Kindle Price: $11.99

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the author

Stephen English
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Field Campaigns of Alexander the Great Kindle Edition

by Stephen English (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 21 ratings
Best Price in 30 Days
Best Price in 30 Days means that the current price is lower than, or equal to, the lowest price this item sold for on Amazon.com in the past 30 days.
See all formats and editions
Alexander the Great is one of the most famous men in history, and many believe he was the greatest military genius of all time (Julius Caesar wept at the feet of his statue in envy of his achievements). Most of his thirteen year reign as king of Macedon was spent in hard campaigning which conquered half the then-known world, during which he never lost a battle. Besides the famous set-piece battles (Granicus, Issus, Gaugamela, Hydaspes), Alexander's army marched thousands of miles through hostile territory, fighting countless smaller actions and calling for a titanic logistical effort.There is a copious literature on Alexander the Great, but most are biographies of the man himself, with relatively few recent works analyzing his campaigns from a purely military angle. This book will combine a narrative of the course of each of Alexander's campaigns, with clear analysis of strategy, tactics, logistics etc. This will combine with Stephen English's The Army of Alexander the Great and The Sieges of Alexander the Great, to form a very strong three-volume examination of one of the most successful armies and greatest conquerors ever known.
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    234 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Pen & Sword Military
  5. Publication date
    June 13, 2011
  6. File size
    2226 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
Next page
Add a debit or credit card to save time when you check out
Convenient and secure with 2 clicks. Add your card

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is an excellent conclusion to a very useful series, and helps to explain why Alexander was so successful against so many different opponents."
History of War

"The absolute merit of this book [...] is the excellent set of plates that illustrate each of Alexander’s major campaigns. Truly worth reading."
Megas Alexandros

"...those who already have some knowledge of the topic it could be an interesting read..."
United Nations of Roma Victrix (UNRV)

About the Author

Dr Stephen English was recently awarded his PhD for his thesis on the military career of Alexander the Great. His first book, The Army of Alexander the Great, was published by Pen & Sword in 2009.

He lives in County Durham.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0091WB552
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pen & Sword Military (June 13, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 13, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2226 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 234 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 21 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Stephen English

Stephen English

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
21 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Tim Zagurskie
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Examination of Alexander's Battles Both Big and Small.
Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2021
Verified Purchase
The author did a nice job giving good overviews of Alexander's field campaigns (including an excellent narrative and analysis of operations in Bactria and Sogdiana) and giving very detailed attention to Alexander's four big battles (Granicus, Issus, Guagamela, and Hydaspes). Like his companion book on Alexander's sieges, English makes a thorough examination of the sources, analyzing each to paint the picture of what he believes happened. While his discussions of Issus and Guagamela were pretty standard, his analysis of the Granicus was one which I had not encountered before and he raised interesting points regarding the Battle of Hydaspes.

Woven through all of this was the main themes of Alexander's strategy and once again the author had a healthy balance of praise and criticism for the Macedonian Monarch. I also really like the time and effort English put into describing Alexander's campaigns in Bactria and Sogdiana emphasizing how often Alexander divided his army into various columns to conquer the area a fact often underplayed in other works.

The maps provided breaking down each phase of the battles were excellent. The one vexing part of his work was his usage of organizational terms of the Macedonian Armies without giving any explanation of the term. I felt in doing do so he was assuming that the reader had already completed the first volume of English's trilogy on Alexander which covered the Macedonian Army in depth. Despite this, one can easily read the book and the lack of organizational knowledge of Alexander's army does not impact understanding any arguments or analysis.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Ted Frederick
4.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful in understanding the epoch
Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2022
Verified Purchase
Worth the price assuming you're interested in the great Greek warrior
Helpful
 Report
marcel harding
5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic
Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2021
Verified Purchase
a great read of a great man
Helpful
 Report
Kevin W
3.0 out of 5 stars Time to strap on the sandals and get to it
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2022
Verified Purchase
Note: I'm really at 3 1/2 stars but if I round up I give the same rating as the Sieges book which is superior, so 3 stars it is.

This marks the third and final volume in Stephen English’s treatise on Alexander The Great, and covers strictly the big field battles of Alexander – Granicus, Issus, Gaugamela, and the Hydaspes River.

This volume corrects a major deficiency of the Sieges volume in that it has maps, plenty of them. I can’t help but wonder if the original intention was that all three volumes are to some day be publish under one cover such that the maps would be available to those reading about the sieges..

