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Virtual Macedonia Bookstore - Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army
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List Price: $19.95
Our Price: $13.74
Your Save: $ 6.21 ( 31% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: University of California Press
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 930
EAN: 9780520042728
ISBN: 0520042727
Label: University of California Press
Manufacturer: University of California Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 208
Publication Date: 1980-12-29
Publisher: University of California Press
Studio: University of California Press
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great, entertaining book on logistics
Comment: Overall, this book was what I expected. I had just finished reading another book on Alexander, so I was loosely familiar with the battles and campaigns. This book assumes that basic knowledge as it delves directly into the logistics of all of Alexander's major campaigns. The outcomes of the battles are hardly even mentioned as this is indeed a book on logistics and not on the campaigns of Alexander.
The things I found most fascinating are that many of the lessons taught in the book can be applied to business or military issues today. Although we don't have to take into account the number of horses, grain, and water it takes to sustain a 65,000 man army across the desert, the fact is that had these details not been planned out, Alexander wound probably not have been so great.
Highly recommended for anyone in the logistics business, military officers, or anyone interested in delving more into the normally glossed over details of supplying the "beans and bullets" for Alexander's campaigns.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Welcome Insight into Alexander's Logistics Genius
Comment: Alexander's logistics management during his unprecedented (and unmatched) military campaign is something that's easily overlooked considering the reams of books about virtually everything else about Alexander. But this seemingly mundane subject matter turns out to be one of the most fascinating aspects of Alexander's truly multi-faceted genius. This book provides a great insight in layman's terms of what it was like to manage a campaigning army of approximately 50,000 plus followers (engineers, doctors, cooks, entertainers, scientists, craftsmen, servants, etc.) of around another 15,000 people and at least 10,000 horses and mules. It's easy to just throw down the numbers and do the calculations, but it's another thing to imagine the logistics involved in procuring the food, water, and other resources to keep the army moving at a swift pace of 35~40 miles per day.
Engels does a great job of helping the reader visualize the enormity of the logistics problems involved and how they were tackled by Alexander as he and his army marched through Asia. Alexander was a very hands-on kind of a leader who was involved in the minute details of logistics operations when necessary but did so without getting into micro-managing those underneath him. Alexander knew every aspect of his army inside and out and lived like a common solider, which is what truly endeared his soldiers to him with fervent loyalty. This book provides great insight into an aspect of Alexander that some will ponder about but never bother to delve into. How did Alexander lead such a huge army and a supporting contingent over 22,000 miles of extremely difficult terrain and environments? This book goes a long way in answering that question.
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Summary: how can a book on logistics be so gripping?
Comment: i would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in military strategy or ancient history. i read it in a day because i simply could not put it down. engels provides a case for alexander's movements based on what is logistically possible through the movement of troops and supplies. well researched (he pulls from sources as diverse as ancient greek text and us. army records), the book opened my eyes to what warfare in those days must truely entail.
this is not an introductory book on alexander's campaigns, however. the author assumes you have good knowledge of what the pervailing theories are of the routes that he took, and doesn't waste time explaining details that might not be known to someone who hasn't already read and studied this time period.
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Summary: Rigorous yet highly readable
Comment: Engel's little book is one the best investigations into the effects of logistical factors on warfare that I've ever read. Reducing the energy needs of any body of men and animals to a formula,applying logical constraints to deductions about the movement and function of these groups, and by rigorous historical investigation into the geography, history and climate of the relevant places involved, Engels picked out the motivations and concerns of Alexander (and his enemies) as he marched across the shuddering corpse of the Persian Empire.
Don't be put off by the implied technical details above. This is a very readable book, a story, even. It's one of my favourite reads. Engel's conjectures are thought provoking, but always backed up by hard evidence. Anyone studying warfare in any time prior to the modern period (where trains and the internal combustion engine changed everything) needs to read this book to understand how things worked.
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Summary: Seminal Work on Alexander the Great Military Logistics
Comment: This is a very illuminating book on the supply and logistical challenges that Alexander the Great had to overcome in his numerous brilliant and successful campaigns. Donald Engels's book is unique in that it focuses on an area that many authors either takes for granted or pay scant attention to, yet it is an integral and critical part of any successful military campaign.
The book contains some important lessons for all commanders today on the critical importance of logistics to sustain an army and ensure that it is well supplied and that troops remain motivated. The book shows how Alexander's intimate knowledge and understanding of terrain, geography, weather, seasons, sources of provisions and accessibility of routes enabled him to expertly solve the various logistical challenges thus ensuring his decisive victories. The immensity of the calculations that he had to make, the numerous permutations that had to be taken into account with respect to factors such as speed of troop movement, water and food requirements for people and animals as well as the weapons and ammunition shows really how capable Alexander and his staff were.
The book thus authoritatively highlights the fact that Alexander's genius for effective logistical system played an essential part in complementing his brilliant tactical skills and leadership acumen. After reading this book, you can make sense of why Alexander made certain decisions as supply and logistics severely restricts where an army can go, its speed, rest periods, how long it can stay at any given place, the number of soldiers that can be accommodated as well as methods of transport and supply, among other things.
Having read this book, one can really appreciate with awe just how great Alexander was to wage brilliantly successful campaigns in distant and remote lands, such as Persia and India, when the ancient means of transport and supply were poor and inefficient. It took methodical, detailed and thoughtful planning and Alexander's sharp intellect to put it all well together.
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Editorial Reviews:
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"The most important work on Alexander the Great to appear in a long time. Neither scholarship nor semi-fictional biography will ever be the same again. . . .Engels at last uses all the archaeological work done in Asia in the past generation and makes it accessible. . . . Careful analyses of terrain, climate, and supply requirements are throughout combined in a masterly fashion to help account for Alexander's strategic decision in the light of the options open to him...The chief merit of this splendid book is perhaps the way in which it brings an ancient army to life, as it really was and moved: the hours it took for simple operations of washing and cooking and feeding animals; the train of noncombatants moving with the army. . . . this is a book that will set the reader thinking. There are not many books on Alexander the Great that do."--New York Review of Books
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