On first glance, The Soul of Battle appears to be three different books: biographies of two well-known generals--Sherman and Patton--and one who is virtually unknown today, the ancient Greek leader Epaminondas. Yet Victor Davis Hanson, a classics professor and author of The Western Way of War, makes a compelling connection between these three men. They were "eccentrics, considered unbalanced or worse by their own superiors" who led democratic armies on missions of freedom. Epaminondas crushed Sparta's military dominance of Greece in a single winter, Sherman delivered a deathblow to the slaveholding South in the U.S. Civil War, and Patton was the general most feared by his Nazi enemies in the Second World War. Hanson disputes the conventional notion that soldiers fight only for their buddies, rather than abstract ideals. He writes: "Theban hoplites, Union troops, and American GIs were ideological armies foremost, composed of citizen-soldiers who burst into their enemies' heartland because they believed it was a just and very necessary thing to do. The commanders who led them encouraged that ethical zeal, made them believe there was a real moral difference" between what they and their opponents stood for. Epaminondas, Sherman, and Patton each became extremely controversial for his success, but Hanson argues persuasively that their efforts demonstrate "that on rare occasions throughout the ages there can be a soul, not merely a spirit, in the way men battle." With this idiosyncratic approach, Hanson makes a unique contribution to our understanding of not only these three men and their troops, but also the role of the military in a democratic society. --John J. Miller


From Publishers Weekly
Hanson, a scholar of classics as well as of military history (The Western Way of War), depicts three great armies under three great captains: Epaminondas of Thebes, William T. Sherman and George S. Patton. Their enemiesArespectively, Sparta, the Confederacy, the NazisAhad been considered unstoppable. Yet they were defeated not by professional soldiers but by citizen-soldiers turned quickly into ruthlessly efficient fighting forces. It is no contradiction, Hanson argues, that democracies can produce such fierce killers. On the contrary, democracies, he writes, are uniquely suited to quickly mustering forces, imbuing them with "near-messianic zeal... to exterminate what they understand as evil, have them follow to their deaths the most ruthless of men, and then melt anonymously back into the culture that produced them." To accomplish this, he says, a democracy requires both a clear cause and a leader of genius. Hanson presents his three generals as examples of such leaders. Each man led forces seeking to liberate others, whether serfs in Sparta or slaves in the American South or Europeans tyrannized by Hitler. Hanson's thesis, however, is not self-evident: it is still a matter of debate, for example, whether Epaminondas fought to liberate Sparta's serfs or, less idealistically, to strike a decisive blow against Thebes's mortal enemy; similarly, the Union did not fight the Confederacy solely or even mainly to liberate the slaves (and the Confederacy, too, was made of citizen-soldiers who had, if anything, more devotion to their cause than most Union fighters). Nevertheless, Hanson delivers an eloquent reminder that democracies under great captains, facing enemies challenging the essence of their cultures, can make war at levels beyond the worst nightmares of their warrior opponents. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
A simple recipe: take three unorthodox, unpredictable, intellectual military leaders; mix them up with an army of free men; and give them a democratic mission. You have created what Hanson (The Western Way of War and Fields Without Dreams) calls The Soul of Battle, "a rare thing that arises only when free men march unabashedly toward the heartland of their enemy in hopes of saving the doomed." Hanson describes the military careers of Epaminondas, a Thespian philosopher-general who organized an army of free men and destroyed forever the despotic state of Sparta; Gen. William Sherman, who organized Midwestern farmers and marched through Georgia, destroying cities and plantations while freeing slaves; and Gen. George Patton, whose Third Army rapidly thrust through France and Germany to the Czech border. This is a great book. Hanson has a gift for grasping the personality traits and failings that made these three military leaders so unique. He gives the finest account of the exploits of the little-known Epaminondas this reviewer has seen in English and comes closer to grasping the essence of that complex character Patton than his biographers. The reader may wish to consult Alexander Bevins's How Great Generals Win to see how these three leaders utilized many of the same approaches. For all public and military collections.ARichard S. Nowicki, Emerson Vocational H.S., Buffalo, NY Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times Book Review, Bernard Knox
...[a] brilliant and engrossing book...


