The Face Of Battle (Summary Essay Sample) 2023


The face of battle

This is a nonfiction book that was written by the late English military historian known as military history. In royal media academy, John was the sin or lecturer teaching war studies. Jonathan cape from the United Kingdom and Viking press from the United States was the first people to publish this book. The book generally talks about the military history, the strengths and weaknesses of battles and the welfare  structure in three periodic time medieval Europe world war two and the Napoleonic era. During publishing the idea behind was ground breaking since it not only major its focus on battles about the generals from a point of view or does not simply gather different quotes from retired soldiers who have faced battles of different kind but in generally talks about the practical mechanics applied in the battle and critically analyses the popular myths generated about welfare. For example, John Keegan dismisses the effectiveness of Calvary in the period of middle age. This book was later on published y press Vikki from the United States of America in the year 1988; Viking gave it a title, “The Face of Battle” This essay seeks to describe and summarize the face of battle by john Keegan.

John Keegan begins by admitting he has never been to the battle or near the battle. The face of battle by keagan simply shows the effort and work put in order to open up of how someone can feel or one can experience while in the battle. Majorly it is not just to describe how various events take place in battle but to move to feel how the participant goes through while in the battle. There are three battles in the book, Waterloo, Agincourt and Thesoome. The value of the work is seen when keagan starts by providing an introductory chapter and a conclusions of the three battles. The first three section of the book keagan described that in most military history they majorly relied on a stylized “battle peace “of it totally fails to understand the actual experience one encounters while in battle. Keegan went on and described the three battles and clearly it generated the experience one gets in the battle. Keegan describes each and every battle from the source and what transpired to the rise of that battle also what happened as a result of the battle. In Agincourt and waterloo he continues by giving a briefs story or account of what really happened in the battle. Keagan proceeds by giving a real life experience of how the soldiers do prepare from the start, the training up to the time of the wound in the battle. Keagan takes the battle both temporally and spatially to describe how the experience in the battle differed at different times of the battle.

The face of the battle is justified by how it reveals the feelings and experience one encounter as a soldier. Keagan brings out the experience even the initial material with great skill and even the minor details of how the weather sounds and vibrations. This creates in one’s mind the full impression of how the battle is. Keagan describes what motivated the soldiers not to give up and to continue fighting basing his factors including pride, religion, leadership and also coercion. However Keagan raises vital points on individuals experience but forgets the overall picture or portrait of the physical experience. In Somme, he devotes his effort in describing the origin of “Kitchener battalion “that took the attack to effect. In Agincourt and waterloo he focuses much of soldier’s behavior and the officer’s characters and forgets to give account of their background. However the book has taken account of how soldiers behave and what the go through in battle. Keagans finalizes the book by giving a title “the future battle”

In conclusion, the face of the battle written by John Keegan is a summary of how soldiers behave and what always transpired to the rise of battles and Keegan give clear account on the feelings and experience of the battle. The three battles waterloo, Agincourt and Somme is a clear indication of different experience one undergoes while in the battle.

related articles