Alexander the Great and Bactria

Alexander the Great and Bactria PDF Author: Frank Lee Holt
Publisher: Brill Archive
ISBN: 9789004086128
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
This study should appeal to anyone interested in the civilizations of Greece and Central Asia, from the expert to the undergraduate.

Alexander the Great and Bactria

Alexander the Great and Bactria PDF Author: Frank Lee Holt
Publisher: Brill Archive
ISBN: 9789004086128
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
This study should appeal to anyone interested in the civilizations of Greece and Central Asia, from the expert to the undergraduate.

Between Oxus and Jumna

Between Oxus and Jumna PDF Author: Arnold Toynbee
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Afghanistan
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
Noted historian's account of his recent travels through the portions of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, lying between the Oxus and Jumna Rivers.

Between Oxus and Jumna

Between Oxus and Jumna PDF Author: Arnold Joseph Toynbee
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description


Into the Land of Bones

Into the Land of Bones PDF Author: Frank L. Holt
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520953754
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
The so-called first war of the twenty-first century actually began more than 2,300 years ago when Alexander the Great led his army into what is now a sprawling ruin in northern Afghanistan. Frank L. Holt vividly recounts Alexander's invasion of ancient Bactria, situating in a broader historical perspective America's war in Afghanistan.

A Military History of Afghanistan

A Military History of Afghanistan PDF Author: Ali Ahmad Jalali
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700624074
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 634

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Book Description
The history of Afghanistan is largely military history. From the Persians and Greeks of antiquity to the British, Soviet, and American powers in modern times, outsiders have led military conquests into the mountains and plains of Afghanistan, leaving their indelible marks on this ancient land at the juncture of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. In this book Ali Ahmad Jalali, a former interior minister of Afghanistan, taps a deep understanding of his country's distant and recent past to explore Afghanistan's military history during the last two hundred years. With an introductory chapter highlighting the major military developments from early times to the foundation of the modern Afghan state, Jalali's account focuses primarily on the era of British conquest and Anglo-Afghan wars; the Soviet invasion; the civil war and the rise of the Taliban; and the subsequent U.S. invasion. Looking beyond persistent stereotypes and generalizations—e.g., the "graveyard of empires" designation emerging from the Anglo-Afghan wars of the 19th century and the Soviet experience of the 1980s—Jalali offers a nuanced and comprehensive portrayal of the way of war pursued by both state and non-state actors in Afghanistan against different domestic and foreign enemies, under changing social, political, and technological conditions. He reveals how the structure of states, tribes, and social communities in Afghanistan, along with the scope of their controlled space, has shaped their modes of fighting throughout history. In particular, his account shows how dynastic wars and foreign conquests differ in principle, strategy, and method from wars initiated by non-state actors including tribal and community militias against foreign invasions or repressive government. Written by a professional soldier, politician, and noted scholar with a keen analytical grasp of his country's military and political history, this magisterial work offers unique insight into the military history of Afghanistan—and thus, into Afghanistan itself.

The Greek Experience of India

The Greek Experience of India PDF Author: Richard Stoneman
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691185387
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 549

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Book Description
An exploration of how the Greeks reacted to and interacted with India from the third to first centuries BCE When the Greeks and Macedonians in Alexander’s army reached India in 326 BCE, they entered a new and strange world. They knew a few legends and travelers’ tales, but their categories of thought were inadequate to encompass what they witnessed. The plants were unrecognizable, their properties unknown. The customs of the people were various and puzzling. While Alexander’s conquest was brief, ending with his death in 323 BCE, the Greeks would settle in the Indian region for the next two centuries, forging an era of productive interactions between the two cultures. The Greek Experience of India explores the various ways that the Greeks reacted to and constructed life in India during this fruitful period. From observations about botany and mythology to social customs, Richard Stoneman examines the surviving evidence of those who traveled to India. Most particularly, he offers a full and valuable look at Megasthenes, ambassador of the King Seleucus to Chandragupta Maurya, and provides a detailed discussion of Megasthenes’ now-fragmentary book Indica. Stoneman considers the art, literature, and philosophy of the Indo-Greek kingdom and how cultural influences crossed in both directions, with the Greeks introducing their writing, coinage, and sculptural and architectural forms, while Greek craftsmen learned to work with new materials such as ivory and stucco and to probe the ideas of Buddhists and other ascetics. Relying on an impressively wide variety of sources from the Indian subcontinent, The Greek Experience of India is a masterful account of the encounters between two remarkable civilizations.

The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe

The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe PDF Author: Hyun Jin Kim
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107067227
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 347

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Book Description
The Huns have often been treated as primitive barbarians with no advanced political organisation. Their place of origin was the so-called 'backward steppe'. It has been argued that whatever political organisation they achieved they owed to the 'civilizing influence' of the Germanic peoples they encountered as they moved west. This book argues that the steppes of Inner Asia were far from 'backward' and that the image of the primitive Huns is vastly misleading. They already possessed a highly sophisticated political culture while still in Inner Asia and, far from being passive recipients of advanced culture from the West, they passed on important elements of Central Eurasian culture to early medieval Europe, which they helped create. Their expansion also marked the beginning of a millennium of virtual monopoly of world power by empires originating in the steppes of Inner Asia. The rise of the Hunnic Empire was truly a geopolitical revolution.

Taming the Imperial Imagination

Taming the Imperial Imagination PDF Author: Martin J. Bayly
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107118050
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
A new perspective on empire, international relations and foreign policy through attention to British colonial knowledge on Afghanistan from 1808 to 1878.

After Suez

After Suez PDF Author: Martin Woollacott
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857710141
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
This book talks about a British Prime Minister urging a sceptical public to war in the Middle East, and a project, both desperate and ambitious, to radically change the political landscape of the Arab world. With Tony Blair and George Bush's authority ever more threatened by the blowback from their venture in the Middle East, the Suez Crisis of 1956, which brought down a government and changed the pattern of world politics for ever, has taken on a new relevance. The similarities with contemporary Iraq leap out, as do the differences. Fifty years after Antony Eden's fateful decision to take on the Egyptian President, Gamal Abdel Nasser, veteran Guardian journalist Martin Woollacott retraces the legacy of this dramatic foreign policy blunder. Bringing to life the personalities and moods of the post-war scene, he shows how Suez changed the Middle East, Britain, and the world.

America

America PDF Author: Victor Kiernan
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN: 1783606002
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 427

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Book Description
While there have been many analyses of American imperialism, few have equalled the breadth or insight of this seminal text, one of the first to provide a historical perspective on the origins of the American empire. Victor Kiernan, one of the world's most respected historians, employs a nuanced knowledge of history, literature, and politics in tracing the evolution of American power. Far reaching and ambitious in scope, the book combines accounts of the changing relationship between Native Americans and the white population with readings of the works of key cultural figures, such as Melville and Whitman, as well as an analysis of the way in which money and politics became so closely intertwined in American democracy. Also included is a preface by Eric Hobsbawm providing insight into his own views on American imperialism as well as a valuable introduction to Victor Kiernan's work. Together, they shed useful light on such issues as the uses and misuses of American military might, its lack of respect for international agreements, and the right to pre-emptive defence – issues which remain just as urgent today.