T
he history of warfare can be considered the history of humankind. But
stories behind the wars—behind the leaders who led soldiers into bat-
tle—are equally important. This is not a work on why battles are fought, or
their ultimate disposition. This is a review of the lives and actions of those who
commanded armies, some vast and some small, in battle.
At Adrianople in Thrace, August 378, the Eastern Roman emperor Va-
lens took on the Goths, led by Fritigern. Historians believe, through histories
written at the time and other evidence, that Valens commanded 20,000 men,
while Fritigern had about 100,000 behind him. Valens and nearly the entire
Roman army was massacred, one of the worst military defeats of ancient times.
However, the Roman historian Ammianus’s epic tale of the clash survives even
today: “Dust rose in such clouds as to hide the sky, which rang with fearful
shouts. In consequence, it was impossible to see the enemy’s missiles in flight
and dodge them... all found their mark, and [these] darts brought death
on every side. The barbarians poured on in huge columns, trampling down
horse and man and crushing our ranks so to make ordinary retreat impossible.”
Nearly 1,700 years later, warfare is still part of our lives. As American and other
coalition forces fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, tales of battles fought are being
written for future historians—and another leader, Tommy Franks, takes his
place among those who have held the title general.
In the midst of the buildup of American and British troops to invade
Afghanistan in October 2001, journalist David White wrote in the Financial
Times: “No one starts a war—or rather no one in his right senses should do
so—without being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by that war
and how he intends to conduct it.” The history of warfare—and humans’ role
xvintroduCtion
It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it.
—Robert E. Lee