Some prior knowledge of Alexander’s campaigns is required here, as English largely jumps from one field battle to the next (or if you’ve read one or both of English’s other volumes you’ll be fine). I can easily imagine a neophyte to Alexander saying to himself, “Wait we were just fighting a battle on the Mediterranean, why are we now over in Mesopotamia?” The answer being two years have elapsed between the two battles.

While English does his best to layout the moves on the chessboards that are the four battlefields he (like all historians of this time period) is severally hampered by the paucity of surviving accounts of the battles and even worse many times those accounts not only differ but may go so far as to be contradictory. Thus, much of the book is English attempting to reconcile these accounts and fill in holes with educated guesses from what is known about the capabilities of the armies (such as: How much ground could they cover in a day’s march; How much space would be allotted between elephants; How many men typically made up a certain type of unit and extrapolate to the size of the entire army; Given an army of 30,000 men how long would the entire battleline be; etc.)

English does a good job of summarizing Alexander’s tactics in these battles and the consistent themes or strategies he seemed to fall back on (1) Using the same cavalry on the wings, infantry in the center opening formation; (2) sacrificing a unit to draw the opponent onto ground more to Alexander’s favor or less favorable to the opponent; or into a formation that Alexander could exploit; and (3) first winning the cavalry battle and then rolling up the opponent’s infantry.

Due to a large amount of sameness in the battles I did not enjoy this book as much as his book on the Sieges of Alexander (each of which had rather unique circumstances). In the end I felt that while I would absolutely love to sit in an auditorium and listen to English provide his hypothesis on one of the battles for an hour & a half, reading about four of them was just a bit too repetitive.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Chris
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2014
Verified Purchase
If you are a lover of Alexander the Great get this book.. It is a well thought out book on his Campaigns..
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Jerrold Albert
5.0 out of 5 stars a must for all history buffs
Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2017
Verified Purchase
really well written on the indiv. campaigns of Alexander
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
P C McNaughtan
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2016
Verified Purchase
Excellent
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Karl Dietrich
4.0 out of 5 stars All of Alexander's battles are covered
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2024
Good book covering the four major battles fought by Alexander's army against the Persians and Indians as well as the minor campaigns. Worth reading if you are interested in his amazing military career.
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars brill
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 29, 2013
Verified Purchase
it was an ideal purchase to complete my collection and a very valuable addition to my extensive library of books on the subject
3 people found this helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 7, 2015
Verified Purchase
What a great present and a great man
2 people found this helpful
 Report
Argyraspid
3.0 out of 5 stars Truly worth reading.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 20, 2012
Verified Purchase
The absolute merit of this book is the excellent set of plates that illustrate each of Alexander's major campaigns.

This third book of Stephen English's trilogy (The Army of Alexander the Great and The Sieges of Alexander the Great) handles Alexander's great battlefields: at the Granicus River (334 BC), at Issus (333 BC), at Gaugamela (331 BC) and finally at the Hydaspes River (326 BC).

Like in his The Sieges of Alexander the Great, English tries to analyze Alexander's movements, tactics and logistics based on the histories written in antiquity together with the studies, critics and opinions of modern authors. His most favourite sources are Arrian and Diodorus through which he filters out the final plans and battlefields. However, I once again miss clear maps to follow the steps of Alexander, a tool that would have been especially helpful to pinpoint his campaigns all along the route - more so, because English often spends much time discussing and questioning the exact locations. Most frustrating, in my eyes, were those pages where he questions the location of Issus, that of the Pinarus River and the passes over the Amanus Mountains used by Alexander and Darius respectively. English does include a map, but it only shows a general manoeuvre and a handful of names none of which are used in his argumentation (while the ones he discusses are not on the map). What's the point, I wonder, to go through so much detail when you don't show your readers where to find them!

Yet the sets of plates drawn up for each battlefield are among the best one can find to help envision the successive phases of Alexander's attacks and to prove (if need may be) the genius of his attack. As far as I'm concerned, this is the first time I discover the masterly set-up of his army at the Hydaspes and I would even say that I found it far superior to that at the Battle at Gaugamela. We should not forget that by this time Alexander had to do without Parmenion leading his left flank, without Philotas at the head of the cavalry and without faithful Cleitus leading his centre - still the discipline of the Macedonia army is astonishing!
9 people found this helpful
 Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report