The War of the Three Gods
Romans, Persians, and the Rise of Islam
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3.8 • 4 Ratings
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- $24.99
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
The War of the Three Gods is a military history of the Near and Middle East in the seventh century—with its chief focus on the reign of the Eastern Roman Emperor Heraclius (AD 610–641)—a pivotal and dramatic time in world history. The Eastern Roman Empire was brought to the very brink of extinction by the Sassanid Persians before Heraclius managed to inflict a crushing defeat on the Sassanids with a desperate, final gambit. His conquests were short-lived, however, for the newly converted adherents of Islam burst upon the region, administering the coup de grace to Sassanid power and laying siege to Constantinople itself, ushering in a new era.
Peter Crawford skillfully narrates the three-way struggle between the Christian Roman, Zoroastrian Persian, and Islamic Arab empires, a period of conflict peopled with fascinating characters, including Heraclius, Khusro II, and the Prophet Muhammad himself. Many of the epic battles of the period—Nineveh, Yarmuk, Qadisiyyah and Nahavand—and sieges such as those of Jerusalem and Constantinople are described in as rich detail. The strategies and tactics of these very different armies are discussed and analyzed, while plentiful maps allow the reader to follow the events and varying fortunes of the contending empires. This is an exciting and important study of a conflict that reshaped the map of the world.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Over three decades in the seventh century (610 641 C.E.), Mediterranean power shifted away from the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly known as the Byzantine Empire, first to the Persian Sassanid state and then to the newly formed Islamic Arabia. In this dry and plodding military history, historian Crawford dutifully chronicles the various swings in the balance of power, the shadowy political intrigues in each empire, and the several major battles decisive to the eventual triumph of Islamic Arabia over the Byzantine power. Along the way, Crawford introduces readers to Heraclius, the emperor in Constantinople who gained the throne by political maneuverings but faced daunting battles with the Persian state, and to the Persian leader Khurso, who led his armies to decisive victory in Constantinople in 626 only to lose the advantage four years later. By 634, the already frayed fabric of the Eastern Roman Empire unraveled almost entirely in the face of Muslim armies, and Crawford meticulously, though tiresomely, provides a day-to-day chronicle of the battles of Yarmuk and Qadisiyyah. Crawford's book fails to live up to its title: while he briefly discusses Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Islam, he fails to make the case that these battles were motivated by religious concerns or disagreements over religious beliefs.
