Chariot: The Astounding Rise and Fall of the World's First War Machine

An excellent book focused on the chariot -- its development and use. The strength of the book is that it puts the chariot in its military, social, literary, and religious context. It is not a straight forward military history. In fact it is more of a social and cultural analysis of the chariot with a great deal of analysis and emphasis on the chariot in society. Of particular note is the early analysis of the key elements of chariot development from the combined need of weapons development (the bow and spear), the technological requirement for a light yet sturdy vehicle, and the difficulty in breeding and training horses. The author then reviews how the chariot and its related requirements developed in west Asia, India, and China -- how the weapon system and/or its components spread from one region to another. If you're looking for a good contextual history of the chariot this is the book for you -- however, if you're looking for a standard military history of the chariot in battle, you'd best look elsewhere.

This book piqued my interest last week, as my interests in Military History reading the last few years have shifted increasingly toward the more ancient periods. Obviously, from the five stars I give it, I consider the purchase money well spent. The book discusses the importance of chariotry both in warfare and in culture across a range of cultures. The author breaks his material into discussions of West Asia + Egypt, India and China. I suspect much of the general material concerning West Asia and Egypt (with discussions of Kadesh and Megiddo, The Iliad and Greek Heroic traditions, burial discoveries from Egyptian and Greek sites, etc.) won't be new to most readers, but a lot of the details behind this general approach may be. What I particularly appreciated were the discussions of the chariot in India and China, as (at least for me) these are areas I know little about, and have had a hard time finding much to overcome my ignorance. These discussions don't just focus on evidence of use in military battles, but also discuss the role of chariots in cultural foundations such as the Indian epic Mahabharata. As an added bonus, while the focus clearly lies on the role of the chariot in ancient warfare, the reader can also learn a bit about comparative religion/mythology (similarities between Greek or Roman gods and those of India, for example), migrations of ancient people, influence of trade between civilizations, and more. The end notes do a very nice job of expounding on the more interesting topics of each chapter (think of the notes as being "sidebars" to the main work), and generally at the end of each note the author reccomends a further source or two he considers good for the reader interested in learning more about that topic. While I found a few (emphasis on few) sections to be a bit heavy reading, the book as a whole reads very easily, especially considering the amount of information included.