Tag: greece

Ancient Greek warfare military history book – “Who Really Won the Battle of Marathon?” – (Pen and Sword Books, 2020) – Constantinos Lagos interview

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Check out this book here https://amzn.to/2y56tEs

Dr. Constantinos Lagos is a Greek historian who teaches at the Hellenic Air Force Academy in Greece. He’s written two books on Greece in World War II but he has also recently co-authored a book on the very famous ancient Greek battle of Marathon. The book offers a reappraisal of the location, details and political outcomes of the battle. We spoke about the book and what it took to write it.

0:57 – Constantinos talks about his early studies in ancient history.

3:03 – Constantinos talks about how he breaks down the book and it’s analysis of the battle and discusses the Persians.

6:04 – Constantinos talks about previous errors of reconstructing the battle of Marathon and why the errors were made.

10:37 – Constantinos talks about the marsh phase of the battle.

12:43 – Constantinos talks about the battle and the strengthening of democracy.

14:39 – Constantinos talks about the site where people think the battle took place.

18:38 – Constantinos talks about other differences between established thinking and new findings about the battle.

22:12 – Constantinos talks about the archaeological discoveries they applied to their analysis.

25:17 – Constantinos talks about the Greek military camp at issue in the book.

29:33 – We discuss established versus new archaeological ideas and the archaeologists who studied Marathon.

35:52 – Constantinos talks about the archaeological evidence related to the battle of Marathon.

40:47 – Constantinos addresses the question of Persian records of the battle.

41:55 – Constantinos talks about the events before the battle and the discoveries made during the research.

He also touches on the ancient terrain at the time of the battle.

47:53 – Constantinos talks about the German scholars who studied classical Greece.

51:33 – Constantinos talks about his desire for archaeologists to excavate the battle and the marsh in the area.

58:35 – Constantinos gives mroe details about the Greek camp he found and the connection he felt with ancient Greece.

1:05:53 – Constantinos talks about what the weather [would] might have been like during the battle.

1:08:54 – Constantinos remarks about how many people have written about the battle over the centuries.

1:16:36 – Constantinos can be found on the web by googling his name “Constantinos Lagos” or by checking the book out at Pen & Sword Books.

Links of interest

https://amzn.to/2y56tEs

https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Who-Really-Won-the-Battle-of-Marathon-Hardback/p/16501

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me at www.warscholar.org, on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar. Or subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify

Guests: Dr. Constantinos Lagos

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, marathon, persia, darius, athens, greece, democracy, Attica, cavalry, hoplites, Platea, ostracism, thetis, demos, platea, Persian Wars, archaeologist, classical, archaic, fort, bronze, arrowheads, acropolis, british museum, geologist, Pericles, world war two, WWII, Philip of greece, duke of edinburgh

Check out this book here https://amzn.to/2y56tEs

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Ancient warfare military history book – “Soldier, Priest, and God” (Oxford University Press, 2018) – Fred Naiden interview

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Dr. Fred Naiden studies ancient Greek law, religion, and warfare, including Near-Eastern parallels.  He teaches at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and we spoke about his latest book on Alexander the Great.

0:52 – Fred talks about how he became interested in writing on this.

3:15 – Fred talks about how the book is laid out.  It covers Alexander’s military career from start to finish.

6:56 – Fred talks about how the Egyptians and Persians viewed the Greeks and Macedonians. 

11:33 – Fred talks about Alexander’s upbringing. He also touches on Alexander’s relationship with Aristotle.

15:21 – Fred talks about Alexander’s effects on native religions.

19:48 – Fred talks about how Alexander performed religious ceremonies.

22:09 – Fred talks about Alexander in India.

25:05 – Fred talks about Alexander as a man on a mission to learn about different cultures and with an ambitious curiosity.

34:00 – Fred talks about the resources he used for his research.

53:46 – Fred has a page on the University of North Carolina website.

