Book Review: Fighting Techniques of the Medieval World
March 26th, 2007
Fighting Techniques of the Medieval World: Equipment, Combat Skills and Tactics
If you are a fan of Medieval Weapons, warfare, and tactics this is the new bible for the lay person.
It is clearly written and full of lots of great stuff about Medieval weapons and warfare for the period between 500 and 1500 Ad. This is the High time of the Middle Ages and it ended with the introduction of Gunpowder.
There are five chapters in the book:
Chapter 1: The Role of Infantry
Chapter 2: Mounted Warfare
Chapter 3: Command and Control
Chapter 4: Siege Techniques
Chapter 5: Naval Warfare
As you can see it takes a really good look at all the different aspects of Medieval warfare and it stays true to its title in that it covers the whole realm from weapons, to techniques and tactics.
Some of the outstanding things about the book.
First off this is not a dry scholarly work. It is clearly written and replete with hundreds of pictures, diagrams, images and maps. And it is an explanation and understanding book. It tells you the how and the why of medieval warfare. A good example of this is my favorite section; the section on siege techniques. It is full of examples of castles, how they were built and how they coped with siege techniques. It also shows you all about the siege engines that attacked!
Extra Stuff:
One of the absolute best things about the book is the maps of famous battles. They give you a good understanding of famous medieval battles and how they happened. The maps show the terrain and troops and explain how events unfolded in the battle.
Some of the famous battles covered this way are The Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, The Battle of Hastings in 1066 and the Siege of Paris in 885. Lots more famous battles covered and analyzed.
This book is a great addition to my library and if you are a fan of all things medieval you should take a look at it.
Tags: Books, Dark Ages, Historical, Medieval, Medieval Weapons
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