Ancient Warfare

The myth of decisive battle

Ashley Cooper and Stephen Cooper question the hallowed notion of decisive battle.

Above Embroidered oak leaves as trench art photograph frames.

From buttons to artillery shells, a range of items from battlefields have been transformed – often by soldiers – into powerful and personal pieces of ‘trench art’. Nicholas J Saunders explores some of the human stories of life and death sealed within these creations.

Above Portrait of Alexander on the Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun at Pompeii. The youthful, clean cut features, the brushed back wavy hair, the large eyes, fleshy lips, and bridgeless nose were characteristic of all later portraits of the Macedonian king, who became a role model for later Hellenistic and Roman rulers.

Alexander the Great

Graham Goodlad surveys the remarkable career of ancient history’s most successful warlord.

BELOW The famous Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun in Pompeii. It depicts the encounter between Alexander (on the left) and Darius (on the right) on the battlefield of either Issus or Gaugamela. Like virtually all our source material for Alexander, it is mythologising propaganda that offers no real clues as to what actually happened.

The Battle of Gaugamela, 1 October 331 BC

Neil Faulkner analyses one of history’s greatest tactical triumphs.

War of Words: ‘PAWN’

Pawn emerges etymologically from the Anglo-Norman poun, which itself comes from the medieval Latin pedo (‘footsoldier’), derived from the Latin pes (‘foot’).

Above US Army Rangers operating in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, 2012.

Afghanistan: graveyard of armies

A huge, mountainous, landlocked Central Asian state, Afghanistan has defied invaders for 2,500 years. Jules Stewart takes a look at Afghanistan’s military longue durée.

Ramming speed

Patrick Boniface takes a look at the role of the ram in naval history.