ebooks Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army by Donald W. Engels in History

Review

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Image 2000 thirsty men and horse lined up at a well....By DezfastThis is a really cool book. Granted we are talking about logistics in the ancient world.. But you can still learn a lot!!! One thing that has left an impression is resupply rates.. Meaning just because you have a resupply point does not mean everyone gets resupplied all at once.. This is one of those facts we in the modern world gloss over.. But in the ancient world; lets say we are crossing the desert; and we plan to use several wells to water our forces along the way.. This is a good plan.. Until.. Until we get to the well and discover we can only produce 4 gallons of water at the time at rate of maybe 16 gallons a minute. Now image 2000 thirsty men and horses lined up at the well. I want spoil any more of the book. But this typical of the information explorer. I recommend this book.11 of 11 people found the following review helpful. Ground BreakingBy Tom MunroThis is a very short yet it is a very good book. The reputation of Alexander the Great as a military commander has never been in doubt. However this book explains just how great he was.Most treatments of his campaigns focus on the key battles and his use of the phalanx and cavlary to achieve victory. However Engels makes the point that the conquest of Persia was a potentially very difficult campaign. Generals such as Crassus; Antony and Julian were to fail despite having large well disicplined armies.Engles shows that to maintain an army in the field in ancient times was difficult. Armies consumed food and water at a prodigous rate and all land transport was ineffecient. The remote location of Persia combined with its arid agriculture over time were its greatest protection.Alexander had to think carefully about every stage of his campaign so that he could obtain food and keep is army in the field.The key to this was initially water transport. Ships were the one effecient means of transport in the ancient world. Persia however at the time of Alexander had a large navy.Alexander calculated every move to perfection.Firstly he made his own men carry their equipment rather than using servants or camp followers as was the norm with Greek armies. This made his army quick moving and lessened the mouths to feed. He then started his campaign before the Persians could use thier harvest to provision a fleet. Alexander was able to move his army through Anatolia siezing all the Persian ports and to put their navy out of buisness. He was then able to use his navy to supply his forces.This book is masterful in explaining the campaign and it reveals the depth of Alexanders genius and the care of his planning. Invaluable for anyone interested in the area.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Great; entertaining book on logisticsBy TravellerOverall; 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.