Part 2 of my blog interview series features Stephen English, known to the readers of Ancient Warfare as the author of an article on Macedonian 'Heavy' infantry. Steven recently completed his first book about the army of Alexander the Great, which will soon be published by Pen and Sword books.

(AW)Where does your interest in warfare in the ancient world come from, and specifically Alexander the Great?

(SE)

I think I have always had an interest in the Ancient World, probably stemming from watching too many movies as a child: Spartacus, Alexander the Great (with Richard Burton in the lead role), Antony and Cleopatra, Jason and the Argonauts, etc, but my interest started to fully develop when I was nineteen, I got Simon Hownblower's book The Greek World out of a local library and really enjoyed it. The truth is that many of the arguments were probably over my head at that time, but I enjoyed it enough to then get out Robin Lane Fox's biography of Alexander, and from then I was hooked on both Ancient History and Alexander specifically.

(AW)Tell us a bit more about your academic career so far. What was your PhD on?

(SE)I went to Durham University in 1997 to study a BA in Ancient History and graduated in 2000; at the same time as this I studied for a BSc at the Open University. Following the BA I read for an MA in classics; this was a research thesis of 50,000 that expanded and evolved into the current book, following an approach by my publisher. After success in the MA, I enrolled on a PhD, again in Durham and continued studying under Prof. Peter Rhodes. The thesis is entitled "The Campaigns of Alexander the Great" and is now complete; I am now awaiting the viva, which will be held in October (to be examined by Hans Van Wees).

(AW)What is the main question of your PhD thesis? Is it 'just' a description of Alex's campaigns? Will the thesis be published as well?

(SE)The PhD is certainly an examination of every battle and siege of Alexander's career and thus does contain a certain amount of narrative; the main purpose is to attempt to reconstruct these key events, whilst also attempting to determine if there was a development in Alexander's strategic and tactical thinking. As to publication, I would certainly be interested, but I will have to find an academic publisher first.

(AW)Well, they may be reading this. Who knows? But first, tell us about your new book about Alexander's army. Any revealing conclusions?

(SE)It is entitled The Army of Alexander the Great and should be released around November of this year. It is essentially an examination of the instrument that allowed Alexander to conquer virtually the known world before he was even 33. Each individual contingent of the army is examined with a view to determining how they were equipped, recruited, trained and used operationally. The final chapter is a brief narrative of three key campaigns, Greece, Issus and Tyre.
As to conclusions, there are a number of different angles and arguments from the standard scholarship; for example I have argued that Alexander's heavy infantry were in reality more like peltasts and that they were not the defensive arm of the army, but were shock troops in almost the same way as the Companion Cavalry. Following this, the hammer and anvil analogy frequently applied by most historians is, I believe, entirely false. As to other new ideas, you'll have to buy the book.

(AW)I can't guarantee that readers won't want to discuss this up front in the comments section, but alright. What's after this?

(SE)Well, I actually have a two book contract from Pen and Sword to produce books on Alexander's campaigns, the first of which is about one third complete. This should be published mid 2009 with the second volume in late 2009, early 2010. There are two or three other subjects that I am looking at writing, but I want to do justice to Alexander before I move on to something else.

(AW)Who or what else needs justice done to it? What ancient military history/periods/generals/developments need further exploration?

(SE)We are certainly in need of a more up-to-date version of JFC Fullers book The Generalship of Alexander the Great published in 1958. There are also a few biographies that would be useful, Epiminondas and Pelopidas would be an excellent subject to investigate; how the Spartans were finally defeated. Some of the key figures of the Peloponnesian War are also studied less than they should be; men like Brasidas and Alcibiades. In terms of academic works, it would be useful for Brian Bosworth to complete his great commentary of Arrian, and for someone to look at a commentary of Diodorus book 17 (the Alexander book).

(AW)Looking at ancient military history in general, which books have you studied and would you recommend to our readers?

(SE)Apart from mine?! The best general advice I can give is buy books written by serious academics; they are invariably better written, and the authors' knowledge of the source material is generally superior to that of an amateur writer (although there are some excellent books written by amateurs too). I would also highly recommend reading the original source material; Arrian, Xenophon, Thucydides, Tacitus, etc, etc. These are all excellent works and definitely worthy of being read. In terms of modern books, I would look at Lane Fox's Alexander, Bosworth's Conquest and Empire, Lazenby's The Defence of Greece, Victor Davis Hanson's A War Like No Other and Bradford's Thermopylae. These would be a good grounding for Greek Warfare at least.

(AW)Don't you think Lane Fox's book is a bit outdated by now?




(SE)Lane Fox's book is a very interesting narrative of events and, as I found, an excellent way into the subject. It is true to say that it is overdue an update, as a number of issues are perhaps a little out of date; its still better than a lot of books on the subject though. On that line, there do seem to be a few books being published at the moment that have little academic merit and are not worth reading.

(AW)Finally, does your interest in Ancient warfare extend to other pastimes, such as modelling, wargaming or reenactment?

(SE)I don't have a lot of free time at the moment so no, I'm afraid not. I was involved in gaming when I was rather younger but I have not been for some time.

(AW)Thank you very much for answering my questions. Reader's comments are welcome below. I'll tell Stephen to keep an eye out and perhaps answer more questions.