Essential Militaria: Facts, Legends, and Curiosities about Warfare Through the Ages

by Nicholas Hobbes

Book Overview

Collected here for the first time is a fascinating and compulsively readable assortment of facts, figures, lists, and other various curiosities about warfare throughout history, from ancient times to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802117724
• ISBN13: 9780802117724
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.5" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance " Last words of Union Gen. John Sedgewick,1864

Anyone who has been in the Military or reads Military History will be fascinated with this little tome. It is a small book 4 3/4" X 7 1/4",HC,and only 154 pages. But man-o man,what a lot of interesting stuff in it. The information is so well broken down,categorized and presented ;it is unbelievably easy to get through. With many history books,if you skip a page ,miss a point,or even miss it's significence;you get lost;or at best don't understand it. Not the case with this book.You can pick it up,open it anywhere and start reading.How's that for a history book; especially one about Military History. It's virtually impossible to summarize what is in this book;because it covers so many different things. The title got my curiosity up and a check with Webster's defines Militaria as; "collected military souvenirs". I would be more inclined to call the book a collection of Military,facts,miscellanea,quotations,sayings,songs,famous and infamous battles,great and disasterous warriors,battles and weapons from 4000BC to the present time ,and on and on. Who had the biggest armies,navies and air forces? Who had the best,worst,biggest,and most useless weapons and personnel? Who were the best and worst Generals and Admirals? Imagine pulling together the "Rates of Fire of guns down the Ages".Starting with ; Matchlock musket -2 rounds per minute Flintlock -3 rpm Gatling gun (1860's) -200 rpm Lee-Enfield rifle (1900's) 8rpm Thompson submachine gun (1920's) 725 rpn Kalashnikov AK-47 (1940's) 600 rpm M134 Minigun (1960's) -6,000 rpm And this; 'Metal Storm' (1990's) 1,000.000 rpm. And a whole lot of others in between. The book finishes up with some of the best Military Quotes from the ages; "I want you to remember that no son of a bitch ever won a war by dying for his country.He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."-- Gen.George Patton "Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordian."--Gen. Norman Schwartzkoff "Let him who desires peace prepare for war."--Vegetius,Fourth Century "Nuts!" In response to the demand that he surrender his surrounded troops at Bastogne.--Maj.Gn.McAuliffe,US Army,23 Dec,1944 "Don't talk to me about Naval tradition.It's nothing but rum,sodomy and the lash." Winston Churchill to the Board of Admiralty,1939. And that is just a taste of what you'll find in this little book that will become a good reference to turn to often.

Intriguing bits and pieces

I stumbled onto this book in my local library's New Arrivals section. It's now on my Wish List! I enjoy history, but I would recommend this book even to someone who doesn't. It's a small book and broken into bite-sized morsels, so it's not a huge commitment. I now have to make a point of digging up additional details on some of the fascinating quotes and figures included in this book. NOTE: I did find one error, probably resulting from note-to-press transcription: the Long Walls of Athens were NOT 6,500 miles long with a 100-mile wide corridor!

Sounds fascinating

While I have a general interest in history, I am not usually one to read history books cover to cover or run out to the store/hop on-line and buy something as soon as I hear about it. This book, however caught my eye, or rather my ear, when I heard an interview with the author on NPR's "All Things Considered." The author was interesting and articulate, and my interest was so piqued that I have spent the last hour tracking down the book (I was listening in my car, so couldn't jot the title or author's name down). I can't wait until it arrives!