From Booklist
It is frequently suggested that democratic, pluralistic societies are at a distinct disadvantage in waging war against authoritarian regimes; after all, societies that are already militarized can more effectively mobilize human and material resources to achieve a specific national goal. Not so, according to Hanson, a classics professor and author of books and articles on military history. Hanson narrates the success of three military campaigns--Epaminondas' defeat of the Spartans in the fourth century B.C., Sherman's march through Georgia and the Carolinas during the Civil War, and Patton's race into Germany at the head of the Third Army in 1944^-45. These leaders were highly authoritarian figures, yet they brilliantly led armies composed of citizen soldiers on behalf of relatively democratic governments. After their ordinary men were turned into what Patton called "wonderful killing machines," they vanquished tyrannical foes, and then, incredibly, most of these men successfully returned to ordinary civilian lives. In Hanson's view, the individual traits of spontaneity and creativity that are nourished in a free society are assets, not hindrances, in warfare. Jay Freeman


From Kirkus Reviews
A magisterial look at Epaminondas (the Theban general who defeated Sparta), Sherman (who brought down the Confederacy), and Patton (who helped vanquish Hitler) by Hanson, a classics professor at California State Univ., Fresno, and author of such works as Who Killed Homer? (1998) and Fields Without Dreams (1996). Far more than a pat survey of three great military leaders, this account considers the manner in which each of these men conducted a great march of citizen soldiers (to use Stephen Ambroses phrase) to fulfill a democratic ideal against a martial, enslaving enemy: Epaminondas to rid the Thebans of their Spartan rivals, who did not hold the same democratic ideals; Sherman to attack the heart of the Confederacy, demolish its base of support among its citizenry, and emancipate the slaves in his marches wake; and Patton to strike through northern Europe and destroy the Nazi heartland. Hansons writing is faultless, and his use of sources is unparalleled, as befits a classicist and a military historian. Rather than three short bios weaved together, these tales are individually so complete that they seem like the unabridged lives of each of the generals. Hansons choice of subjectthree marches for freedom ``led by eccentrics, considered unbalanced . . . censured by their own governments, threatened with loss of command'' who were all so uniquely successful in overcoming an enemy that had long threatened freedomis as inspired as his conclusions, which draw the three together and also look at our own decades response to the Persian Gulf War. A masterful work of classical and modern history and a compelling reading experience for anyone interested in how democracies wage war. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
“Most enjoyable…. [A] strong point of view and robust prose.”–The Wall Street Journal


Review
?Most enjoyable?. [A] strong point of view and robust prose.??The Wall Street Journal


Book Description
Victor David Hanson, author of the highly regarded classic The Western Way of War, presents an audacious and controversial theory of what contributes to the success of military campaigns.

Examining in riveting detail the campaigns of three brilliant generals who led largely untrained forces to victory over tyrannical enemies, Hanson shows how the moral confidence with which these generals imbued their troops may have been as significant as any military strategy they utilized. Theban general Epaminondas marched an army of farmers two hundred miles to defeat their Spartan overlords and forever change the complexion of Ancient Greece. William Tecumseh Sherman led his motley army across the South, ravaging the landscape and demoralizing the citizens in the defense of right. And George S. Patton commanded the recently formed Third Army against the German forces in the West, nearly completing the task before his superiors called a halt. Intelligent and dramatic, The Soul of Battle is narrative history at it’s best and a work of great moral conviction.



From the Inside Flap
Victor David Hanson, author of the highly regarded classic The Western Way of War, presents an audacious and controversial theory of what contributes to the success of military campaigns.

Examining in riveting detail the campaigns of three brilliant generals who led largely untrained forces to victory over tyrannical enemies, Hanson shows how the moral confidence with which these generals imbued their troops may have been as significant as any military strategy they utilized. Theban general Epaminondas marched an army of farmers two hundred miles to defeat their Spartan overlords and forever change the complexion of Ancient Greece. William Tecumseh Sherman led his motley army across the South, ravaging the landscape and demoralizing the citizens in the defense of right. And George S. Patton commanded the recently formed Third Army against the German forces in the West, nearly completing the task before his superiors called a halt. Intelligent and dramatic, The Soul of Battle is narrative history at it’s best and a work of great moral conviction.


From the Back Cover
“Most enjoyable…. [A] strong point of view and robust prose.”–The Wall Street Journal

FROM THE PUBLISHER

What motivates armies to win, whatever the odds? In this vigorous account of the campaigns of three brilliant generals from World War II, the Civil War, and Ancient Greece, Victor Davis Hanson advances a provocative theory: that the moral vision they imparted to their troops was as significant as any military strategy. Each general aimed at salvation rather than conquest; and each one led largely untrained forces to striking victory over tyrannical enemies.

