Alexander the Great at Sardis

Alexander the Great at Sardis

Alexander himself now rode to Sardis. He went up to the citadel, now securely in the hands of Amyntas’s men. Alexander surveyed the triple walls and precipitous slopes and gave thanks to Zeus for having the place delivered in to his hands in peace. Alexander decided to erect a shrine to Zeus and was looking around for a site, when a sudden summer thunderstorm blew up. The storm lashed the city with rain, and sent a thunderbolt down to strike the ground close to the old palace of the Lydian kings. Alexander believed that this meant that Zeus himself had chosen the site for the shrine, and gave his orders accordingly.

Alexander decided to stay in Sardis for a few days while he made arrangements to take Lydia into the rapidly growing Macedonian empire. Unlike at Dascylium, Alexander decided against simply taking the existing Persian administrative system and incorporating it into Macedon.

Instead of appointing a satrap to have powers over the civil, judicial and military administration, Alexander appointed three different men. Alexander gave command of the fortress of Sardis, and the garrison of Greek hoplites that he left there, to Pausanias, an officer in the companion cavalry. The business of collecting taxes and tribute was handed to a man named Nicias, who is otherwise unknown. Presumably he was a bureaucrat from the staff of Eumenes. Asander, brother of Parmenio, was given the task of actually governing the province.

This triple division of authority might indicate that Alexander did not believe that Lydia was fully content with accepting Macedonian rule. He may have thought the task of looking after Lydia was beyond any one man. Alternatively, he may have been aware of the fact that more than one satrap had become too rich and mighty to accept that he was a mere provincial governor and had rebelled against the Persian monarch. Macedonian nobles were a traditionally touchy and quarrelsome lot. Maybe Alexander was wary of giving any one of them too much power.

Whatever the case, Alexander took some swift steps to try to win over the Lydians to his cause. His first move was to announce that the Lydians would no longer be bound by the judicial system and laws of the Persians. Nor were they to be forced to accept those of Macedon. Instead the old laws of the Lydian kings were reintroduced, presumably under native judges and systems of administration.

from "Alexander the Great at the Battle of Granicus" by Rupert Matthews

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Sources for the Crecy Campaign

Sources for the Crecy Campaign

Of the medieval writers mentioned in the text, the Chronicles of Jean Froissart are the most widely available to modern readers. They have been published in a number of editions and translations. These include a translation by Penguin Classics and another by the University of Michigan Library. Even six centuries on the book is lively, exciting and thrilling.

The Chronicle of Jean le Bel is less widely available, though in 1966 the Folio Society of London produced a history of the Hundred Years War that reproduced lengthy sections of le Bel’s work, including his complete account of the Crecy campaign. This book can sometimes be found in second hand shops or on internet auction sites. A complete modern reprint of le Bel’s works (so far available only in French) was published in 2001 by Elibron. The other contemporary letters and chronicles are rarely available outside specialist libraries and collections.

Of the modern works on the Hundred Years Wars it would be unfair to pick out some that are better than others for every reader has their own tastes and preferences. I will make an exception for the impressively exhaustive tome on medieval archery written by Robert Hardy and Matthew Strickland entitled The Great Warbow and published by Sutton. The various booklets published by Osprey are easily accessible to a casual reader and the books by W.M. Ormrod reveal much about the social and economic history of the reign of King Edward III. Spellmount, the publishers of this book, have produced a number of good books on other aspects of medieval warfare.

from "Crecy : A Campaign in Context" by Rupert Matthews.

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Early Gunpowder Weapons

Early Gunpowder Weapons
Gunpowder was invented in China about the year 850. By 920 Chinese soldiers were using gunpowder to help set fire to buildings and a hundred years later explosive bombs thrown by conventional catapults had been invented. The first gun was produced in about 1130. It consisted of a vase-shaped barrel with a narrow neck. The vase was filled with gunpowder while a heavy bolt wrapped in cloth was rammed into the neck. When the gunpowder was set off a fountain of flames and smoke poured out of the neck shooting the bolt out.
from "Weapons of War" by Rupert Matthews.
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The Legacy of Shih Huang Di (259-221bc)

The Legacy of Shih Huang Di (259-221bc)

Shih Huang Di’s dynasty did not last long. His son was murdered by an ambitious official who tried to make himself ruler, but was killed in his turn and replaced by a nephew of Shih Huang Di, but he in turn was murdered three months later by rebellious troops. Out of the chaos and civil wars that followed emerged Gaozu, who founded a new dynasty: the Han. His rule was less centralised and authoritarian than that of Shih Huang Di, but he continued the concept of a single government ruling all of China. The concept has survived to the present day. 

from "Conquerors"  by Rupert Matthews

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The Handley Page Halifax enters service with RAF Bomber Command

The Handley Page Halifax enters service with RAF Bomber Command

 

Altogether more successful was the Handley Page Halifax that equipped No.35 Squadron. In all 6,176 of these bombers would be produced in 8 different versions, and it would not leave RAF service until 1952. The early versions of the Halifax suffered from similar problems to the Stirling, but the designers at Handley Page had anticipated that technical advances might be made and had included allowance.

The original Halifax MkI was able to achieve a ceiling of 18,000 feet – not much better than the Stirling – and a speed of 265mph. The MkII had the more powerful Rolls Royce Merlin 20 engines fitted, which improved performance somewhat, though the added weight of larger fuel tanks and a dorsal turret rather negated this.

The Halifax seemed fated to fly missions that needed heavy bombloads delivered over short distances or to lightly defended targets. In the summer of 1943, however, the Merlin engines were replaced by Bristol Hercules engines to create the MkIII. This version could reach 309mph and 22,000 feet with a range of 1,250 miles. The Halifax therefore took its place as a true long-range heavy bomber as had been intended. The Halifax would be produced in nine different versions, including a cargo carrier, paratroop transport and tropical conversion. 

from "RAF Bomber Command at War" by Rupert Matthews.

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