World Generals

Alexander the Great is considered one of the most successful commanders of all time and was known to be undefeated in battle. He is mentioned in the Bible as well as the Qur'an and is on the shortest of short lists whenever the world's best military leaders are catalogued. When asked to name other great military leaders, Caesar reportedly said Alexander was the only great one. Born in 356 B.C., the son of Philip II of Macedonia, Alexander the Great was educated by Aristotle, became a consummate horseman, and commanded a wing of his father's army in the victory over the Thebans and Athenians at the Battle of Chaeronea - all when he was still a teenager. By the time of his death at age thirty-two, he had united Greece and had amassed an empire that stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River and included all of Persia and most of Egypt. He ruled as both the shah of Persia and as a pharaoh of Egypt by right of conquest, and he was also crowned king of Asia. The scope of his military prowess remains awe inspiring to this day. Yenne's masterful biography shows Alexander's influence on the course of cultural and political history and discusses his leadership, strategy, and legacy.

Modeled on the acclaimed Great Generals Series, which features the strategy and legacy of famous American generals, World Generals broadens the scope to include the world's finest military leaders. Each volume includes a foreword by General Wesley K. Clark and is coedited with an afterword by a different foreign general. This exciting series opens with "the Desert Fox," the most famous German field marshal in World War II, Erwin Rommel. A hero of the people of the Third Reich and widely respected by his opponents, Rommel proved himself highly adept at blitzkrieg warfare. Both in France and North Africa he consistently outwitted his adversaries through his ability to sense the weak spot in his enemy's deployment and by the pace at which he conducted his operations. Rommel was seriously wounded in France just three days before the aborted attempt on Hitler's life. Rommel subsequently came under suspicion of being involved in the plot and, under pressure, committed suicide. Rommel displayed an outstanding ability to seize the initiative and retain it, and here, Charles Messenger draws on the skills behind this ability for the benefit of modern-day leaders. "WWII newsreels showed General Erwin Rommel as a dashing commander whose successes in North Africa made him a hero to Germans and earned him the moniker 'Desert Fox' among the Allies. Sixty years later, in a style as briskly paced as an armored attack, former Royal Tank Regiment officer Charles Messenger strips away the mythology to deliver the accurate portrait of an ambitious soldier who became Hitler's favorite general and nemesis of George Patton, explaining why Rommel's battlefield strategy and tactics should be studied by today's leaders." "Charles Messenger tells the story of Germany's most famous field marshal with a verve and brio reminiscent of his subject. Anyone seeking a concise account of Rommel's remarkable life and career need look no further." "A superior compact life of the German field marshal and tank expert, in which narrative and analysis are exceptionally well balanced."