In August 1944, George S. Patton began pushing the Americans of his newly formed Third Army into Germany at such blistering speed that in nine months he would crush the Nazis and liberate the death camps. In his famous Civil War March to the Sea, William Tecumseh Sherman led a motley army across the South, ravaging the landscape, liberating slaves and demoralizing the Confederacy. And in the fourth century B.C., Theban General Epaminondas marched an army of farmers nearly two hundred miles to defeat the long invincible Spartan military empire. Thought provoking as well as stirring, The Soul of Battle is narrative history at its best.

FROM THE CRITICS

John Lehman - Wall Street Journal

The most enjoyable histories from Gibbon to Stephen Ambrose are written by authors with a strong point of view and robust prose. Victor Davis Hanson's The Soul of Battle fits right in.

Bernard Knox

Rich and fascinating detail...More an essay on the ethical nature of democracies at war than a purely military history of three epic marches for freedom, for it claims that on rare occasions throughout the ages there can be a soul, not merely a spirit, in the way men battle.
&151; New York Times Book Review

Publishers Weekly

Hanson, a scholar of classics as well as of military history (The Western Way of War), depicts three great armies under three great captains: Epaminondas of Thebes, William T. Sherman and George S. Patton. Their enemies--respectively, Sparta, the Confederacy, the Nazis--had been considered unstoppable. Yet they were defeated not by professional soldiers but by citizen-soldiers turned quickly into ruthlessly efficient fighting forces. It is no contradiction, Hanson argues, that democracies can produce such fierce killers. On the contrary, democracies, he writes, are uniquely suited to quickly mustering forces, imbuing them with "near-messianic zeal... to exterminate what they understand as evil, have them follow to their deaths the most ruthless of men, and then melt anonymously back into the culture that produced them." To accomplish this, he says, a democracy requires both a clear cause and a leader of genius. Hanson presents his three generals as examples of such leaders. Each man led forces seeking to liberate others, whether serfs in Sparta or slaves in the American South or Europeans tyrannized by Hitler. Hanson's thesis, however, is not self-evident: it is still a matter of debate, for example, whether Epaminondas fought to liberate Sparta's serfs or, less idealistically, to strike a decisive blow against Thebes's mortal enemy; similarly, the Union did not fight the Confederacy solely or even mainly to liberate the slaves (and the Confederacy, too, was made of citizen-soldiers who had, if anything, more devotion to their cause than most Union fighters). Nevertheless, Hanson delivers an eloquent reminder that democracies under great captains, facing enemies challenging the essence of their cultures, can make war at levels beyond the worst nightmares of their warrior opponents. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

KLIATT

Military officers who reach the rank of general are plentiful in any army. Generals who can win battles are much more rare, as any war will demonstrate. But generals capable of winning major campaigns and entire wars are terribly scarce indeed. This discrepancy is a problem that has bedeviled military academies for generations; the great captains seldom appear out of the ranks of orthodox general officers, even the most capable. How, then, can a nation find them when they are most needed? Victor Hanson addresses that problem by examining the lives and personalities of three of this rare and singular breed who led free peoples to victory in times of desperate crisis: Epaminondas in ancient Greece, the Civil War's William Tecumseh Sherman, and George S. Patton in WW II. The three are well chosen. Each arose from the citizenry; each epitomized the type of leadership capable of inspiring mass armies; and each ultimately defeated the finest fighting machines of his day. Epaminodas' campaigns against the Spartans proved to be crucial in preserving Western civilization as we know it. Sherman defined war and then proceeded to prove it, thereby shortening the Civil War by a year. And of all the Allied combat commanders in Europe, Patton was the only one the Wehrmacht actually feared. Hanson is a professor of classics at California State University, Fresno, and has written extensively about the military affairs of the ancient Greeks. Not surprisingly, this section of the book is particularly strong. All three leaders and their times come alive in this book, and he shows particular zeal in attacking Patton's detractors. This is serious military history, but it reads like popular history andwill be relished by anyone with any interest in military affairs. YAs will like the readable style and, of course, the battle scenes. Along the way, they will also learn about the personality traits that make a good leader, on and off the battlefield. Recommended to school, academic and public libraries. KLIATT Codes: SA*—Exceptional book, recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 1999, Random House, Anchor, 480p. notes. bibliog. index., $16.00. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Raymond L. Puffer; Ph.D., Historian, Edwards Air Force Base, CA , September 2001 (Vol. 35 No. 5)

Library Journal