Brutality and fear. Heroism and sacrifice. Military history is a fascinating, complex, and often contradictory subject. War and fighting between tribes, clans, groups and countries has been with us forever. Great leaders, great villains, pivotal moments and events become transformative, causing political, social, and technological upheavals, which were often built on the foundation of war. The Handy Military History Answer Book is a captivating, concise, and convenient look at how the world, the United States, and the lives we lead today have been changed by war and the military. The weapons, leaders, soldiers, battles, tactics, strategies, blunders, technologies, and outcomes are all examined in this powerful primer on the military, its history—and world history.
From early Greeks and Romans to Genghis Kahn and other great conquering militaries of the past, continuing on through the civil wars and world wars that shaped the boundaries of today’s nations, and to the modern weapons, technologies, guerrilla warfare, and terrorism currently reported in the nightly news, this book investigates everything from the smallest miscalculations and maneuvers to the biggest invasions and battles, as well as the cutting-edge technologies and firepower that led to victories and helped change the world.
The Handy Military History Answer Book looks at the who, the what, the why, and the how of conflicts throughout history. It answers over 1,100 questions, from the mostly widely asked to the more obscure, such as:
Who cast the first stone (of human history)?
Who were the "Sea Peoples?"
Is there anything to the story of Ancient Troy?
Could Alexander the Great have conquered the early Roman Republic?
How wealthy would each of Alexander's men been had the treasure at Persepolis been divided?
How many Romans lost their lives at the Battle of Cannae?
Why did people underestimate Julius Caesar when he was in his thirties?
How many men, and auxiliary fighters, were there in a Roman legion?
Was the Battle of Actium truly decisive? And what way?
Which precious metal did the Vikings prefer above all others?
Do we even have his name--Genghis Khan--right?
Who employed the composite bow with greater effectiveness: the Arabs or the Turks?
Why did Pope Urban II go to central France in 1095?
Where did Richard the Lion-Heart get his nickname?
Why on earth did Hitler code-name his invasion of Russia for a German emperor who drowned?
Who was the greater wit: Voltaire or King Frederick the Great?
About whom did King George II remark: "Mad, is he? Well I hope he bites some of my other generals?"
What great poet spent years gathering food and wine for the Spanish Armada?
What was the price for King Francis' freedom, in 1526?
How long did it take to learn how to use the longbow?
What was the largest of the cannon brought by the Ottoman Turks to the siege of Constantinople
Who took over when Genghis Khan died (after a fall from his horse)?
What did the Franciscan monks say when they returned from Karakorum?
Was Napoleon really not French?
Who won the Battle of the Nile, and how?
Where was the world's first submarine deployed?
When did George Washington have to alter all his plans: and how did he go about making the change?
How many people died at the Siege of Fort Sumter?
What was the worst day of the Civil War, in the Far West?
When were balloons first deployed in warfare?
Where did the name "Uncle Sam" come from?
What signals did Paul Revere watch for on the evening of April 18, 1775?
What did Rasputin have to say about the approach of the First World War?
How close did Hitler come to victory at Moscow in 1941?
What ten days decided the outcome of World War II?
What was so special about the B-24?
When did the Cold War commence?
What was the last action of the Yom Kippur War?
What role did Colin Powell play in the run-up to war in Iraq?