Links of interest

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/soldier-priest-and-god-9780190875343?cc=us&lang=en&
Fred Naiden

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

Guests: Fred Naiden

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, Alexander the Great, Egypt, Persia, Islam, Quran, Hebrews, Macedonia, Greece, Muslims, India, Afghanistan

Modern warfare book – “The Decline of European Naval Forces” (Naval Institute Press, 2018) – Jeremy Stöhs interview

Jeremy Stöhs is an Austrian-American defense analyst at the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University and its adjunct Center for Maritime Security & Strategy. I interviewed him about his new book “The Decline of European Naval Forces.”

1:28 – Jeremy talks about where his interest in history started. His parents were his first inspiration. He did mandatory military service in Austria and then joined the police for a short time. Then he left the police and studied history. He joined a think tank about intelligence matters, historic and contemporary security matters.

3:52 – He studies the period of the 80s to the end of the Cold War. Much information is classified so he needs to use other open sources.

6:50 – There is no comprehensive overview of European navies since the end of the Cold War.

9:07 – Some nations at the end of the Cold War prudently saw the end of the Soviet Union coming. But many did not. Most were focused on waging a conventional or nuclear war against a peer adversary. They were focused on controlling sea lines of communication. The US naval strategy was to put pressure on the Soviet flanks and the NATO countries followed the US lead. Sea control and sea denial and controlling SLOCs.

13:22 – Jeremy includes 11 European nations in his study. Denmark and Germany quickly shifted to out of area deployments. Britain switched from anti-submarine warfare to focusing on out of area deployments.

15:23 – Maritime traffic increased year by year after the end of the Cold War. A lot of maritime traffic has moved to Asia. Small conflicts popped up after the Cold War and European navies started deploying to areas they hadn’t been before. The Mediterranean, red Sea and the Horn of Africa. But many focused on territorial defense.

17:52 – Greece and Turkey began building similar naval forces to counter each other.

18:52 – Jeremy’s book is budgetary and platform specific. He looks at the physical make up of the navies. He also looks at men and material. Many have realized they’ve under-invested. But too many focus on the big Navy idea that the US has developed.

23:52 – Many of these navies have experienced a steep decline in their navies. However individual ships are of much higher quality than individual ships from 25 years ago. Current ships have much more battlespace awareness and are more proficient at war and other tasks.

25:37 – Through the 1990s, high intensity conflict skills atrophied, whereas low intensity conflict capabilities grew. European navies are much better at low intensity than they were 30 years ago.

27:24 – He looked at official grand strategy, military strategy, naval strategy and then naval maritime doctrine open source documents. He also used official statements about the navies. There is also a lot of secondary sources for military technology.

30:08 – The maritime research community is small and very helpful among its members. A lot of governments and citizens don’t understand the importance of maritime issues so maritime researchers feel the need to work together.

35:04 – Europeans are no longer as connected to the oceans as they used to be. But people are beginning to realize the importance of the navy again. They have more than a military role. Navies also have a constabulary role. The 2007 debt crisis hurt a lot of these navies.

39:22 – European navies are highly professional. They can really work well together especially among NATO countries.

42:26 – However Jeremy was surprised by how steep the decline was in the navies. Navy capabilities take decades to develop but the politicians haven’t thought in this time frame. Governments didn’t have the money for navies. The Dutch navy for example was slashed. Germany has decided to become more expeditionary but they can’t build the platforms they need for this.

46:52 – Jeremy will continue to focus on European naval forces. His book will become dated as soon as it is published. He wants to find out what the internal conversations were in these countries. He wants to speak with more decision makers. Some sources up to 1996 and 1998 are being declassified.

50:33 – There’s a huge focus on the US and Chinese navies but no one is studying European navies as a whole. Even landlocked countries can help with maritime security. He hopes the book will raise eyebrows in the US. He also wants to highlight his think tank in Kiel.

53:25 – It’s becoming increasingly difficult for young scholars to get books published. Jeremy feels very fortunate that the naval Institute would publish his book.

54:44 – The Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University can be found www.kielseapowerseries.com. They are in twitter as kielseapowerseries. They have a big conference every June.

 

Links

https://www.kielseapowerseries.com/en/

https://www.ispk.uni-kiel.de/de/mission-statement

Twitter: @SeapowerSeries

 

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

 

Guests: Jeremy Stöhs (Jeremy Stohs)

Host: Cris Alvarez