Thermopylae: The Battle for the West

PROS: Easy to read. Covers almost all of the second (Xerxes) greco-persian conflct, ending at Plataea vs Mycale. As many state, it is a 'balanced' view of Greek & Persian capabilities.CONS: Bradford's limited understanding of tactics used to win battles and his ego (his balanced view will drop into bouts of calling people 'stupid,' and he ignores the impact of several key women. His almost only comment on Artemisia is to the tone of 'women are petty.' And men at war aren't...)NET: I'd recommend this book as an overview for most of Xerxes' and Mardonius' campaign (the second part of the war), but NOT as a read for those that want a deep understanding of the battle that claims the title - Thermopylae - or Salamis (Strauss is frustrating to read but is a million times more detailed) or even Plataea. It's quick. It's easily consumed (minus the ego). It just... fails to help us understand the tactics that won the day - for either side.

The Thermopylae battle vividly showed the Spartans' courage to save western civilization from the menace of the Persian Empire. This book brings new historical information regarding this dramatic battle.

If you are looking for an in-depth analysis of the Battle of Thermopylae, this is not the book you want. "Thermopylae, The Battle for the West" is instead a good, concise recap of the Greco-Persian War. Though this book is titled improperly, it is still an engaging reference for the entire war, and would serve as a good introduction for the student who is learning about the Greco-Persian War for the first time.Ernle Bradford provides some interpretations that seem perfectly reasonable in light of his sources, specifically Herodotus and Plutarch. He weaves through Herodotus' innate bias to remove the tyrant and barbarian images from Xerxes and the Persians. Bradford also provides more plausible figures for the sizes of the various armies and navies by pointing out possible mistranslations of Herodotus, and by showing the limits of the landscape in providing food and water for large armies-in other words, Xerxes "million" man army would have been too large to feed; the actual figure is probably closer to 100,000.The text reads well-not dry-and Bradford constructs his chapters in such a way that each builds satisfyingly upon the last until the epic Battle of Plataea and the final defeat of the Persians. Annoyingly though, he makes constant references to World War II and the oratory of Winston Churchill. A much more accurate historical analogy is probably the Texas Revolution and the Battle of the Alamo.

"it was the natural human tendency to elevate the battle at the hot Gates to an almost superhuman dimension and, having done so, to let the purpose of it be forgotten.""Even the self-perpetuating bureaucracy of our modern Western, self-styled 'democratic', world would have seemed to the Spartans who died at Thermopylae an unacceptable thing."There lies the moral of the whole story. It is not just a military history, it is a story of peoples choosing sides. Pushed to the brink were you have to choose what is really worth dying -and living- for. Here are the options that people (yesterday and today) consider before committing themselves to a country/party/policy/, etc. What would we fight for today? How much would you be willing to give up in the face of threats? Today we don't consider the real issues because wee don't see our lives threatened.This book shows us what the people considered worth fighting for. Today things haven't changed, and that's what makes this book so relevant (besides well-written): we have today so much "noise" coming from the media and our elite classes (academia/bureaucratic establishment) that prevents us from listening to our own hearts when it comes to making sound and fundamental decisions.Put yourself in the sandals of a Spartan or an Athenian in 5th century BC. and where would you stand? What would you live/die for?The book covers Thermopylae, Salamis and Plataea.

I read this book for a book report for my GE History class at my university. This book is actually really interesting. I wasn't looking forward to reading it at all, but I actually really enjoyed the book. Would I ever read it again? No. But, for anyone that needs a book about the Spartans or Persians, this book is great. I knew next to nothing about the Battle of Thermopylae but I was still able to understand everything in this book. It is very understandable. It's not very technical so it was enjoyable to read. If I ever have to read another book for a history class, I will probably re-read this one because it's easy to read, enjoyable and covers an interesting topic. The fact that 300 Spartans held off over 100,000 Persians is one of the coolest stories ever. The author does a great job of including resources from ancient historians that experienced the war, as well as including predictions from modern historians.Overall this book is as good as it gets for a history project!

Thermopylae: The Battle for the West is a good solid read. Don't let the title fool you however as the scope of the book is not limited to just the battle of Thermopylae. I'd wager almost as much time was spent on Plateau, Salamis and Artemisium as Thermopylae which seemed odd given the title. I was a little surprised when the Persians broke through Thermopylae and I was only half way through the book.After starting with a brief overview of Persia, Athens and Sparta the book focuses on Xerxes's massive campaign west and concludes with Mardonius's defeat to Pausanias and the Greek allies at Plateau. It's an eloquently written, light, speedy read and makes for a strong introductory text to this epic war. My one other critique aside from the slightly misleading title is the book could have used more maps and the ones there were a bit shoddy.

Thoroughly interesting but enjoyed much more Pressfield's factional account, The Gates of Fire. However, from this book, now know Pressfield's work was very much based on facts, as far as we can establish, centuries after the dramatic events.I visited Greece over 30 years ago and now regret not going to visit Thermopylae. I believe the remains of these bravest of the brave still lie in the vicinity.

After having seen a programme on the History channel about the last stand of the 300 with, of course, their native compatriots at Thermopylae, I thought I'd like to read up on the subject. In a nutshell this book gives a good account of background events leading up to Thermopylae and of what happened afterwards, all the way up to the battle of Plataea (the Persians eventually getting kicked out of Greece for good at this point) but, for me, I was after something that dealt with what happened at Thermopylae in particular rather than the wider picture. Nevertheless, a good book which will give the reader a good understanding of the subject. However, I did, at times, begin to get slightly confused as to which side the various peoples identified(Thebans, Thespians, Carthanigians etc.) were on. My second book on the subject, "Hot Gates" by Stephen Pressfield, is on order. Thermopylae - a fascinating subject.

I had read elsewhere of how important the Graeco-Persian wars were to western civilisation, but had no real idea why. Thisrather good book starts to answer that question. The individualGreeks,not just the city-states or their leaders, were fightingfor a concept- the freedom and value of a man himself to make hisown destiny. The centralised autocratic Persian edifice was theantithesis of this.These wars actually decided the future of theworld,splitting it into two cultures. Thermopylae was one of thekey battles but not the decisive one.The book really deals with the whole second Persian invasion,theeponymous battle acting as a fulcrum.It is gripping,knowedgeableand informative.A supposed historical bias towards the Greeks isredressed with the Persian culture getting a fair telling.It raises many interesting issues quite simply,obviously intended by Ernle Bradford to be elaborated upon in other books.In so doing he has achieved his aim.Anyone who reads "Thermopylae" will seek further, appetite whetted.Small points detract:as usual,the maps deserve to be better andmore numerous;the battles should be shown with formations andlines of movement,and diagrams(hoplite armour,Hellespont bridgeetc.)would help.This is a thoroughly enjoyable book which I would defy any non-scholar to stop before the end.I highly recommend it.

A concise and well written overview of the second invasion of Greece by Persia. The main characters, motives and politics are provided and supplementary comments are very helpful in understanding these from a modern perspective.

A good read , one of history's greatest battles , good service, great value .