battle100

Between a battle lost and a battle won, the distance is immense and there stand empires.” -Napoleon Bonaparte

So opens the book The Battle 100. Written by Lt. Col. (Ret.) Michael Lee Lanning and published by Sourcebooks Inc. this volume is organized as a ranking of history’s most important battles.

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Numbered 1 through 100, each one of the battle narratives details location, participants, and leaders of the battle, and provides commentary on who won, who lost, and why. Narratives also evaluate each battles influence on the outcome of the war it was a part of and the impact on the victors and losers.  A rationale for the battle’s inclusion in the 100 and its rank on the list concludes each entry.

I recommend this book for those with an interest in basic military history and battle strategy. It is written in a conversational style (vs. an academic one) that is easy to read and makes the details of the battle simple to understand. Each battle is encapsulated in a few pages making them easy to digest. For those with a more “in-depth” interest in military history this book may be too basic for their tastes, but even they may find some interesting information in this books pages that could lead them to further research.

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