procopius, Persian Wars, 1.13.13–14, p. 105.
36. Almost all sources cite Peroz as holding the rank of mirranes, or generalissimo as described by Mahon. Goldsworthy, however, says he was “of the Mihran house, an aristocratic family which produced so many Persian commanders that the Romans had come to believe that ‘Mihran’ was an actual rank” (Name of Rome, p. 411).
37. Procopius, Persian Wars, 1.13.18, p.107.
38. Differing sources on their battle maps identify the Immortals as either infantry (as in ancient Persia) or as cavalry. The “Immortal” concept of one stepping forward to replace a killed or wounded comrade seems to favor infantry, but they charged with Peroz’s cavalry units on the Sassanian left. “The elite corps of the cavalry was called ‘the Immortals,’ evidently numbering—like their Achaemenid namesakes—10,000 men,” writes Shahbazi, “History of Iran,” citing A. Christensen, L’Iran sons les Sassanides (Copenhague: Levin & Munksgaard, 1936).
39. Procopius, Persian Wars, 1.14.4, p. 115.
40. Ibid., 1.14.33, p. 123.
41. Goldsworthy, Name of Rome, p. 413.
42. Procopius, Persian Wars, 1.14.37, p.125.
43. Greatrex, Rome and Persia, p. 181.
44. Procopius, Persian Wars, 1.14.39, p. 125.
45. Ibid., 1.14.50–51, p. 127.
46. Stanhope, Life of Belisarius, p. 20.
47. Procopius, Persian Wars, 1.18.24, p. 167.
48. Malalas, Chronicle, 18.464, p. 271; see also Cameron, Procopius, pp. 146–47.
49. Zachariah, Syriac Chronicle, 9.4, p. 226.
50. Barker, Justinian and the Later Roman Empire, p. 146.
51. Wolfram, History of the Goths, pp. 302–3.
52. Ibid., p. 303.
53. Burns, History of the Ostrogoths, p. 200.
54. Ibid.
55. Wolfram, History of the Goths, p. 303.
56. Gibbon, Decline and Fall, p. 1328.
57. Barker, Justinian and the Later Roman Empire, p. 153.
58. Stanhope, Life of Belisarius, p. 91.
59. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire (p. 181n.), suggests that the number of 150,000 may have meant the entire Gothic population in Italy, which had been some 100,000 when they invaded half a century earlier. Given that the circumference of the walls was 12 miles, or just over 21,000 yards, 150,000 troops would have seemed sufficient to lay siege to more than half the city.
60. Dupuy and Dupuy, Encyclopedia, p. 187.
61. Procopius, Gothic Wars, in History of the Wars, 5.19.11, pp. 187–89.
62. Ibid., 5.20.16–18.
63. Ibid., 5.23.23, p. 225.
64. Gibbon, Decline and Fall, p. 1337.
65. Procopius, Gothic Wars, 5.24.13–17.
66. Ibid., 5.27.9–11, p. 255.
67. Ibid., 6.4.5, p. 319.
68. Barker, Justinian and the Later Roman Empire, p. 154.
69. Liddell Hart, Strategy, p. 66.
70. Ibid., p. 72.
71. Clausewitz, On War, p. 370.
72. Brogna, Generalship of Belisarius, p. 95.
Chapter 8. Chinggis Khan/Subedei
1. The spellings of names and places from Mongolia and China to the Middle East and eastern Europe are many and varied. There seems to be no authoritative spelling, so I have chosen what seem to be either the most common or used by the most authoritative sources. Thus, spelling will vary in quotes and will not be altered unless the spelling is unrecognizable. This will happen most often in place and tribal names.
2. Urgunge Onon’s translation phrases it this way: “Chinggis Qahan was born with his destiny ordained by Heaven above. He was descended from Börte Chino, whose name means ‘greyish white wolf,’ and Qo’ai-maral, the wolf’s spouse, whose name means beautiful doe, who crossed the lake and settled at the source of the Onon.” Onon’s primary claim to accuracy is his own heritage, that of a Dawr Mongol, hence someone with much more of a native knowledge of the language. “The Dawrs were isolated from the main body of the Mongols for more than one thousand years, starting in the sixth century, when nomadic Turkic tribes penetrated present-day Mongolia. Scholars of Inner Mongolia confirmed in 1955 that the Dawrs speak an independent dialect of the Mongolian language, untouched by Orkhon Turkish and akin to the language of the History.” Onon, Secret History of the Mongols, pp. 37, 29.
