50 Battles That Changed the World: The Conflicts That Most Influenced the Course of History

by William Weir

Book Overview

Describes fifty battles that had a significant impact on world history, from the ancient past to the present day, and includes profiles of key figures, timelines, and a glossary of military terms. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0760766096
• ISBN13: 9780760766095
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Barnes and Noble Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Summary of World History

William Weir was a combat correspondent in the Korean War, a newspaper reporter-photographer, and a public relations specialist for a telephone company. He is now a freelance writer. Some of these battles are well known, others will be news. Battles are human drama that include interesting characters. Any list by one writer, or a team, is subjective (p.7). Wars are conflicts over property, to get it or to keep it. The 'Introduction' explains his reasoning for these selections. There is a 'Glossary of Military Terms', 'Timelines' that classify these battles, a 'Bibliography' with nearly 300 references, and an 'Index'. Each battle has a few pages so it is limited in scope. This book is entertaining and educational. Chapter 7 does not mention the breaking of the Enigma cipher and its effects on the Battle of Britain. Weir says the after effect of the conquest of Constantinople in 1203 were the domestic crusades and religious wars (p.50). The victory at Saratoga led to American independence and inspired revolution in France and Latin America (p.59). Louis XVI summoned Parliament because he needed new tax money (p.60). The Goths were not barbarians (p.64). "The fall of the Western Roman Empire marked the birth of Western civilization as we know it" (p.66). Weir notes the effect of Hannibal's destruction of the countryside was to increase the wealth and property of the rich Senators (p.132). The landless proletariat provided the professional soldiers for Imperial Rome (p.142). [The destruction of family farms in America was followed by a large standing army.] The weather caused the greatest harm to the Spanish Armada (p.155). The German invasion of Belgium and the atrocities turned the neutral nations against Germany (p.158). The siege of Vienna in 1529 marked the high tide of the Turkish invasion of Europe (p.168). The battle of Tanga showed African soldiers could defeat European forces (p.179). 'Battle 32' explains the events that led to the fall of the Western Empire. Could a booming economy with paper money create a revolution (p.218)? Was it due to gross mismanagement (p.219)? Or was it caused by masses of armed peasants (p.220). The end of the war saw the end of many monarchies (p.228). The chapter on the Taiping Rebellion will be news to many. There is a summary on the Thirty Years War (Chapter 45). The reason for the Spanish-American War was to get colonies, but this could not be admitted in republican America (p.266). Weir summarizes the Têt Offensive and its political consequences (p.274). 'Timeline 1' shows about half of these 50 battles occurred in the last 300 years. I think this book would be better if the battles were presented in chronological order.

Excellent succinct summaries ... an easy read

I am a military history fan and found this to be a delightfully succinct but thorough review of history's major battles, more than a few of which I had never heard of before. Enlightening for those who are curious about the world's evolution according to key battles which reshape the future in an often unanticipated way. Bud Lee, CA

Interesting, but flawed

There's a lot to like about William Weir's 50 Battles That Changed The World. But there are also some problems. I would recommend this book, but only as a companion to other similar works, such as Battles That Changed History by Geoffrey Reagan. The author has an interesting take on the importance of these 50 battles, preferring to focus on how the battles shaped modern civilization. That is certainly a valid approach. Many to most of his choices are impeccable, but several choice are questionable. He includes some rather curious choices such as Dublin, the Nika Rebellion, Petrograd, Tanga and Wu-sung. But not Yorktown, Gettysburg, Crecy, El Alamein, Salamis, Blenheim or Dien Bien Phu. There's 11 pages on Tenochititlan, and nine pages on the battle of Chickamauga, for instance, compared to five on Saratoga and Waterloo. And listing the Nika Rebellion as the second most important battle of all time? Hard to figure where that is coming from. There's little to nothing about military strategic and tactics, which is why I think most people read this sort of thing. There are almost no maps, and the illustrations are small. Also, there are numerous typos, many of them just careless, such as the caption that says (insert commander here). Again, it's an interesting take on the world's great battles. Just don't take it as gospel.

What I was looking for

Any book that attempts to list the "50 greatest" battles in history is going to be vulnerable to many criticisms. However, W. Weir stays away from any false claims of achievement and simply provides engaging summaries of some of the most important military clashes of the last 3,000 years. Each description is 4 or 5 pages long, and broadly covers causes, people, tactics, and other general elements. This is not an academic book in the least; it's the kind of book you pick up every once in awhile, open to a random page and enjoy.

This book is a real treasure!

As the title suggests, this book is a list of the 50 most important battles in history, organized in order of importance. The battles range from Marathon (490 BC) to the Tet Offensive (1968 AD). The individuals chapters each cover a battle, and range from some three pages to some eleven pages (this is rough figuring on the reviewers part). They are well laid out, reducing the text to small, easily understood topics, which combine to give the reader a good overall understanding of the battle and its ramifications. As an added bonus, a quick biographical glossary is included, as is a glossary of military terms.As the author admits in the introduction, this ordering of the "importance" of battles is highly subjective, and no two authors would likely produce the exact same lists. That said, though, this book is a real treasure. The battles that it does cover, are handled in a clear and easily understood style, and are covered in a concise manner that makes this book easily read.All of the pictures in this book are black-and-white, but they are plentiful, as are the maps that are always necessary in this sort of a book. So, if you are interested in a book that is a collection of battles from all over the world, then I highly recommend this book to you!