The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme
by John Keegan
Book Summary Information
Author: John KeeganEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1983-01-27
ISBN: 0140048979
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780140048971
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Book Reviews of The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme
Book Review: Examining the ordeal of the individual soldier
Summary: 5 Stars
The Face of Battle is the best known work of one of the world's preeminent military historians, John Keegan. One finds The Face of Battle on virtually every general military history reading list. In it, Keegan steers away from the traditional subjects of strategy and generalship and examines the ordeal of the individual soldier on the battlefield. He presents case studies of three battles: Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme. All fought by English-British armies in a small geographic area of northern France and southern Belgium, but separated sufficiently in time to demonstrate how technological and to a lesser extent sociological developments brought about different battlefield experiences for these soldiers in different eras.
In an introductory section, Keegan gives an overview of military historiography through the ages, and demonstrates that with rare exceptions, military historians have been preoccupied with strategy and generalship, and not the travails of the individual soldier. Some reviewers have remarked that they could have done without this section, and gotten straight to the accounts of the three battles. I, however, enjoyed the opening section, and was interested in Keegan's comparison of Caesar to Thucydides, and his critiques of David Chandler, Michael Howard and others.
Keegan makes it clear at the very beginning that he has never been in a battle nor seen one. He does, however, have observant and sympathetic eyes and ears for those who have experienced battle. Of the three studies, I found that of Agincourt to be the most evocative, possibly because its scale was small enough, compared to the other two, to visualize the entire battle, which occurred in a few hours in an area covered only by several hundred yards. Among the vivid images related by Keegan is the one of the reaction of the horses of the French cavalry, when enduring the initial salvo of arrows from the English archers: "Animal cries of pain and fear would have risen above the metallic clatter."
There is a final section, wherein Keegan contemplates the future of battle. It is somewhat dated due to its Cold War frame of reference. Keegan's final conclusion, that we may have seen the "abolition of battle," has drawn criticism. Since Face of Battle was published in the 1970s, there has been no shortage of wars. But there has been a shortage of the set-piece type of battle, restricted in time and space, to which Keegan's attention is drawn in The Face of Battle.
Summary of The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme
Although he has never fought in a war the author creates a realistic picture of the fears, pressures, and mechanics of fighting a battle, emphasizing three particular campaigns.Strategy Books
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