Pages Menu

Categories Menu

Posted on Jul 22, 2011 in Stuff We Like

2500th Battle of Marathon Anniversary AAR

2500th Battle of Marathon Anniversary.  Boardgame AAR.  26.2. The stickers are everywhere. If you do a web search for what the heck it means, you’ll get plenty of answers, and they’re accurate enough: it means that person runs in marathons. 26.2 miles of running to be exact. But literal precision isn’t necessarily a complete answer, as many military historians know. Most of the world knows what a marathon is. But what of the Battle of Marathon? You know, the one where the Cradle of Democracy triumphed over the totalitarian Persians? Oh, yeah. That one. Earlier this year marked the 2,500th year that the Battle of Marathon was fought, and despite the lack of attention paid by the sporting world, there is some significance to that battle. It is, of course, a battle where the Persian Empire attempted to crush a budding democratic city-state of Athens. Athens won, and the Persians were chased into the sea. Jolly good show and all that, but recently Kevin Sharp re-enacted the battle using...

Read More

Posted on Jul 18, 2011 in War College

Map of the Month – Birth of Athenian Democracy, 5th Century BC

Armchair General has partnered with The Map as History, a company that produces outstanding animated maps with accompanying narration. Each month, a link to one of their animated maps will be featured on the ACG site. This month’s map explores the birth of Athenian Democracy in the 5th century, BC, and two battles that reinforced it. Click on the map above to view animation. To learn more about Ancient Greece and the battles of Marathon and Salamis, click on the titles of online articles below. Review of John R. Hale’s Lords of the Sea: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the BIrth of Democracy. Themistocles: Master of Deception How a Greek general used a phony "traitor" to win what may have been the greatest naval victory of all time. Peloponnesian War: Battle of Pylos Could Athens’ money and ships trump Sparta’s overwhelming military strength on land? Marathon: Attack on the Run The Persians could not believe what they were seeing. The Athenians had neither cavalry nor archers....

Read More

Posted on Mar 7, 2011 in Books and Movies

The War that Killed Achillies – Book Review

Though her book 'The War that Killed Achilles' is in large part a summary of the 'Iliad,' Caroline Alexander highlights how the poem revolves around Achilles’ anger, his motives for quitting the fight and his further decision to again don his armor.

Read More

Posted on Feb 22, 2011 in Books and Movies

Lords of the Sea – Book Review

John R. Hale's book 'Lords of the Sea: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy' has a strong exposition of the Peloponnesian War, and deftly handles its ebbs and flows and the disastrous military defeats.

Read More