3. Kahn, Secret History of the Mongols: The Origins of Chingis Khan, p. 14.
4. The Secret History overlooks some events at this point. Temuchin was known to be thirteen when he rejoined his family although only nine when betrothed to Borte. What happened in the intervening years is unknown, although given the later close ties between him and his father-in-law, he may well have stayed the entire time with that tribe. Ratchnevsky asserts that the “custom of leaving a son with the future parents-in-law was widespread among the early Turkic-Mongol nomads” (Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy, p. 21). Weatherford proposes that Yesugei intentionally moved Temuchin to a remote location to avoid a rivalry with a slightly older son by a previous wife (Ghengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, p. 18.
5. Hildinger, Warriors of the Steppe, p. 110.
6. Allsen, “Rise of the Mongolian Empire,” p. 334.
7. Onon, Secret History of the Mongols, p. 8.
8. Ratchnevsky, Life and Legacy, p. 31.
9. Man, Genghis Khan: Life, Death, and Resurrection, p. 89.
10. Ibid., p. 90.
11. Allsen, “Rise of the Mongolian Empire,” p. 337.
12. Spuler, Mongol Period, p. 4.
13. Buell, “Subotei Ba’atur,” p. 14, suggests that Jelme was Subedei’s uncle.
14. Kahn, Origins of Chingis Khan, p. 51. The bulk of Subedei’s biography i
n this section relies on Gabriel, Genghis Khan’s Greatest General.
15. Kahn, Origins of Chingis Khan, p. 50.
16. Gabriel, Subotai the Valiant, p. 7.
17. Kahn, Origins of Chingis Khan, p. 111.
18. Ibid., p. 118.
19. Morgan, The Mongols, p. 84.
20. Ratchevsky, Life and Legacy, pp. 92–93.
21. Spuler, Mongol Period, p. 4.
22. Sinor, “Inner Asian Warriors,” p. 137.
23. Alexander, How Great Generals Win, p. 71.
24. Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vol. 1, p. 797.
25. Kennedy, Mongols, Huns and Vikings at War, p. 122.
26. Weatherford, Making of the Modern World, p. 95.
27. Alexander, How Wars Are Won, p. 110.
28. McCreight, Mongol Warrior Epic, p. 71.
29. For a full description of all sixteen tactics, see Onon, Secret History of the Mongols, pp. 281–87.
30. Hildinger, Warriors of the Steppe, pp. 121–22.
31. Buell, “Subotei Ba’atur,” p. 17.
32. Alexander, How Great Generals Win, p. 82.
33. Ibid., pp. 83–84.
34. Pittard, Thirteenth Century Mongol Warfare, p. 20.
35. Hildinger, Warriors of the Steppe, p. 127.
36. Liddell Hart, Great Captains Unveiled, p. 17.
37. Buell, “Subotei Ba’atur,” p. 19.
38. Nicolle, Medieval Warfare Source Book, vol. 2, p. 105.
39. Nicolle, Medieval Warfare Source Book, vol. 1, p. 123.
40. Ibid., p. 128.
41. Marshall, Storm from the East, p. 91.
42. Legg, Barbarians of Asia, p. 290.
43. Miranda, “Khan: The Rise of the Mongol Empire,” p. 17.
44. Chambers, Devil’s Horsemen, pp. 24–25.
45. Man, Life, Death, and Resurrection, p. 187.
46. De Hartog, Genghis Khan: Conqueror of the World, pp. 120–21.
47. Trombetta and Ippolito, “Emergence of Sea Power.”
48. Chambers, Devil’s Horsemen, p. 28.
49. De Hartog, Conqueror of the World, p. 121.
50. Man, Life, Death, and Resurrection, pp. 189–90.
51. Ibid., p. 190.
52. De Hartog, Conqueror of the World, p. 122.
53. Novgorod Chronicle, p. 66.
54. Buell, “Subotei Ba’atur,” pp. 19–20.
55. Legg, Barbarians of Asia, p. 283.
56. Ibid., p. 287.
57. Marshall, Storm from the East, p. 57.
58. Man, Life, Death, and Resurrection, p. 167.
59. Prawdin, Mongol Empire, p. 255.