Historical Book Review : Aspects of the Crusades by J.J Saunders

As I enjoy reading History books, I thought it would be a good idea to start to review some of the books I have read. The first book I shall review is J.J Saunders' Aspects of the Crusades. 

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Introduction

Essentially, the book is a collection of essays regarding, as the title suggests, various aspects of the crusades, many of these aspects not frequently covered and so an interesting read is created. However, it is also short at only 80 pages, with around 60 of these being part of the main content and over 10 of these being notes. Saunders makes a point in the book itself that it is not just from a Western viewpoint and takes into account material regarding the Arab point of view. In order to display the wide range of topics covered to a worthy level, I shall list the chapters below:

1. The Literature of the Crusades
2. The Idea of a Holy War
3. The Role of the Assassins
4. The Significance of Egypt
5. The Armenian Ally
6. The Franks and the Mongols
7. The Passing of the Near Eastern Civilisation

Positives

Many of the topics covered are interesting, but also it is often difficult to find information on these topics and so the book is indeed enlightening in rarely covered areas. For the common reader, it may be difficult to find material anywhere else in such detail on these 'aspects' and so if you have a particular interest in several or perhaps one of these topics I would strongly recommend it. The book is also highly readable and should not be difficult to swallow, although a basic knowledge of the Crusades is probably required due to the specific nature of the essays. My favourite essays were probably, the ones relating to Egypt, the Assassins, the Armenians and The Franks and the Mongols. In particular, the chapter on the Armenians was very insightful. I must profess that I discovered this book through a sample chapter on the significance of Egypt, which was most helpful  for writing an essay for my AS History course. This sample is legitimately available at http://web.archive.org/web/20110605033053/http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/pdfs/saunders.pdf , as you may have inferred it was this sample that also encouraged me to purchase the full book. I will not spoil the sample chapter's theory on Egypt, as you will be amazed by how significant Egypt was in terms of the Crusades.

Negatives

 

Alas, as with any book some parts do not match the greatness of others, though in this instance I suggest it is down to personal opinion. Although, some of the other chapters are indeed good, they are not as interesting as the others. As I have mentioned this no fault of the author, it is just down to my personal tastes. For some reason, when I bought the book ( having looked at the essay titles beforehand) I thought the essay on The Literature of the Crusades would be somewhat different for some reason ( possibly just expecting information on fiction, such as poetry).

Conclusion

I would thoroughly recommend this book, but I should note that it is not the simplest book to receive. I personally, bought it on AbeBooks and I would suggest it would be very hard if not impossible to gain a new copy of the book. As you may have noticed the image of the book is not to a great standard for a review, this is due to the difficulty of finding an image of the book on the internet. You should also consider that you are buying a very short book, that will probably be second hand, for a price which is quite hefty for the quanitity. In this instance, I would suggest that it is quality not quantity that matters and if you are really interested in purchasing the book, then you should buy it. However, look around for the best price, it was quite a lot cheaper on AbeBooks compared to Amazon, despite both offering only used copies.

Obscure But Important Battles: From Guadalete to Khalkhin Gol

History is full of famous battles, such as Hastings, Waterloo and Poltava, all of importance. However, there are also many battles that are of similar significance that are nowhere near as well known. This post aims to introduce a few of these battles and provoke interest and further research into the battles. By no means will the detail in this post be comprehensive, as the post aims to briefly describe these battles and the impact that they had. Also, the Battle of Ain Jalut, one of the many obscure but important battles, has not been mentioned as it may have a post by itself.

The Battle of Guadalete

The Battle of Guadalete was fought between Christian Visigoths and an invading force of Muslim Arabs and Berbers on the southern shore of the Iberian Peninsular in 711 AD.  The Visigothic King of Hispania, Roderic was informed of the attack, while he was fighting the Basques, forcing him to march south. Although numbers for the battle vastly differ, one suggestion is that there 33,000 on the Visigothic side and 12,000 on the side of the Umayyads  (Lewis suggests this). The Muslims carried out hit and run attacks while the Visigoths moved en masses (in one body). A cavalry wing that had pledged to betray Roderic did and stood aside, allowing the Muslim cavalry to exploit the break. The Visigoth army was eventually routed and King Roderic was slain. Following this much of Iberia fell under the control of Muslims, with Islam only finally being driven out of Iberia with the end of the Reconquista and the Fall of Granada in 1492, over 780 years later.

