I picked this up some months ago and found it an enjoyable read.

This book covers from about 450 to 1260, and talks about mounted approaches of several ethnic groups from the Late Roman Empire to the Romano-Celtic peoples to the Germanics to the Sassanids. It talks about how cavalry tactics and equipment changed over time, and gives some reasons as to why.

I can't say if this is a great resource, however. In fact, i'm here to see if any of the better educated forumites could pass some jugement so I know if I should start using it as a reference.

Thanks,

M.

I was not very impressed by the book, as it seems to have been largely made up from cut-and-pasted sections already printed in other titles by David Nicolle. If you are already familiar with Nicolle's usual hobbyhorses (i.e. Middle Eastern and Steppe armies were supposedly far superior to anything the West could muster, and that virtually all military technology, tactics etc. found in the West can ultimately be traced back to the ME or the steppes) you won't really learn anything new about the subject.

Hello!

I have recently picked up Volume 2 (Completionism), but I have not read this.

Unfortunately, all my read-time is taken by myriad other things, and I haven't had a solid chance to re-read the first edition. As is, my original post was from some months after reading the original.

Is this view-point held by others in the community? I cannot confirm nor deny (memory!) that the original had a slant against how the West did things in favor of the East, though I do recall the author speculating that Sub-Roman British formations would have been similar but more "Ragged" without telling me why he thought so.

M.