The Shape of Battle

The Art of War from the Battle of Hastings to D-Day and Beyond

Allan Mallinson

• Publisher: Pegasus Books
• Year: 2022
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781639361946
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

A distinguished military historian tells the dramatic story of six defining battles in world history. Every battle is different. Each takes place in a different context—the war, the campaign, the weapons. However, battles across the centuries, whether fought with spears and swords or advanced technology, have much in common. Fighting is, after all, an intensely human affair; human nature doesn't change. So why were certain battles fought as they were? What gave them their shape? Why did they go as they did: victory for one side, defeat for the other?In exploring six significant feats of arms—the war and campaign in which they each occurred, and the factors that determined their precise form and course— T he Shape of Battle answers these fundamental questions about the waging of war.Eschewing polemics, The Shape of Battle doesn't try to argue a case. It lets the narratives—the battles—speak for themselves.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Epigraph
• List of Maps
• Preface
• Introduction: Movement of Bodies
• Part One: Hastings: ‘The Battle for England’: 14 October 1066
• Part Two: Towton: ‘The Battle for the Crown’: 29 March 1461
• Part Three: Waterloo: ‘The Battle for Europe’: 18 June 1815
• Part Four: Sword Beach: ‘The Battle for the Bridgehead’: 6 June 1944
• Part Five: Imjin River: ‘The Battle for Honor’: 22–25 April 1951
• Part Six: Helmand: ‘Operation Panther’s Claw: The Battle for the Population’: 19 June–27 July 2009
• Conclusion
• Photographs
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author
• Index
• Picture Acknowledgements
• Copyright