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The Miraculous Greek Victory at Marathon and Its Impact on Western Civilization
Bantam
April 2011
On Sale: March 29, 2011
272 pages
ISBN: 055380734X
EAN: 9780553807349
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction History
Marathon—one of history’s most pivotal battles. Its very
name evokes images of almost superhuman courage, endurance,
and fighting spirit. But until now, the story of what
happened at Marathon has been told exclusively through the
narrow viewpoint of specialists in antiquity. In this
eye-opening new book, acclaimed journalist Jim Lacey, both a
military historian and a combat veteran, takes a fresh look
at Marathon and reveals why the battle happened, how it was
fought, and whether, in fact, it saved Western civilization. Lacey brilliantly reconstructs the world of the fifth
century B.C. leading up to the astonishing military defeat
of the Persian Empire by the vastly undermanned but
determined Greek defenders. Using the seminal work of
Herodotus as his starting point, Lacey reconstructs the
tactical and strategic scenario of the battle, including how
many combatants each side might have used and who actually
led the Greeks. He also disputes the long-repeated myths of
Athenian inexperience and effete Persian arrogance. With the kind of vivid detail that characterizes the best
modern war reportage, Lacey shows how the heavily armed
Persian army was shocked, demoralized, and ultimately
defeated by the relentless assault of the Athenian phalanx,
which battered the Persian line in a series of brutal
attacks. He reveals the fascinating aftermath of Marathon,
how its fighters became the equivalent of our “Greatest
Generation,” and challenges the view of many historians that
Marathon ultimately proved the Greek “Western way of war” to
be the superior strategy for fighting—and winning—battles to
the present day. Immediate, visceral, and full of new analyses that defy
decades of conventional wisdom, The First Clash is a superb
interpretation of a conflict that indeed made the world safe
for Aristotle, Plato, and our own modern democracy. But it
was also a battle whose legacy and lessons have often been
misunderstood—perhaps, now more than ever, at our own peril.
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