a very good book for historians. Nick of Oxford
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the reason why I gave this book only 4 stars is because the auther said that the medieval period lasted 1000 years which is wrong. It started soon after the end of the viking period about ad900 to ad1500 which according to me is 600 years. in the period of ad500 to ad900 we still had the end of the Roman period, the Saxons & the Vikings. The latter did not start to disappear until
after the medieval period had started about ad900. Apart from that it is a very good book & covers the fighting techniques, combat skills & tactics of the medieval world but please get the start of the medieval period right.
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Informative and well illustrated overview
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As the authors are at pains to point out, a period of a thousand years is bound to see many changes in the techniques of warfare as technologies and economic systems develop. Necessarily therefore a book of this size on this subject can only provide a broad guide; with detailed coverage reserved for specific examples chosen to illustrate and illuminate. Within these confines the book does a good job. The prose is clear and there are many useful line drawings (I particularly liked that of a Hussite Wagenburg) and coloured maps of a number of battles.
My only reservation is that it is not apparent which of the five authors wrote which of the five sections; it would help to facilitate further reading if nothing else. There are also slight inconsistencies within the book, presumably as a result of collective authorship. Whoever wrote the section on Infantry believes that the Normans won the Battle of Hastings because of their ability to use infantry and cavalry in combination. Whoever wrote the Cavalry section believes that the role of William's archers and spearmen was 'limited'.
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