The Battle of Molodi

The Battle of Molodi was fought in 1572  between a Russian army and the Crimean Khanate, a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. The Russians had an army of around 60,000-70,000 men led by Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky against an army of about 120,000 lead by Khan Devlet I Giray. The battle was a resounding success for the Russians, as the horde was defeated so badly that the Sultan and the Khan gave up any hope of expanding upwards into Russia, thus preventing Ottoman or Crimean expansion northwards and possibly saving Russia as a whole. The map is of the Crimean Khanate in 1600, after the battle took place.

The Battle of Blenheim

The Battle of Blenheim was a pivotal battle of the War of the Spanish Succession, with the French and Bavarians fighting against multiple forces including those of the Emperor, England and the United Provinces in the year of 1704.Louis XIV had hoped to knock Emperor Leopold out of the war by seizing Vienna and therefore leading to a favourable peace settlement. The defeat of the French was of much importance, ending Louis XIV's hope for a quick victory, maintaining the Grand Alliance and putting Bavaria out of the war. As a turning point in the war, one could argue that if the battle had gone the other way, the Bourbons may have won the war and therefore a French-Spanish nation or union could have been eventually formed.

The Battle of Warsaw

The Battle of Warsaw of 1920, although not part of World War I and World War 2, is still probably one of the most important battles of the 20th century. When Soviet forces invaded Poland in 1920, the Polish army disorderly retreated westwards, with their forces on the verge of disintegration. As Soviet forces approached Warsaw and the nearby Modin Fortress, a Polish counter-attack lead by Józef Piłsudski, disrupted the Soviet offensive and forced them to retreat eastward, in a disorganised manner, across the Neman River. The battle had huge implications, if the Bolsheviks had successfully taken Poland, a Germany weakened by WWI would have also been vulnerable to a Soviet attack and therefore the installation of a Marxist system. This may have eventually resulted in Marxist governments throughout Central and Western Europe, obviously vastly affecting events, such as the possibility of a different or even no World War 2.

The Battle of Khalkhin Gol

The Battle of Khalkin Gol was fought in August 1939, weeks before the start of WW2 and it was fought by the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of Mongolia against the Empire of Japan. It was part of the undeclared Soviet-Japanese border conflicts, which were the result of the Japanese occupations of Korea and Manchuria. After the occupations, the Japanese turned their attention north leading to these conflicts. The battle, a Japanese defeat helped to prevent any further expansion north, dictating policy for WW2. It may also have played a factor in Japanese expansion in the Pacific, as expansion north-west no longer seemed to be an option. The battle was also the first victory for the soon-to-be famous General Georgy Zhukov, winning him his first of four Hero of the Soviet Union awards.

Bibliography:

"Major Battles." Islamic Spain. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 July 2014. <http://www.islamicspain.tv/Andalusi-Society/Major-Battles.htm>.

"Молодинская битва." Молодинская битва. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 July 2014. <http://www.hrono.ru/sobyt/1500sob/1572molod.php>.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Battle of Blenheim (European History)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 17 July 2014. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/69261/Battle-of-Blenheim>.

"Polish-Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw." History Net Where History Comes Alive World US History Online PolishSoviet War Battle of Warsaw Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 July 2014. <http://www.historynet.com/polish-soviet-war-battle-of-warsaw.htm>

"Khalkhin-Gol: The Forgotten Battle That Shaped WW2." History of Russia. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 July 2014. <http://historyofrussia.org/khalkhin-gol-battle-nomonhan/>.

Image Credit goes to Wikipedia