"The 'Great captains' frequently looked to crucial battles to learn lessons that they themselves employed. While the battles of antiquity have often been examined, Western generals looked to the wars of the Greeks and the Romans, the Chinese to their own campaigns, and so on. Never before have military leaders and other students of military history had the benefit of a systematic look at the key battles throughout the ancient world. In this volume, Gabriel and Boose examine the 31 wars, campaigns or battles from Megiddo (1479 B.C.) to the fall of Constantinople (A.D. 1453) that had the greatest impact on the ancient world, stretching from the Mediterranean through the Middle East to Japan and Korea"--Dust jacket.

Includes index. Incudes maps of: Ancient Egypt; Egyptian Tactical Maneuver from Mountain Road onto the Megiddo Plain; Tactical Deployment of Opposing Forces around Megiddo; Campaigns of Thutmose III; Strategic Threats to the Hittite Homeland; Strategic Theater of Operations; Approaches to Kadesh; Battle of Kadesh - Initial Engagements; Battle of Kadesh - Ramses Alone; Battle of Kadesh - the Counterattack; Battle of Kadesh - Ramses' Triumph; Assyrian Strategic Area of Interest; Strategic Threats to Assyria; Kingdom of Urartu; Sargon's Route of March, Urartu Campaign; Central and Southern Greece; Aegean Basin - Persian Invasions; Plain of Marathon - Initial Dispositions; Marathon - Greek Double Envelopment; Battle of Leuctra - Decisive Action; Battle of Chaeronea; Ancient Dynasties of China; China - Spring and Autumn Era; Battle of Chengpu - Strategic Setting; Battle of Chengpu - Disposition of Forces; Battle of Chengpu; Warring States, c. 353 B.C.; Battle of Guiling; Battle of Jingxing - Strategic Setting; Battle of Jingxing - Phase I; Battle of Jingxing - Phase II; Battle of Jingxing - Phase III; Battle of Jingxing - Phase IV; Battle of Jingxing - Phase V; Conquests of Alexander the Great; Order of Battle at the Granicus River; Battle of the Granicus; Alexander's Route to Issus; Alexander's Movements to the Battlefield of Issus; Battle of Issus - Initial Dispositions; Battle of Issus - Decisive Movement; Battle of Gaugamela - Order of Battle; Battle of Gaugamela - Initial Movements; Battle of Gaugamela - Decisive Maneuver; Battle of the Hydaspes - Initial Dispositions; Battle of the Hydaspes - Alexander's Attack; Battle of the Hydaspes - Decisive Movements; Italian Peninsula, Third Century B.C.; Hannibal's Route of Invasion; Battle of Trebia; Battle of Trasimene - Hannibal's Ambush; Battle of Cannae - Initial Roman Attack; Battle of Cannae - Destruction of Roman Cavalry; Battle of Zama; Kingdoms of the Successors; Battle of Cynoscephalae - Theater of Operations; Battle of Cynoscephalae - Initial Movements; Battle of Cynoscephalae - Philip's Attack; Battle of Cynoscephalae - roman Counterattack; Theater of Operations, Gaul; Caesar's Campaigns in Gaul; Battle of the Sambre River; Vercingetorix vs. Caesar - Major Battle Sites; Siege of Alesia; Caesar's Theater of Operations in Northern Greece; Battle of Dyrrachium - Tactical Area of Operations; Caesar's and Pompey's Fortifications around Dyrrachium; Pompey's Attack on Caesar's Left; Pompey's Final Attack; Battle of Pharsalus; Rome's Northern and Eastern Strategic Theater of Operations; Roman Gaul and Germany, A.D. 9; Roman Route of March to Teutoburg Forest; Battle of Teutoburg Forest; Barbarian Threats to the Roman Empire, Fourth Century A.D.; Disposition of Roman Frontier and Field Armies, Late Fourth Century A.D.; Battle of Adrianople - Lower Danube Area of Operations; Battle of Adrianople - Phase I; Battle of Adrianople - Phase II; Chinese Commanderies in Korea; Korea in the Fifth Century; Silla Conquests in the Sixth Century; Campaign of 612 - Strategic Setting; Campaign of 612; Operational Deployments of William, Hardrada, and Harold; Battle of Hastings - Topographical Map; Battle of Hastings - Preliminary Dispositions; Flight of the Bretons, Norman Counterattack; Final Norman Assault on Senlac Ridge; European-Asian Theater of Mongol Military Operations; East European Theater of Mongol Military Operations; Mongol Campaign in Europe, 1240-1241; Battle of the Sajo River - Subudai's Night Crossing; Battle of the Sajo River - Subudai's Flank Attack; Japan and East Asia; Central Japan, Fifth through Ninth Centuries; Gempei War; Battle of Ichinotani; Mongol Empire in East Asia; 1274 Mongol Expedition; Hakata Bay Defenses; Battle of Kyushu; Switzerland and the Thirteen Cantons, 1315; Morgarten - Tactical Area of Operations; Battle of Morgarten; Laupen - Tactical Area of Operations; Battle of Laupen; Sempach - Tactical Area of Operations; Battle of Sempach; Sixth-Century Byzantine Empire; Disposition of Ottoman Troops at Constantinople.

1. War in the ancient world -- 2. Megiddo -- 3. Kadesh -- 4. Sargon II's Urartu campaign -- 5. The Greek way of war: Marathon, Leuctra, Chaeronea -- 6. The Chinese way of war: Chengpu, Guiling, Jingxing -- 7. The campaigns of Alexander: Granicus, Issus, Guagamela, Hydaspes -- 8. The campaigns of Hannibal: Trebia, Trasimene, Cannae, Zama -- 9. Cynoscephalae -- 10. Caesar's campaigns: Alesia, Dyrrachium, Pharsalus -- 11. Teutoburg Forest -- 12. Adrianople -- 13. The Korean way of war: Salsu River -- 14. Hastings -- 15. The Mongols: Sajo River -- 16. The Japanese way of war: Ichinotani, Kyushu -- 17. The Swiss way of war: Morgarten, Laupen, Sempach -- 18. The Siege of Constantinople -- 19. The legacy of the ancients.