Bronze Age War Chariots (New Vanguard) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Author Nic Fields has covered the subject reasonably well and provides comfortable reading. There is discussion of the domestication and breed development of the horse, speeds of yoked horses, as well as the composite bow. The author has provided a good bibliography.
Brian Delf's plates are good, but not exceptional. The poses are well chosen and the proportions are excellent (compared to McBride's sometimes stocky figures.) However, the colors are not as lifelike as McBride's work and consequently the plates are not as crisp. Plates include Sumerian battlewagons, Egyptian chariots, Hittite chariots, and both box and rail types of Mycenaean chariots. The discussion of the progression of Mycenaean and Hittite chariots definitely adds value to this inexpensive work.
As with most Osprey works there are a few things that might have been covered more fully. One thing that could have been added is some sort of depiction of Mitanni or Canaanite chariotry of the period. Mitanni was the initial master of Bronze Age two-wheel chariotry and training.
While I recommend this book to those interested specifically in Bronze Age chariots, I should also note that much of the same information is available in several other Osprey works, though not all in the same place or to the same depth. For example, "The Mycenaeans" covers their chariotry well; while "New Kingdom Egypt" discusses Egyptian, Hittite, and Mitannian chariotry, and "Ancient Armies of the Middle East" has Egyptian chariots and Sumerian battlewagons. I guess the main complaint about the work is that I've read too many studies of the battle of Quadesh already, so I was hoping for even broader coverage of chariots in this.


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Chariots, the first mobile fighting vehicle, seem to have originated in Mesopotamia in the third millennium BC. The highly mobile two-wheeled war chariot, carrying a driver and an archer armed with a short composite bow, revolutionized military tactics after 1700 BC. This expensive weapon spread throughout the Middle East and is thought to have reached Egypt with the conquering Hyksos. It spread into Asia Minor, Greece, and was known in Northern Europe by 1500 BC. This book covers the evolution of the war chariot throughout the Bronze Age, detailing its design, development and combat history - in particular its fundamental involvement at the battle of Qadesh.

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