The Face of Battle is a 1976 non-fiction book on military history by the English military historian John Keegan. It deals first with the structure of historical writing[clarification needed] about battles, the strengths and weaknesses of the "battle piece," and then with the structure of warfare in three time periods—medieval Europe, the Napoleonic Era, and World War I—by analyzing three battles: Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme, all of which involved English soldiers and occurred in approximately the same geographical area.
When published, the work was groundbreaking. It does not examine the battles only from the point of view of the generals nor does it simply accumulate quotes from ordinary soldiers. Instead, it focuses on the practical mechanics of battle and critically examines popular myths about warfare. For instance, Keegan disputes the effectiveness of cavalry charges in the Middle Ages. At Agincourt, the lightly-armoured archers dug stakes into the ground to impede horses, while heavy infantry who stood their ground had little to fear from cavalry. Focusing on the mechanics of battle, Keegan discusses troop spacing, the effectiveness of weapons and formations, and other measures of tactical importance. He also examines the experience of the individual soldier of the time.
The book was originally published in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape and in the United States by the Viking Press. A new edition was published by Viking in 1988 titled, The Illustrated Face of Battle, with additional maps, diagrams, paintings, and photographs. The Folio Society issued an edition in 2009.[1]
^The Face of Battle by the Folio Society Archived 2009-02-19 at the Wayback Machine
and 26 Related for: The Face of Battle information
TheBattleof Agincourt (/ˈædʒɪnkɔːr(t)/ AJ-in-kor(t); French: Azincourt [azɛ̃kuʁ]) was an English victory in the Hundred Years' War. It took place on...
TheBattleof Barrington was an intense and deadly gunfight between federal agents and notorious Great Depression Era outlaw Baby Face Nelson, that took...
are: The Iraq War, Intelligence in War, The First World War, The Second World War, TheBattle for History, TheFaceofBattle, War and Our World, The Mask...
TheBattleof Rocky Face Ridge was fought May 7–13, 1864, in Whitfield County, Georgia, during the Atlanta Campaign ofthe American Civil War. The Union...
The thirteenth, and final season ofthe Syfy reality television series Face Off (styled as Face Off: Battle Royale) premiered on June 5, 2018. This season...
flotilla of gunboats, arrived to facethe main Mahdist army at Omdurman, near Khartoum. Thebattle took place at Kerreri, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) north of Omdurman...
objectives throughout the encounter. Some prominent examples of this would be theBattleofthe Atlantic, Battleof Britain, and theBattleof France, all in...
part ofthe Russian invasion of Ukraine, a battle has been taking between the Russian Armed Forces and the Ukrainian Armed Forces for control ofthe city...
Face-to-face beatbox battles take place in five different categories:- individual male, individual female, tag-team, loop station and crew battle. In...
his youth on the Boeshane Peninsula, revealing that his nickname had been the "Faceof Boe", suggesting that he may one day become the non-humanoid recurring...
TheBattleofthe Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II which...
TheBattleofthe Somme (French: Bataille de la Somme; German: Schlacht an der Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a major battleofthe First...
Sciolino, Elaine (February 22, 1998). "The World: Theater of War; The New FaceofBattle Wears Greasepaint". The New York Times. Retrieved December 21...
"Battleofthe Bastards" is the ninth and penultimate episode ofthe sixth season of HBO's fantasy television series Game of Thrones and its 59th episode...
display the current royal arms of Scotland. Keegan, John. TheFaceofBattle, 1983, Penguin Classics, ISBN 0-14-004897-9, pp 74, 77, 104–105. The Historical...
TheBattleof Waterloo (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʋaːtərloː] ) was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the...
TheBattleof Kursk was a major World War II Eastern Front battle between the forces of Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in southwestern Russia...
TheBattleof Gettysburg (locally /ˈɡɛtɪsbɜːrɡ/ ) was a three-day battle in the American Civil War fought between Union and Confederate forces between...
TheBattleofthe Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces ofthe United...
TheBattleofthe Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major...
capture the city of Suiyang from the loyalist forces ofthe Tang army. Although thebattle was ultimately won by the Yan army, it suffered a major loss of manpower...