Arrogant Armies: Great Military Disasters and the Generals Behind Them

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Hubris meets nemesis in historic military blunders.

If you're fascinated by military history with a twist of irony, this book will captivate you. It dissects monumental upsets in warfare where complacency and overconfidence led to unforeseen defeats. Reading it, you'll delve into the strategic oversights that turned the tide against seemingly superior forces, making it a thought-provoking study of leadership and combat.

Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.

Arrogant Armies: Great Military Disasters and the Generals Behind Them

Regular price
Unit price
per
Compare to estimated retail price: S$51.23  
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ISBN: 9780471119760
Authors: James M. Perry
Publisher: Trade Paper Press
Date of Publication: 1996-04-01
Format: Hardcover
Related Collections: Politics, History
Goodreads rating: 3.6
(rated by 58 readers)

Description

Nothing goes wrong quite so dramatically as a disastrous military expedition. Spanning more than two hundred years of martial adventurism, aggression, and outright blundering, Arrogant Armies chronicles the profoundly misguided and utterly calamitous military expeditions of the great empire builders and overconfident expeditionary forces. From colonial America to South Africa, from Mesopotamia to Khartoum, an extraordinary number of presumably superior armies grievously underestimated native forces. Using contemporary newspaper accounts, military memoirs, diaries of soldiers who fought in the battles, and other firsthand letters and papers, noted journalist James Perry brings a sense of urgency and immediacy to these historic defeats. At times devastating, at times hilarious, his vast panorama of human folly is peopled by frightened soldiers, zealous native resistance, and, of course, a colorful gallery of arrogant, often inept officers. Many of them received their ultimate comeuppance in these encounters. What is most remarkable about Arrogant Armies is the cumulative power of these ironic encounters. Black humor, brutality, staggering incompetence, and genuine drama come together with devastating force. It is fascinating history and a compelling commentary on politics and the dark side of the human race... its deadly preoccupation with war.
 

Hubris meets nemesis in historic military blunders.

If you're fascinated by military history with a twist of irony, this book will captivate you. It dissects monumental upsets in warfare where complacency and overconfidence led to unforeseen defeats. Reading it, you'll delve into the strategic oversights that turned the tide against seemingly superior forces, making it a thought-provoking study of leadership and combat.

Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.