num_pages: 365
description: John Keegan's groundbreaking portrayal of the common soldier in the heat of battle -- a masterpiece that explores the physical and mental aspects of warfareThe Face of Battle is military history from the a look at the direct experience of individuals at the "point of maximum danger." Without the myth-making elements of rhetoric and xenophobia, and breaking away from the stylized format of battle descriptions, John Keegan has written what is probably the definitive model for military historians. And in his scrupulous reassessment of three battles representative of three different time periods, he manages to convey what the experience of combat meant for the participants, whether they were facing the arrow cloud at the battle of Agincourt, the musket balls at Waterloo, or the steel rain of the Somme.The Face of Battle  is a companion volume to John Keegan's classic study of the individual soldier,  The Mask of Command : together they form a masterpiece of military and human history.
language: English
title: The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme
titlecomplete: The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme
genres: Military Fiction, Audiobook, History, Psychology, World War I, Military History, War, European History, World History, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 7972
publisher: Penguin Books